Does Hair Oil Affect Hair Dye?

Have you ever heard the advice about washing your hair a day before using hair dye? Many will tell you that you shouldn’t wash your hair the day you are going to dye it in order to make sure there will be oils or dirt in your hair. 

What if you forgot or what if you haven’t heard about this? Should you put some hair oil on your hair as a substitute for the natural oils that it should still have if you didn’t wash it?

Does hair oil affect hair dye? The answer depends on the hair oil that’s naturally in your hair before you dye it. Or if you’re using a product, it depends on how much you use, and on the ingredients it contains. 

Yeah, we know it isn’t a straightforward answer! There are many factors that could impact things.

Nevertheless, we’ll break it all down in this article. 

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When Does Hair Oil Affect Hair Dye?

There is a possibility that hair oil can affect your hair dye. The first consideration would be the amount of hair oil that’s on your hair. 

When we talk about hair oil here, we are talking about both the natural oils that are produced by your scalp and the artificial ones that you could buy on the market. 

The main reason why your scalp produces oil is to help hydrate your hair and scalp. It acts as a protective barrier for the hair. 

The amount present naturally will vary from one person to another. There are many factors that can impact the amount of oil your scalp produces. That’s why some people observe that they have oily hair compared to others. 

Nonetheless, it is best for you to wash your hair a day before dyeing it to remove the excess oils.

Although a little naturally-produced oil on hair is actually good for the hair and won’t really affect the dye… too much is a different story. 

If your hair is too oily, the oils may dilute the dyeing power of your hair dye. This is particularly true if you are only using hair dyes that have developers with less than 20% peroxide in them. 

On the other hand, if your hair dye includes a developer that has a higher than 20% concentration of the peroxide, then using it with oily hair won’t matter that much. 

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Using Hair Oil Before Dyeing It

Natural oils produced by the scalp have an effect on the dye. That is also true for commercial No products found.. 

The main reason why some people want to use hair oil before they use a hair dye is to make sure that their hair doesn’t dry up or get too damaged because of the hair dye.

After all, hair dyes contain chemicals that penetrate the hair and may cause it to get damaged in the process. 

If you have just washed your hair and are worried about it getting damaged because you’ve stripped off all the natural oils in it, you can use commercially available hair oil to help protect your hair through the dyeing process. 

If you are adding hair oil to your hair, make sure that you only use a tiny amount on wet or dry hair. Remember that hair that’s too oily isn’t good for the hair dye. 

Usually, you just need to use a drop of hair oil at a time. Rub it in between your hands and spread it all over your hair. Depending on your hair length, thickness, and amount of hair you have, you may or may not need more. 

Don’t wait for your hair to look oily before stopping in adding the oil. You might not notice a difference. Put a bit on your hands and run them through your hair. That could be enough. 

Also, don’t forget to check the ingredients list of your hair oil. There may be ingredients that could negatively affect your hair dye. 

This is also the reason why you should opt for natural coconut oil, argan oil, or a mixture of both when you just want to oil your hair and give it more protection when dyeing it. 

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Dyeing Hair That’s Overly Greasy

When your hair has too much oil in it, whether natural or applied right before the dyeing procedure, the hair dye might not hold. 

In order for the hair dye to color your hair, it needs to penetrate the hair shaft. However, with too much oil on the shaft, that can’t be done. The oil will interrupt the process. 

Sometimes, the hair dye might even spread unevenly if your hair is too oily or too greasy. This can produce patches, blotchiness, or random faded areas.

It can also lessen the vibrancy of the hair color that you want to achieve because the dying process is negatively affected. 

In case there is too much oil in your hair, there are a few things that you can do to help with it. 

First of all, you can use a little bit of baby powder.

This helps absorb the excess oil. Just sprinkle it over the hair and then brush it all off gently. 

Another thing you can do is rinse your hair. Just a quick rinse may be able to remove some of those excess oils that could be on your scalp and hair strands. 

Lastly, you should also wash and condition the hair a day prior to the day you plan to use your hair dye. This will remove the excess oil and the amount produced in that span wouldn’t negatively affect the hair dye. 

The conditioner will strengthen and protect the hair from damage. That way, you can skip using a hair oil just to help prevent your hair from getting too damaged due to your chemical hair dye.