Stop premature greying of hair: Avoid hair dyes with ammonia, sulphate-based shampoo

Premature greying of hair: Chemical processes like straightening, colouring, perming and curling the hair also leaves them porous and brittle

Premature greying of hair has become extremely common nowadays. It can mainly be attributed to pollution, stress, genetics, smoking, medical conditions, oxidative stress and even deficiency of micronutrients like iron and copper. Noticing greys in 20s can lead to panic amongst youngsters. It doesn't just impact the hair colour, but also its health.

As the number of grey hair strands increases, the hair become drier, rougher, more fragile, and even have a different shape to natural hair. This is usually because gray hair has open cuticles, which makes it lose nutrients and other components more easily, causing it to become dry and parched leading to frizz. Chemical processes like straightening, colouring, perming and curling the hair also leaves them porous and brittle.

Filter the right product to treat premature graying

Often, as the first solution, we tend to snip away the grey hair or use harsh chemical-based hair dyes. The cosmetics market currently offers a wide range of options, colours and quick fix solutions that do more harm than good. However, we need to be aware that some hair dyes often contain aggressive ingredients such as ammonia and its byproducts (diethanolamine, ethanolamine and triethanolamine) that may cause cancer in worse cases, says Clelia Cecilia Angelon, Founder & CEO of Surya Brasil.

Cecilia suggests to read the label carefully to ensure that the henna you use is free from ingredients like TEA, DEA, sulfates, PPD, resorcinol, and hydrogen peroxide. Prefer vegan, organic and natural henna with ingredients like Chamomile, Jua, Malva, Jaborandi, Babaçu Oil, Copaíba, Guaraná, Cumaru, Açaí, Olive and Coconut Powder Oil, which are mostly found in Brazilian rainforests.

These ingredients make sure that your henna gives you beautiful colours like copper, red, burgundy, brown, chocolate brown, blonde and also natural black minus the harmful impact of harsh chemicals.

It's very important to choose hair dyes that not only colour your hair, but also take care of it. Many hair dyes in the market dry out and damage the hair, causing an excessive increase in frizz and cannot be used frequently. For those who find henna messy, henna cream is available in the market that comes with easy to apply applicator for a mess free experience, she says.

For coloured hair

To help maintain the colour, it is important to use specific products for coloured hair, she says. Post-colour care shampoos, conditioners and masks are formulated with vegetable butters from the Amazon and combined with vegetable rice protein, that ensure that the hair colour does not wash away and stays for longer. Additionally, they nourish and restore the hair with ingredients.

Ensure that the shampoo you use is not sulphate based as it ruins the hair colour, decreasing the life of the colour with every wash, says Cecilia. According to her, the sulphates can lead to an imbalance in endocrine glands which may cause thyroid in some cases. Also make sure that the post coloration shampoo is free of parabens, that can potentially cause cancer.

Also, to avoid frizz, keep the hair more disciplined with regular washing and moisturising with the help of nutrient rich products. Avoid using very hot water while washing your hair as that can rob your scalp of natural oils and make it more frizzy.