Can I Dye My Hair After Getting a Perm? How Long Should I Wait Afterward?

You got a perm and you want to know how long you should wait until you dye it?

 

I know we’re in the 21st century and we like to do things as quickly as possible, but this one you’re going to have to take slow:

You should wait AT LEAST fifteen days after getting a perm to dye your hair and if you can make it twenty, that’s even better, because if you don’t, the results might be dreadful for your hair and for your appearance.

Want to know how I know?

 

Because I have a sister that is a very impatient person. And she isn’t just impatient, she’s also intrepid.

She had just gotten a perm less than a month ago. And she did it all for love.

Oh, the things we do for love!

 

We’ve been doing this for as long as we’ve been human, just ask Romeo and Juliette or King Edward VIII who renounced one of the most powerful thrones in the world, the English throne, because of his love for the divorced American woman, Wallis Simpson.

 

 My sister’s boyfriend was coming back from a three-month trip to Europe and she wanted to surprise him. She wasn’t content with the beautiful ringlets she had gotten with her perm, which made her look like a mermaid, so she decided that she also needed to change the color. 

The thing was she didn’t wait ten days. Not even seven. She dyed her hair two days after getting the perm.

All Hell broke loose.

 

A Hell that even love’s power would have trouble containing. Not even my love for my sister could stop it from getting out.

A series of screams emanated from the bathroom that really sounded like they could have been from a horror movie. My heart truly stopped for a minute when I heard them.

 

 When I got to the bathroom, the screams had transformed into sobs, uncontrollable sobs that break your heart. 

I knocked on the door and since she didn’t answer, I decided to go in. Us big sisters are like that; no door could separate me from my sister when I heard that she needed me.

She looked at me and simply said, “My hair is a disaster.”

 

And when I looked at her, unfortunately I had to say she was right.

At the roots, the dye looked three tones lighter.

If this same effect had been at the ends, she would have achieved the perfect ombre, but obviously that wasn’t the effect she was looking for.

 

Her roots looked stained. And her ends were completely broken.

The curls from the perm were still there.

But, where there were happy, luminous, fun curls, there were now sad, musty, frizzy spirals.

And all because of the dye.

 

 So, if you want to dye your hair after a perm, wait twenty days. Or if you don’t wait, you’ll be screaming bloody murder in your bathroom. 

You choose.

Did you decide already? You decided to wait?

 

If so, keep reading, I’ll tell you about:

 

Do you want to know how I fixed the disaster that my sister made of her hair?

I’ll also tell you that, but if you want a hint, I’ll only say that love won out.

 

 

Why You Should Wait Until 15 Days After Your Perm to Dye Your Hair

Did you know that a perm is a permanent process?

 

Probably you already knew that, and it’s because it modifies the internal structure of your hair in a permanent way.

That means that the chemical products used, the solution and the neutralizer, modify the internal structure of your hair.

That makes it possible so that where there was straight hair, a curl is formed that doesn’t go away for as much as you wash your hair, for at least for six months.

Only the new hair that forms will have its natural pattern.

 

 When you get a perm, your hair suffers. It doesn’t completely deteriorate, but it does suffer. 

The chemicals take away its moisture and even its elasticity.

When do you do when you have a fever? Do you stay at home or do you go running out in the rain?

 

With a perm and dyeing, the same thing happens.

If your hair already had to undergo the perm process with all its chemicals and then you dye it using dye, ammonium and peroxide, you’ll only take away more of its moisture.

And when you take the moisture out of your hair, you get frizz, breakage and split ends.

 

Your hair goes through a lot with a perm, since the internal protein structure decomposes to make it more reactive.

Dyeing your hair immediately after that kind of treatment can overdo the process, lighten it too much or make it so your hair is more susceptible to breaking.

 

 But also, you should remember that you can’t wash your hair for at least three days after getting a perm, because the neutralizing chemical stays in your hair doing its job. 

And that liquid also interacts with the color pigments in the dye.

That’s why my sister was left with stains in her roots.

 

And since her hair was already weakened by the perm, her hair fibers weakened even more with the dye. And when that happened… hello frizz and split ends!

All of that just because she didn’t wait fifteen days, and her boyfriend would have loved her no matter what, even if she had put a pot on her head.

 

That’s why you can’t get a perm and dye your hair the same day. And that’s why you should wait at least fifteen days between the processes.

It’s just about your hair’s health, which in the end, is the most important thing.

 

Now, I told you before that getting a perm damages your hair and that it can end up weaker than before the process.

But, there is a way to strengthen your hair in order to minimize the damage caused by dyeing your hair.

 

How to Prepare Your Hair for Dyeing it After Getting a Perm

Now that you know that you should wait fifteen days to dye your newly permed hair, it’s important that during those in-between days you are extremely careful.

 

Water damages the chemical bonds that are applied to your hair to change its cuticle permanently.

 

And always use warm water, not hot water.

 

Avoid brushing your hair when it’s wet with a comb or brush that isn’t wide-toothed, since that can cause your hair to weaken and break.

And remember that we’re working on strengthening your hair.

 Use a wide-toothed comb to detangle your hair and let it air dry. 

 

When you need to dry your hair quickly, use a hair dryer on its lowest temperature setting, since excessive heat can also damage it, and remember to use a diffuser to distribute the airflow evenly around your hair.

Always use conditioner.

 

This oil is used to lubricate your hair and make it waterproof.

But with your new curly hair, there’s a problem. The tighter your curls are and the curlier its texture is, the harder it is for the sebum to travel along your hair and coat your entire curl.

 That means that curly hair doesn’t have this special layer of oil and is more prone to dryness and dehydration, since your hair’s moisture can escape easier. 

 

When we talk about hydrating curly hair before coloring it, we mean sealing the moisture into hair. That is, creating a barrier around the hair so the water doesn’t escape.

Do you know what you can use to seal in the moisture and strengthen your curls before dyeing them?

 

A Good lotion that is made up of emollient, oils and lipids.

Please, avoid products that contain alcohols or artificial fragrances or preservatives. Instead, look for products and oils derived from plants.

Don’t look any further because coconut oil is a very effective moisturizer since it can penetrate deeply all over the hair’s length and it has a high lipid content that helps to soften the cuticles.

 

 So, the most ideal practice would be to do a coconut oil treatment once a week before getting your hair dyed. 

It’s not very hard, you just apply it to your hair, and you let it take effect for at least an hour, while you read a book or watch your favorite Netflix series.

 

That’s all my sister would have had to do to avoid destroying her hair.

Since she didn’t wait long after the perm to dye her hair, her hair dried out which broke her hair and made split ends appear.

How did my sister’s story end?

 

I’ll tell you soon.

 

This Is What Can Happen to Your Hair If You Don’t Wait Long Enough to Dye It

They had to cut at least three inches off the bottom of her hair and then put Olapex on her hair to help improve its appearance.

And fifteen days later, she got it dyed again, which ended up working perfectly.

 

 Thankfully, her boyfriend’s arrival was delayed twenty days, and I can assure you that man is head over heels for my sister. 

He would love her with or without curls, with or without dye, and if he ever finds out what my sister did to her hair, I think he’d lock her up in a tower so she never does anything like this to her hair ever again.

The things we do for love!

 

And you, what did you decide? Will you wait fifteen days to dye your hair?