Question from J. Kelly
Hi,
I do own your book, Home Safe Home, and I did read the part on hair coloring. But here is my dilema:
My teenage daughter desperately wants to add highlights to her hair. She is one of those girls who wants to be fancy all the time, and wants nail polish, lip glosses, and things of those nature. I am constantly telling her how awful these things are and subsequently don’t allow her to use any toxic things. ( I have found some non-toxic lip colors).
I know she misses out on using “fun” things and I would like to let her ‘just once’ try the highlights. I know they are bad, but would it be the end of the world, (or her life) to allow one application of highlights on her hair? And is there one that would be somewhat safer than any others? I guess I’m just wondering if doing that one time is too horrible or would she be ok?
I used to use the box kinds with the caps that you pull hair through (back when I didn’t know anything about toxic things) and I thought maybe the cap would keep the bleachy chemicals off of her scalp somewhat. I obvioulsy don’t want to do anything that will harm her in the long (or short)run. I was just hoping maybe there is something that isn’t too harmful?
Thanks for your time.
Debra’s Answer
It’s OK with me for you to let your daughter get highlights in her hair. Now don’t be shocked, but I get highlights in my hair occasionally.
So I asked my hairdresser what to recommend, since whatever she used on my hair had no odor.
She said, “First, most people don’t realize that when you get highlights the coloring product doesn’t touch the scalp at all, so none of it is absorbed through the skin like regular hair dye. I use Farouk products for highlights. These are well known and used in many salons.”
She said it is ammonia-free. I couldn’t find out the ingredients, but I can tell you the highlights I got had no odor and didn’t touch my scalp at all. I had no reaction and was very happy with the end result.
Would love to hear from others about successes with highlighting or hair colors. Readers?
