L'Oreal & PPD's

I was worried when I saw this and decided to stay away from box dyes.

Would this be the same with bleaches though? :/ Sorry bit dumb as to whats in.

Bleach doesn't contain PPD's. Bleaches remove colours and PPD's are responsible for keeping them in, so a whole different kettle of fish but a good question nonetheless!

What PPD's do is allow the colour in hair dye - particularly dark colours - to stick to the hair shaft. It's what makes permanent hair dyes... Permanent!

Bleach undoes the work that PPD's do but that doesn't mean that if you have a reaction to PPD's you should use a bleach. The PPD's stick - like glue - and once they're on your skin they're already causing a problem. If you use a PPD based dye and you have a reaction go immediately to the hospital, they can treat you there.

I'm a bit lazy and don't use bleach to re-do my roots (because I don't understand volumes etc and am worried that I'll really frazzle my hair since I'm mousey blonde) I use things like clairol root touch up which does contain PPDs D:

Time to learn how to bleach I guess.

No problem Daftscrawl. Volume relates to the amount of time the bleach stays active. 20 vol is active for a shorter time than 40 vol. Twenty is great for removing a small amount of colour, 30 is good for a lot of colour loss and I would never recommend anyone uses 40, especially if they're not used to bleaching. You really need to know how to use that stuff before you stick it on your head. Some people's skin can't take the long exposure to working bleach, which is why 40 vol should be left on the shelf at the chemist in my humble opinion.

Most bleach packs, like the XXL ones that I use are quite gentle and all you need to do is make sure you follow the instructions and do NOT exceed the development time. The time starts when you apply the first bit of bleach to your hair.

Bleach from about two finger widths from the roots and comb it down through the hair. Then very last add bleach to the roots, the roots develop quicker due to the heat affecting the bleach. If you bleach all at once you end up with pale roots and yellow/orange lengths so always do the roots last unless it's a roots only application for touch ups.

matty, can i just ask you a quick question?? My roots are dark and need doing, my ends are a gross faded pink/orange colour and I need to bleach bath it all to get a good base. Do you think I should apply it to the roots first then the ends as they're not as dark? silly question as im guessing the answer is yes :S

I didn't realise life colour didn't have PPDs in it! I'll move back to that! Means I don't have to learn how to mix bleach up myself and no doubt make a complete mess of it. Thankies 😀

^^^ When in doubt, always check ingredients.

I've looked at XXL Live Platinum's ingredients and can't find any mention of PPDs, so the XXL blondes are the only permanent dyes that will touch my scalp again.  As Matty said, they are quite gentle because they're only a small amount of bleach with a low volume developer.

meeshy that sounds about right to me, it depends on the level of difference between them though. I would bleach bath the roots this week and do the rest next week but if your roots are substantially darker you may have to bleach bath a few times or maybe straight bleach the roots then wait a month to bleach bath the ends, I wouldn't do both at the same time just to be on the safe side.

XXL is non permanent so yeah, no PPD's. Anything with "semi" on the box should be fine but as Intemp says, check the ingredients for either the abbreviation "PPD" or... write this one down... "para-phenylenediamine" because they may use the full name to confuse you.

PPD's are used to stick colour to hair permanently so stay away from permanent dyes and you should be fine.

I find XXL is pretty amazing as a bleach anyway compared to the root touch up stuff I have been using, I just stopped using it because I make such a horrendous mess with it.

I would just like to point out that although the risk of developing an allergy to PPD's when using permanent hair dyes is a very real risk, and steps should always be taken to prevent an allergic reaction, the amount of people who this actually happens to in comparison to the amount of people who use permanent hair dyes on a regular basis is actually a very tiny percentage.  However, it is a very real risk, and in order to prevent this happening, always, always, always do a skin patch test 48 hours before dyeing, every time you dye, regardless of how many times you've dyed your hair in the past or how many times you've used the exact same brand/colour of dye before, as this kind of allergy can develop at any time!

Thanks for this Mathurine. I am going to learn how to mix my own bleach after reading this, and put the word out. I know my sister uses a lot of box dyes (i've only used the XXL ones myself and other blondes) and she should know about this!

Now to mix my own bleach. Uh oh! Is the skin test for bleach & developer the same, 48 hours?

Bleaching is fine, Raspberry, it's pemanent dyes that contain the PPD's.

As Mindi, quite rightly said, it's a rare allergy but sadly it can crop up at any time on anyone for no apparent reason. It's a scary thought that last month you could have dyed your hair and been fine but this month you could end up with swelling and complications that end you up in hospital.