Q: I would like to straighten my permed hair and dye it. I am wondering which to do first and how long to wait in between
to get both done. What is the "cut-off" for whether or not it's been long enough? If not, what can I do? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
A: Assuming that you are going to be going to a salon for these services and therefore will have a professional to determine the
best products to use, the order of services becomes simple.
You should always have your hair permed or straightened (using thio-straighteners) before
having the hair colored. The reason for this is that the perm service uses oxidation (via the application of hydrogen peroxide) to
neutralize the waving lotion. This can result in the lightening of artificial hair color applications. At the very least you can
end up distorting the hair color you wanted into something you didn’t thereby ruining a color service.
Most salons will request that you wait at least a week between a perm or straightener and a
color service. For my own clients, I typically schedule perms/straighteners and color services two weeks apart because this usually
makes the service appointments easier to manage for the client and spreads the maintenance cost out over the course of the month.
