Does dyeing your hair ruin it? Or is it just bleach that does?

[McGruff]

My hair was fucked. Royally. From dozens of bleaching sessions.

I cut it all off. Pixie cut.

When it grows back can I dye it without fucking it up again? I will NEVER bleach it but is dying OK? Just a simple black.

I have over bleached my hair and am waiting to hear any advice you get!

My guess is that semi permanents if you don't have too much grey would be less destructive than permanents.

All dyes that use a developer cause damage to the hair. Bottom line really.
It depends on the strength of the developer but if your hair was so bleached you had to start again, a regular black dye wouldn’t do half as much damage by the sounds of it

I have never used bleach on my hair, but have used semi permanent hair colours for years and years and more years ha ha. My hair is always in much better condition after using a colour. I usually have auburn or slightly reddish colour, my original colour was a kind of mousy colour (I think !)

My late Mum, always used to say that all my hair would drop out by the time I was 60, as in putting stuff on your hair ha ha. But I am 70 plus now, and all is ok.

I'm 57 with waist length hair and have dyed my blond hair much lighter blond with Claire and other dyes since I was around 17. It's in perfect condition. Silky with no split ends. I get the ends cut regularly and use lots of conditioner but I never use hairdryers, straighteners or tongs of any kind. I did for a short while and my hair really looked brittle and dry so I stopped.

If you colour your hair with a single process colour it won’t damage it. By that I mean a colour that you don’t have to mix two bottles together to make the dye. Anything with a “developer” will, over time, cause damage. How much will vary by the strength of the developer.

Obviously to attain a platinum blonde will cause more damage than a copper or a chocolate, but I see so many people saying “oh I’ll stick a dark brown box dye on my fried bleached hair to cover up the damage”. They don’t realise that actually it will compound it.