How to calm irritation and itchiness on the scalp caused by dyes

itching after applying the dye

Did you dye your hair and know your head itches?

Is your scalp irritated?

The same thing happened to me and it was horrible.

The last time after I dyed my hair, I started to feel a terrible itching on my scalp.

Let me tell you everything.

From 22 to 29 years old, I changed my hair color about 10 times.

Yes, 10 times!

Can you believe it?

But the last time that I dyed my hair, something went wrong.

Very bad.

The first serious mistake that I made was changing hair salons.

My coworker, Gema, recommended me to her salon.

She told me they were geniuses that did magic with color.

Gema’s hair looked spectacular, long, voluminous and an ashy blonde color that made all the women in the office jealous.

What woman wouldn’t want a sexy, attractive mane?

Partly because I trusted her and partly because of curiosity, I listened to Gema and I went to her hair salon.

I had wanted to dye my hair red for a long time, so I chose that color.

I’m not going to lie to you.

My hair ended up the color that I wanted.

I was in love with the results.

My coworker was right, that salon did do magic with hair.

But the charm didn’t last long …

When I got home, my head started to burn.

I continued preparing dinner, and being busy in a few different things thinking about what was going to happen.

But no.

Cuando llegue a mi casa empecé a sentir ardor en la cabeza.

Seguí preparando la cena y ocupada en distintas tareas pensando que se me iba a pasar.

Pero no.

Each time I pulled at my scalp, I felt like it was on fire.

It was clear that my scalp had generated an allergic reaction to the new hair dye.

I mean, it wasn’t the first time that I had dyed my hair, and I had never had problems.

Just now that I had changed salons and hair dyes, my scalp reacted like that.

And now, what do I do? I thought.

To be honest, in that moment I wanted to rip my hair off as if it were a wig.

But that was impossible.

If I wanted to calm the irritation on my scalp, I needed a bit more logical solution.

And luckily, I found it.

Yes, I found various homemade solutions to calm the burning on my head and today I’m going to share them with you.

Because if the same thing that happened to me is happening to you, then you know it isn’t fun.

But first, let me tell you why your head could have generated that reaction after applying the color.

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Can a dye cause irriation to your scalp?

itching after applying the dye

The answer is YES.

Even though it isn’t the most normal, dyes can cause irritation to your scalp.

And now, I’ll tell you why.

Did you now that our scalp is renewed every 28 days?

Yes! Impressive.

I didn’t know it.

Once a month, the dead cells are eliminated and new ones are generated.

But, I discovered that – among other factors – aggressive chemical products like dyes stop this natural exfoliation process of the scalp and cause the cells to accumulate into a fine film.

So, the hair follicles of the scalp get saturated and block the secretion of natural sebum of the scalp which causes dryness.

You notice that this occurs when you feel itchiness or irritation after using the dye.

Careful! If blisters and a strong burning appear when using the product in your hair, they are allergic reactions that with these at-home solutions that I will share with you now, will be a thing of the past and you’ll be able to enjoy the color that you want.

Ammonia generates allergic reactions

Another thing that surprised me was the amount of chemical components that hair dyes have!

They are made of more than 5,000 chemical components present in 80% of products for coloring your hair that are all over the world market.

These components contain ammonia, p-Phenylenediamine (PPD), monoethanolamine, hydrogen peroxide, pesticides, heavy metals and additives that are abrasive and irritating for your scalp.

Obviously, these components and their proportions vary in accordance with the brand of hair dye.

Maybe you are used to the same brand of dye and after using it for so long, it starts to cause irritation and even pain.

Or the other way, maybe your scalp is so accustomed to a brand of dye that changing it generates a reaction.

In addition, a deficient or incorrect technique during the application of the product can cause strong burning and itching on the scalp after washing off the product.

It’s important to be very careful!

Now that we know the possible causes, let’s move on to the most important, how to calm the itching.

5 ideas to calm the irritation starting today

Wash your hair with a deep-cleaning shampoo

There may be residue from the dye left in your hair, and it could be causing your discomforts.

That’s why, the first thing that you should do is wash your hair with a natural shampoo or one without as many chemicals to assure that you get rid of all those residues.

Repeat the washing process two or three times.

I recommend you this shampoo from Aveeno.

Do you want to calm the itching and reduce irritation? Wash your hair with a shampoo like this one, check it on Amazon

Let 3 or 4 days pass

Your scalp could take a few days to get used to the new dye, so you should be patient.

As the days go by, the discomfort on your scalp should disappear.

If after a few days, your scalp is still bothering you, the best thing you can do is go to visit a dermatologist.

Avoid strong washing products

Get rid of all the washing products that you use right now.

Shampoo, conditioner, and all products that have a ton of chemicals, like sulfates, parabens, silicones and others.

The only thing you will achieve using those products is increase the amount of irritation on your already irritated scalp.

And I suppose that you don’t want that.

Avoid using heat tools

Have you ever had an open wound?

If you’ve had an opened wound, I’m sure that you wouldn’t stick your finger in it to keep aggravating the wound, right?

Well, if you use any heat tools on a sensitive and irritated scalp, the only thing that you will achieve is worsening the discomfort.

So, forget about the hair dryer, the flat iron, the curler, and any other heat tool for at least a while.

Apply aloe vera to your scalp

calms the burning in the head

This plant never lets us down.

It’s so natural and one of the best options for skin relief.

It acts as a conditioner and has moisturizing and anti-fungal properties that relieve irritation like burning.

I’ll explain to you step by step what you have to do. It’s very easy.

Cut a leaf of an aloe vera plant down the middle. You should find a viscous, sticky, semi-transparent substance. The famous aloe vera gel.
After, rub the gel on your scalp.

Now, if you want something a bit more sophisticated, you can mix the aloe vera gel with honey.

The combination of aloe vera with honey is a moisturizing and regenerative treatment that helps reduce redness and inflammation caused by sensitivity to certain chemical substances.

What do you need?