How Long Can Hair Dye Last After Mixed? Can You Use Old Mixed Hair Dye?

People tend to be extra careful with their hair. After all, hair is our crowning glory. This is the reason why additional precautions are taken while coloring or dyeing hair.

But what if you are left with extra hair dye while coloring hair? Here arises the puzzling question – to use the mixed hair dye or to throw it away?

A hair dye is made up of a number of chemical components. Misusing it can severely damage your hair follicles. But it’s equally hard to discard your dollars down the sink that the dye cost you.

In this article, we have discussed everything you need to know about the preferred storage of mixed hair dye, its longevity and usage.

Can You Save Hair Dye After Its Mixed?

It is possible to save and store hair dye once it’s opened. But it is not possible to save hair dye once it’s mixed.

Saving Mixed Permanent Hair Dye

You can use the hair dye again in the future only if it is not mixed with peroxide. Once you open the hair dye and mix it with peroxide, it’s of no use to save the hair dye for future usage as it will be ineffective and will offer no color payoff.

Peroxide is a chemical component that allows the hair dye to penetrate your hair shafts for color deposition. Commonly, peroxide is mixed with permanent hair colors only.

Peroxide starts the chemical reaction as soon as it’s mixed with hair dye and loses its effectivity after a time. Due to this reason, it’s not advised to save mixed permanent dyes for further use.

Also, peroxide can react dangerously if exposed to the sun or high heat and temperature. The peroxide stored box can explode which makes it risky to save mixed permanent hair dye.

Saving Mixed Semi-Permanent Hair Dye

Semi-permanent hair dyes don’t come with peroxide to offer color payoff. Instead, they react in the presence of oxygen. Once the hair dye gets oxidized, it’s necessary to use it within a limited time frame to get the best results as they are not effective after a time.

Semi-permanent hair dyes are usually available in packets. A very few brands offer semi-permanent hair dyes in resealable containers.

You can easily save and store the hair dyes that come in resealable and air-tight containers for future use.

However, semi-permanent hair dyes available in small packets and pouches can’t be saved as the components start degrading when they come in contact of oxygen.

How Long Is Hair Dye Good for After mixed?

Both the formulas of permanent and semi-permanent hair dyes are good for only a limited time of 30 minutes after being mixed. Your hair dye needs to get into a chemical reaction to penetrate your hair shafts and give you rich hair color.

For this, it needs to be mixed with peroxide or oxygen. Oxidation occurs once the hair dye is mixed with either of these components after which you need to use the hair dye as soon as possible.

A mixed hair dye will not be as effective after 30 minutes. It will be a total disaster to use the hair dye after 24 hours.

What Happens If You Use Old Mixed Hair Dye?

Using old mixed hair dye is not going to give you your desired hair color results. Instead, you will end up severely harming your hair follicles by applying oxidized and outdated chemicals to it.

As a result, your hair will appear rough, dull and lifeless. Also, there are possible chances of explosion of the container in which the hair dye was stored due to the presence of peroxide.

Final Comments:

The best way to put an end to wasting hair dye is to take out only the required amount from the tube or container. Once it is taken out and mixed with the peroxide or developer, it can’t be saved for future use.

Using a mixed hair dye after half an hour is going to give you minimal results with maximum hair damage. Be cautious before buying a hair dye, read the instructions on the box carefully and mix only the required amount. Happy dyeing!