Chemo and Hair Dye: How to Support and Protect Your Salon Clients

Is your hair salon prepared to tackle questions about chemo and hair dye?

Hair dye and chemotherapy are difficult to address, because each person’s chemotherapy journey is so unique. You’re unlikely to hear the same story twice. There are different kinds of chemo for different conditions (like autoimmune diseases and blood disorders), and different reactions to the same medicines. 

The same is true for chemo’s effects on hair. A patient’s specific treatment and their body’s reaction can cause a spectrum ranging from total body hair loss, to thinning hair, to no loss at all, says Cynthia DeMarco of MD Anderson Cancer Center. Chemo medicines can even alter how your hair follicles behave when your hair grows back. Sometimes this introduces different colors or textures than the patient had before, as with hair growing back grey after chemo.

Changing and lost hair can take serious mental and emotional tolls on chemo patients, the American Cancer Society says. While receiving treatments and watching their bodies change, many patients describe feelings of identity loss, depression, loss of perceived masculinity or femininity, altered body image, and changed dynamics with their communities, Ovarian Cancer Australia shares. One patient told Ovarian Cancer Australia she no longer recognized herself in the mirror. She stopped posting on social media. Even after her hair started growing back, it was fragile and she didn’t quite feel like “herself.” 

Thus, chemo and hair dye raise a conundrum for stylists. Is hair coloring after chemotherapy (or during) safe? Can cancer patients dye their hair? Is there a hair dye suitable for cancer patients? How can you help clients look and feel their best?

Do’s and Dont’s of Chemo and Hair Dye

Is it safe to color hair after chemotherapy? What about dying hair while on chemo?

Because every person’s hair loss, treatment, and physiological response varies, answers to questions about chemo and hair dye vary from person to person, too.

Many people continue dying hair while on chemo without problems. Similarly, many resume hair coloring after chemotherapy and never have issues.

For others, highlighting hair after chemotherapy and post-chemo hair dye are a different story. Attempts to go blonde may get stuck in brassy yellows and oranges, and browns may come out pinkish-orange. This can be extra frustrating for people who find their hair growing back grey after chemo, and just want to achieve their natural color again.

Here are some tips hairstylists can follow.

Do: Give it time.

When is it safe to color hair after chemotherapy?

The general advice for how long to wait to color hair after chemotherapy is around 6 months. 

What about during? Some patients combine chemo and hair dye and see good results. Nevertheless, your client’s medical team may warn against bleaching or dying hair while on chemo. Even if they aren’t experiencing hair loss, your client’s hair and skin will be extra fragile and prone to irritation, allergic reactions, and breakage—both during and immediately after treatment. 

So before mixing chemo and hair dye, take pause. You could cause more harm than good.

To limit damage during chemo and the regrowth period, Cancer Research UK and the American Cancer Society recommend avoiding:

• Permanent dyes.
• Bleaching.
• Perms.
• Chemical relaxers or smoothers.
• Braids, ponytails, extensions, elastic bands, and anything else that pulls, tugs, or creates tension on fragile hair.
• Styling with heat.

Meanwhile, encourage your clients to use gentle haircare products and protect their hair and scalp. Scalp massages, sleep caps, mild shampoos, and hats all help, the American Cancer Society says.

Don’t: Skip the patch test.

If your client’s medical team approves of dying hair while on chemo (or hair coloring after chemotherapy, if they’ve finished treatment), start with a patch test. Even if you’ve dyed your client’s hair pre-chemo, your client’s hair could react differently during treatment. Medical approval and passing a patch or sensitivity test are essential to providing safe hair dye for chemo patients (and safely coloring hair after chemo).

Do: Take caution with alternative dyes.

With chemo and hair dye being an unideal combo during active treatment, your hairstylist clients may ask about gentle hair color after chemo or during chemo.

One popular alternative is temporary hair color for cancer patients. Using mousses, sprays, and root touchup products, your clients can temporarily blend grey and white hairs or camouflage patches of hair loss. Emphasis on the “temporary”; it washes out easily.

Vegetable hair dye for chemo patients, organic hair dye for cancer patients, and other natural alternatives are growing popular, too. Using flowers, leaves, and barks, natural hair dye for chemo patients can be gentler than the chemicals in most store-bought dyes. If safe hair coloring after chemotherapy or during treatment is something you’re passionate about providing, you can even specialize in organic, plant-based treatments, like the Bangz Hair Studio in Florida.

Keep in mind, however, that natural hair dye for chemo patients doesn’t guarantee safe hair color for cancer patients. It may be safer and gentler. But organic dyes can still contain harsh chemicals and additives. 

For example, low-quality or improperly applied henna can strip a patient’s hair of oils, causing damage and irritation. Depending on the hair type, even correctly applied henna can make hair brittle and be challenging to fix, if you don’t like the results. It’s quite permanent and can badly interact with chemical dyes. (Talk about a bad color job!) Some people even have dangerous allergic reactions.

Before offering or recommending natural products and hair coloring for cancer patients, a patch test is still a must.

Chemo and hair dye are an ongoing debate. Your support is not.

If answering questions about hair coloring after chemotherapy makes you nervous, then remember: There are lots of ways to offer your support.

Perhaps it isn’t a great time for dying hair after chemo or during chemo. That’s OK! Your salon might offer other pampering services, like facials or massages. If you and the client are friends, you might call them or take them out for lunch to catch up. Friendship and a support system can go a long way for people enduring or recovering from chemotherapy.

Here at WellnessPro, we strive to offer a similar support system for hairstylists, beauticians, massage therapists, and other wellness specialists. 

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