What causes clown hair?

What causes clown hair?
Allyzay asks (via Twitter)… Does anyone else have a thing where your roots get bleached gold by sun but not the parts dyed bright red so you have “clown ombre” or just me? The Beauty Brains respond: First of all, we think that “Clown Ombre” is a great name for a band. Second, there is [...]

Allyzay asks (via Twitter)… Does anyone else have a thing where your roots get bleached gold by sun but not the parts dyed bright red so you have “clown ombre” or just me?

The Beauty Brains respond:

First of all, we think that “Clown Ombre” is a great name for a band. Second, there is an explanation for your  schizophrenic  hair color.

The different color stages of dyed hair

Assuming hair grows about a 1/4″ per month (most research says 1/4 – 1/3″ month), 8 – 10 inches of hair is in the neighborhood of 3 years old. That means the ends of your hair have experienced multiple dyeings, multiple years of sun exposure, etc. Also, although most people don’t want to admit it, your natural color changes over time which is most noticble at the roots which are probably getting grayer/whiter due to less native pigment. That means this root hair is is more easily bleached out or is just lighter naturally. From root to tip hair gets more porous, so dye should be left on the root area longer or dyed preferentially to even the hair out. Stylists will apply color to the the root 1/3 and leave it on for a while and then pull it through the rest of the hair for a few minutes at the end. So, if you break down the hair color by each region it looks something like this:

• Top: has a different hair color than undyed hair because of grow out. Also has the greatest exposure to the sun therefore has the most lightning or bleaching effect. Hence the lightest color.
• Middle: More aged. Contains a mix of natural pigment and hair dye. It has lower porosity than the ends so the amount of dye absorbed is less. Hence the medium color.
• Ends: Oldest, most damaged and most porous. Absorbs the most dye, hence the darker color.

The Beauty Brains bottom line

Since the ends of your hair are probably 3 years older than the roots, the condition of hair varies from the root to tip which makes it respond differently to hair dye.

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