Most girls who have experimented with hair dye, have had the thought about re-dyeing their hair. Sometimes it is because the coloring didn’t go right, sometimes you’re just so excited to try other things that you can’t wait to dye your hair again.
“Can you re-dye my hair the next day” is a question that comes up often so that is why I want to give it some attention here! It is better to know the answers before you start doing something that is clearly no good for your hair (re-dyeing your hair the next day is not a good idea).
Is it OK to re-dye your hair the next day?
No, it is not ok to -re-dye your hair the next day. Why not you ask? Dyeing your hair is a chemical process. This chemical process while giving your hair a great color also damages your cuticles. This in turn makes your hair porous and it needs time to recover. If you won’t let your hair recover, your hair will be prone to breakage, it will feel dry and brittle and you’ll see that the ends of your hair are splitting.
So, overuse of hair dye can be harmful to you and your hair. Not letting your hair, and scalp recover can lead to allergic reactions.
Now, some people claim that they re-dyed their hair perfectly the next day. The problem with this is, that you don’t know their situation and their hair structure. Maybe they did or maybe they didn’t. As a general rule, it is not okay to re-dye your hair the next day unless you want to damage it greatly.
What can you do best if you want to re-dye your hair?
The best advice I could give you is to give it some time. Your hair needs to have a 4 to 6 week rest period before you can re-dye your hair. I know this sounds long, but your hair just needs to recover from the chemical damage.
How do you know if it is too fast to dye your hair again? You can see if your hair is healthy with the following 3 questions.
- Do you find that your hair breaks easily?
- Does your hair feel brittle and dry and are your ends split?
- Do the ends of your hair snap off and feel weak?
Look at these questions and answer them in all honesty (that’s the only good thing you can do for yourself). If you find that you need to answer “YES” to one of the above questions, your hair is not as healthy as you think and not ready at all to be re-colored again.
I repeat… DO NOT re-color your hair the next day (also, don’t color it twice in the same week) when you’ve answered one or a couple of the above questions with a yes statement.
How do you get your hair healthy again for a re-dye?
Although the general rule is to wait four to eight weeks before coloring your hair again. Now luckily this isn’t always necessary when your hair is strong enough and when you use dye that is not too harsh on your hair. When your hair is strong you maybe could get away with coloring your hair a week earlier. But you should really make sure that your hair is healthy.
How do you get your hair healthy again?
There are a lot of things that you could do to make your hair healthy again after you’ve dyed it. There are also a lot of tips to keep your dyed hair healthy overall! So here’s how you keep your hair color fresh and make your hair silky, shine and smooth again. That way you’re benefitting from having a great color and making it healthy again for the next hair dye!
#1 – Don’t wash your hair as often
Okay, this may sound weird, but it really works! The more you wash your hair, the quicker the color will fade. The best way to preserve the color and give your hair the best possible chance of staying healthy, it to wash your hair only 2 to 3 times a week. If you need to wash it more frequently, you should opt for a dry shampoo so that you can soak up oil from the roots when it is needed.
#2 – skipping to conditioner!
When you have trouble not washing your hair every day (cause you’ve been doing it for so long) you can always go on what they call a “low poo” diet. What you do is the following: You don’t use shampoo at all and you jump straight into the conditioner. This will help nourish your hair and keep you from washing your color away. It is healthy and looks nice. Win-win!
#3 Choose the right shampoo
Another great way to keep your hair healthy after you’ve colored your hair is picking the right shampoo! As you know, with normal shampoo there’s the possibility of washing away your color gradually. If you choose a shampoo like L’oréal Paris Elvive Colour Protect shampoo, you can protect your color! Keeping it healthy and in great shape! Of course, there are also other shampoos that you can use. As long as they protect your colored hair and keep your hair healthy, you’re golden.
#4 – Use a great conditioner
Using a great conditioner is one of the things you can do to keep your hair as healthy as possible. When you color your hair, it becomes more fragile, so you need to do some things to make it healthy and keep it healthy. So choose a great conditioner with oils, butter, and all kinds of hydrating elements so that your hair can flourish after you’ve dyed it.
