Here is another crucial point to remember if you want to get your hair looking the best it ever has. This is a very big factor in having your hair be the envy of all those around you. Its colour. Now a lot of people think that colouring your hair is a bad thing to do, and that it just ruins the condition in the long run. Well there is some truth in this - as colour can do some serious damage if it is done incorrectly. After all, you are putting some pretty strong chemicals on it and this has its risks. But if you colour your hair the right way it can have spectacular results. The thing to remember with colouring your hair is that you will be going one of two ways, lighter or darker. Now if you go lighter what this involves is opening up the transparent cuticle and then sripping out the colour particles until you reach the required shade. This generally does no good for the hair in two ways. One, you are opening the cuticle - which is never good (but can be reversed with treatments or ironing) Two, and more importaintly, you are removing part of the hairs strength by taking out the colour particles that make up part of the hairs stucture. The lighter you go the weaker the hair gets. Keep going lighter and you will hit platinum blonde which looks white - but is infact colourless and (the hair is) totally transparent!! any more stripping and the hair just falls apart.
If you go darker on the other hand, you are still opening up the cuticle, but this can be reversed and you are forcing more colour particles into the shaft of the hair, rather than stripping them out. You therefore making it stonger, shinier and healthier! So the moral here is - yes you should colour your hair. But always go a little darker than your natural shade (if you want others to be jealous) Enhance the colour you naturaly have rather than change it completly. And finally, never use permanant colour. If you are going darker there is no need. The only time you would use a permanant colour is if you were going lighter - as permanant colours are the only ones that will give you lift. but if you are listening to what I am saying and you want the kind of hair that everyone else wishes they had, then a semi permanant or even a wash in - wash out will be perfect as they do not open the cuticle as much as a permanant colour will.