Types of hair colors with their features

The idea of coloring the hair perhaps started from the craving to return grey hair to its original color. Only later did people thought of using it for the purpose of styling the hair. Gradually this became the fashion statement. Now in the present age if we look around we can see a people with varieties of colors on their hair. There are also varieties of colors available in the market.

Let us now discuss about the different types of colors. Hair colors can be categorized mainly into three different types. These are temporary, semi permanent and permanent colors. The temporary colors are those, which have large pigment molecules of colors. And for that reason they cannot penetrate the cuticle layer of the hair allowing only a coating action on the hair that can be removed by a single shampoo. These colors are generally used for some special occasion like Halloween or such other special events. In most of the cases more vibrant and brighter colors like red or orange are used as temporary hair colors.

Unlike the temporary colors the pigment molecules of the semi permanent colors are smaller in size and can penetrate into the cuticle layer of the hair. This gives longer life to the colors. But the molecules of the semi permanent colors are not small enough to go deep into the hair shaft. Therefore they are only able to partially penetrate into the hair shaft. But still this type of hair colors lasts longer than the temporary hair colors. And stays more than 4-5 shampoos.

Besides the semi permanent hair colors there are another type of hair colors that are called the demi permanent hair colors. These colors are something in between the semi permanent colors and the permanent colors. The molecules are smaller than semi permanent colors but larger than permanent colors. These colors last up to 28 shampoos. These colors are gentler than permanent colors and are great fro tint-backs and color priming. They are also great for toning pre lighted hair. Because there is no lifting natural hair color, they are not much effective on dark hair because of the existence of the over powering color already.

Next come the permanent colors. The molecules of these colors are so small that they go deep into the cuticle of the hair. They contain both a developer, or oxidizing agent, and an alkalizing ingredient as part of their ammonia or ammonia substitute. This helps in rising the cuticle of the hair fiber so that the tint can penetrate into the hair. It also facilitates the formation of tint within the hair fiber and brings about the lightening action of peroxide. Permanent hair colors are best for grey hair coverage. The oxidizing colorants present in it lift and deposit the new color by going deep into the hair shaft. But before coloring your hair with permanent color the thing that should be kept in mind is that the color is permanent and cannot be get rid off easily. Therefore it is essential to think twice before coloring your hair with a permanent hair color. But that doesn't mean that you shall have to spend your whole life with it. The natural color of your hair would come up as soon as your hair grows. On the other hand if you wish to change the permanent color you can color it the second time with a different color.