Transgender Forum

I've decided it's time to dye my hair again because it's going grey here and there and because I never go out, it's a rather dull colour: when exposed to the sun it brings out reddish highlights, but at present it's a boring brown (no, it's not the colour in my avatar: that's just the product over deliberately over-lightening the picture! Though bits can go that colour if sufficiently sun-bleached).

So my choices are henna, which is like smearing mud in my hair and takes literally years to wash out (literally!), non-permanent colouring which will last all of a week since I wash my hair daily, or permanent dye, which will flay all my skin off. Hmm, decisions decisions.

I've chosen the latter because frankly I can't be bothered with the others and who needs skin anyway? But all the controversy about this PPD chemical scares the life out of me. Okay, I know with this sort of thing it's going to be 10% fact and 90% scaremongering at best, but it seems that there is cause for concern. Though I did find out that the Schwarzkopf stuff I got actually has TDS in it, an alternative to PPD which is still quite nasty, but which is thought to not have a long-term cumulative effect. So that's good. And, unlike its name, it's a sort of auburn colour.

I did the skin test yesterday and did wonder if I felt a little breathless, though that just might be due to the pizza I had the previous day which caused me 8 lbs worth of bloating (really!) so the anxiety of putting poison on my skin was all it required to set me off.

Still, I'm not taking any more risks than I need to and will be wearing goggles and a boiler suit to keep the bloody stuff off the rest of me! If I don't post again after tomorrow afternoon you'll know that I dissolved or something.

My mum was allergic to some dyes but not all one actually blistered her skin - of course these were permanent dyes - but still good job you did a patch test as you could have anaphylactic shock!

Fortunately this one uses the newer TDS stuff rather than PPD or PTD: it's still quite unpleasant, but it's not a cumulative allergen like the others. The bad news is that anyone who's become allergic to PPD will likely to allergic to TDS too.

So far no undesirable effects as far as I can tell: including getting dye everywhere like last time, thanks to doing it in the side garden and using a bucket and the outside tap! One of the advantages of warm(ish) weather. Still waiting for it to dry before I can see how patchy and inconsistent my efforts were...

So my choices are henna, which is like smearing mud in my hair and takes literally years to wash out (literally!), non-permanent colouring which will last all of a week since I wash my hair daily, or permanent dye, which will flay all my skin off. Hmm, decisions decisions.

I have used the semi permanent ones (L'Oreal Casting Creme). Lasts 6 weeks fairly easily (washing at least every other day) and then it is roots showing that is the main reason to redo it.

All the best

Kath