Dye Resistant Hair

Woman who is choosing professional hair color
Photo: Lakov Filimonov/Shutterstock
Q: Is it possible that two brands of high-end hair dyes will result in the exact same shade? Or close enough? My hair stylist proposed switching me from semi-permanent hair dye of one brand to permanent dye of another brand because I'm becoming dye resistant.
 
I want my color to remain the same. Will my hair stylist achieve the same color if she crosses brands and the original color is a semi-permanent brand and the new one is a permanent hair dye?
 
A: You should understand that the majority of the results you get from the color products used depend largely on the skill of the stylist using the products. A good stylist can blend colors and create matches to hair color shades as desired, and to prevent unfortunate color results.
 
As for the colors available from different brands of professional hair color formulas, there are usually many “duplicate” shades among the various brand names. Since the color of hair is graded by lightness level and base color you find that there is a finite number of colors available. It is only reasonable to assume that there will be some crossover of color.
 
The only real differences are often the names used. Where one maker has colors like “Light Auburn”, and “Intense Red”, another maker will use names like “Red Oak” and “Flame” or “Coppertone” to indicate nearly identical shades.
 
The real question comes to a matter of trust in your hair stylist. If you have been happy with the service received in the past, then you should feel pretty confident that the stylist will not steer you wrong.
 
The only thing I will say is to remind you that your permanent color applications will not respond the way your semi-permanent colors have done. You will not get the gradual fading of the color as you shampoo, but will instead see clearly defined lines of demarcation as the hair grows out.
 
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See also:
 
Hair coloring
 
Hair color shades and levels
 
Why didn't color take to gray hair?
 
Possible hair coloring problems in a salon