Hair dye: a history

One of the greatest forms of self-expression is being able to dye your hair. We’re lucky that technology and scientific advancements allow us to safely and cost-effectively dye our hair all shades of the rainbow, with very little effort on our part.

It wasn’t always that way, though. We did a fair bit of research hair dye’s past, to discover it has quite a fascinating history behind it. It turns out we’ve come a long way to achieve the easy-apply, vibrant, long-lasting colours of today. Take a look at the post below to find out exactly what has changed since those early days of hair colouring.

When was hair dye first used?

Of course, we can never be too sure about dates from the past, but historians reckon that hair dye was first used by the Egyptians, who used henna, a natural dye, to cover up their greys, followed by the Romans and the Greeks in around 300 BC, who we think may have used plants sources to do the job.

Apparently, the Romans and the Greeks were a clever bunch, because they created the first permanent hair dye – however, this soon became a slight issue when they realised the dye was, in fact, toxic. Not ideal for using on a regular basis, as you can imagine. It is thought that after that, they moved onto making a safer formula using leeches and lead, which still doesn’t sound highly appealing, really. And, of course, the only colour available was black.

How did hair dye evolve?

It wasn’t until the 1800s that we saw a significant development with hair dye. William Henry Perkin, a very serious-looking English chemist, accidentally discovered something while trying to create a malaria treatment that ended up being hugely beneficial to the evolution of hair dye to what it is today.

In 1863, Perkin created a mauve-coloured synthesized hair dye, which prompted another chemistry swat, Perkin’s professor August Hoffman, to derive a molecule from this dye which was responsible for changing colour. This molecule, para-phenylenediamine (or the preferred PPD for short), is still used in many hair dye formulas today.

When was the first hair dye created?

Evidence from 1970 shows exactly when the first official hair dye treatment was created for public use, by a man called Eugene Schueller. He called his dye Aureole, which, interestingly, then went on to become L’Oréal, the French personal care company we know and love today.

This first commercial use of hair dye prompted more businesses to get inventing their own formulas, and all number of shades started to appear on the market. In the 1930s, formulas for dying hair platinum blonde were invented, but it took until the 1950s before a safer formula was created that could lighten hair without bleaching it.

When did hair dying become commonplace?

Pretty much from the 1960s onwards, dying your hair was seen as the norm. By 1968, Americans no longer had to note their hair colour on their passports, as the hair dye revolution had made doing so completely pointless. The view on dying your hair was changing; it was now seen as far more acceptable to do so.

How is hair dye continuing to evolve?

While hair dye is a lot safer and easier to use than the dodgy days of the Roman times, there’s still plenty more that can be done in terms of creativity to help us produce the best and hair-healthiest dyes possible. We’re also seeing advancements based on consumer demand, with far more “unconventional” colours, like shades of pastel, red and grey, being developed for at-home and in-salon use.

What is the future of hair dye?

Nowadays, it’s commonplace for someone to dye their hair, and, in fact, studies have shown that up to 70% of women in the US have dyed their hair at some point in their lives. There’s certainly no chance of it losing popularity any time soon.

It’s hard to predict where the future of hair dye will go from here, but we’d like to imagine that one day, someone will invent a formula that is entirely healthy to use on hair – bonus points if it actually gives hair a kind treatment during the dying process. We’re sure we’ll continue to see new trends emerging on a regular basis, too, which will impact the colour developments made by some of the most popular hair dye brands out there today.