To change the color of hair, a person has two options to include visiting a salon whereby a professional colorist or stylist would do the job or purchasing a commercial product and coloring hair in the privacy and comfort of home. There are actually a number of pros and cons for each, which is why making this decision is not always cut and dry.
Professional versus Commercial Hair Color
The biggest difference between the two has to do with price. To have hair professionally colored, a person could spend anywhere from $50 to $150 depending on the salon, professional, product brand, type of color, number of colors, application process, and even geographic location. On the other hand, the cost to use a commercial hair color product typically ranges from $7 to $12.
Of course, the quality of hair color is going to be superior when done by a professional but today, there are many commercial products that contain high quality ingredients and produce excellent results. In fact, because the quality of hair color products for in-home use have increased so dramatically in quality, sales for this particular hair care product have skyrocketed.
Understanding Permanent Color
The way permanent hair color transforms is unique to any other type of hair color. Although most people know this is the longest lasting option, many do not have a full understanding of why. To help, we wanted to provide comparisons between semi-permanent and permanent hair color since semi-permanent products are the second most popular option.
- Semi-Permanent Color – For this type of product, pigment molecules are much smaller than those associated with permanent color. As a result, hair color can only partially penetrate hair shafts. In addition, semi-permanent color is formulated with very slight amounts of developer, which would be peroxide or ammonia, or none at all. Although this means hair would experience less damage, it also means color does not last as long.
- Permanent Color – In this case, pigment molecules are larger, making it easier for them to penetrate hair shafts. This coupled with permanent hair color being made with an oxidizing agent and alkalizing agent of ammonia, hair becomes permeated with color that lasts much longer.
Reasons to Consider Permanent Hair Color
The two most popular types of products are for semi-permanent and permanent hair color although an individual could also choose from temporary color, demi-permanent color, and highlights/lowlights. Although semi-permanent color is a good choice, something that provides nice highlights that leave hair color looking natural, the downside is that color begins to fade in four to five shampoos. However, permanent hair color also produces rich, vibrant color but color would last up to 12 weeks for some people.
Now, while semi-permanent hair color does offer two advantages over permanent hair color, because of the results a person would get with the permanent product, it is easy to understand the popularity of this option. The two benefits of semi-permanent hair color includes shimmer, again creating the look of subtle highlights that makes color look natural, and the ability to cover gray better. However, permanent hair color also provides a number of benefits, some that have been provided below.
- Permanent hair color does not wash out like other types of products. In fact, the only way that this type of color would come out is by being stripped, a process that would need to be performed by a professional. This does not mean that permanent hair color will not fade but because of the way it is formulated, high quality products maintain color quite well.
- The price for a top brand of semi-permanent versus permanent hair color is much the same but considering how much longer the latter option provides. Therefore, it is a more cost efficient option.
- Another thing that people like about permanent hair color is that it comes in conventional formulas that use chemicals and products made with organic or 100% natural ingredients. However, because of the way this product is made, the results would be almost identical with the exception of natural products being safer on hair.
- Finally, permanent hair color provides full cover whereas semi-permanent color is more sporadic. While this does mean colored hair with a semi-permanent product does have slight highlights, the advantage of full color is that for many people, consistency makes hair look richer, fuller, and healthier.