#5 – Be cautious with heat elements
After you’ve dyed your hair, it is already more porous than it once was. Heating elements can also do damage to your hair, so you’ll benefit greatly if you treat the heating elements with caution. If you can avoid heating elements and let your hair air dry that would be awesome. That way you give your hair the optimal chance of getting healthy again and staying healthy after your dye job.
#6 – Hair masks are your friend
This one is directly in line with number #4. Condition, condition, condition. doing a hair mask once or twice a week can do a dose of super healing! Nourish your hair with great hair masks and repair the damage you’ve done to your hair. Not only do you keep your hair healthy, but your color will also last longer.
#7 – Swim or not to swim
Can you go swimming after you’ve dyed your hair? Going swimming is not the greatest thing you can do after you’ve dyed your hair. The chlorine in most pools interfere with your hair dye and can turn nicely colored hair in a slimy green. Not only that but also the impact of UV rays (if you swim outside on a summer day) can cause fading of your hair color. To avoid these things and to get tips on how to swim safely after a dye job, I recommend you read the article I linked to above (click above on” can you go swimming after you’ve dyed your hair).
#8 – Eat and drink right
Now, this might seem a little bit over the top, but you should not only nourish your hair from the outside in but also the inside out. What you consume has an effect on the state your hair is in. The right diet can help you greatly with getting your hair healthy again and keeping it that way. Want to make a good start? Read here which 10 juices are great for your hair.
What do you need to know before you start re-dyeing your hair?
The most important thing you should know is why you are going to re-do the coloring after a couple of weeks. If you just want to continue with the color you have, that is fine, of course. Buy the right hair dye and off you go!
If you want to change your hair, doing damage control on the last dye job you did, or anything else you need to know a little about the different hair colorings out there.
What if you want to lighten your hair?
The most important thing you need to know then is that: color doesn’t lift color. Just putting in a new color will not lighten your hair color because the coloring process ads coloring to your hair. It won’t lighten or remove the color.
If you want to lighten your hair you need to strip out the undertone too. Your hair follicles have two layers. One where the pigment is and the one where the shade of coloring is. (that’s why on the box you see different possible outcomes depending on the shade and undertone). If you want to lighten your hair you also need to strip the undertone so that your hair can lighten up.
Don’t try to cover up your bad dye job with black hair dye
I rarely see it, but there are some people where the first dye job went wrong, and they did a cover-up by dyeing their hair black. That’s a not so smart thing to do (to say it nicely) because you can’t go back easily. If you only dye it black to cover-up and you want to go to a lighter shade after that, it will be a pain in the ass to remove the black hair dye and do a lighter color.
If you’ve made a mistake it is better to go to your local professional so that he or she can see what is wrong and tell you the best way to make it better. Those people know what they’re talking about. No worries… They see these kinds of things more than you know. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. That’s why better than ruining your hair.
Don’t use dark colors over bleached hair!
Okay, this is about bleached hair, but I just wanted to mention it here because of the last point. Don’t try to use dark colors over your bleached hair the next day. After you’ve bleached your hair, your hair is also more porous and not as healthy as can be (just like with coloring your hair. You’ll only make it worse because your hair won’t respond to the hair dye. You’ll either get a hair color that looks overcolored or maybe even a hair color that is lighter on your roots and darker on the rest of your hair.
So what should you do with your hair dye job in most cases?
So, say that something went wrong and you want to re-dye your hair the next day… What should you do? First of all, you now know that it is not a great idea to re-dye your hair the next day and you also know why.
The best thing you can do is to seek help from a hair professional. Preferably from your local hair professional. As I said earlier, those people know what they’re talking about so that can help you greatly. They can give you advice on what to do (how long to wait) and how to get the hair color you want. Let them help you because that is why the hair professionals are there!
Final thoughts
What have you learned? To never, never, never, re-dye your hair the next day because you want to cover up, are excited to try something new, or any other reason. It is not worth it going to the trouble. Your hair is not going to be what you want it to be when you color it again the next day.
Just as I said above if you’ve made a mistake… Let a hair professional look at it.
So, for now, I’ll wish you happy experimenting with dyeing your hair, but be safe and smart about what you’re going to do!
