What Does Over-Processed Hair Color Look Like and How to Fix It
Monoethanolamine
Simply because you use an ammonia-free color kit doesn’t mean your hair is safe. Some ammonia-free products contain an ingredient known as monoethanolamine (MEA), which works the same way ammonia does to cut through the cuticle. A 2014 study found that MEA is more damaging to the hair compared to similar amounts of ammonia.
How Hair Coloring Ends up Getting Over-Processed
The longer you have ammonia, peroxide, or MEA on your hair, the longer the cuticle stays open. This, in turn, causes more damage to your hair – in other words, over-processing.
Many people think that leaving the dye on for longer means more vivid color results. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. Hair color treatments have a built-in timer. It means that at some point, the color stops working.
Say you’re coloring your hair red, and the instruction manual indicates 15 minutes’ exposure time. Whether you leave it on for 10 more minutes or 10 more hours, it won’t get any redder than it is.
It’s a little different for bleach, though. Peroxide doesn’t stop working. If you leave this chemical treatment on longer than the recommended time, it interacts with other components in the hair shaft (like keratin) and breaks them down. That’s what causes over-processed, bleached hair.
What Does Over-Processed Hair Look Like
If you look up pictures of over-processed hair online, it often looks dry, brittle, and distressed. It appears frizzy and usually has a lot of flyaways.
If used incorrectly, the harsh ingredients in hair dyes blow apart the cuticle layer of the hair shaft, damaging the protein and amino acid bonds in the process. This leaves the hair weak and gives it a straw-like appearance. It also tends to break when brushing or styling it, which, in turn, causes it to thin out.
