Hair dye causing hair loss

Both my sister (age 37) and I (age 41) have experienced hair thinning and hair loss when we color our hair. This is true whether we have it done in a salon (either permanent or semi-permanent) or do it at home with Clairol, or lately I have been using an organic product from Italy (Naturcolor), yet the hair still gets thinner. We both are rather prematurely gray, and don't like the look of our natural hair. All salons keep telling us this can't happen. can you provide any insight? Thanks.

Does it only happen when you color your hair or do you shedd all the time? Sounds like you just might be experiencing hereditary hairloss.

It gets worse immediately after coloring. My sister stopped coloring her hair for a year, and it took about 6 months for it to turn around. Her hair got somewhat thicker for the second six months of that year. She then had a reunion to go to, and colored again! Back to the hair loss. My mother never aggressively colored her hair (only occasionally) because she noticed it right away and didn't think it was worth it. She is 67 and has a very full head of hair, albeit quite salt and pepper look!

sounds like you have an allergy to something in the hair dye. You may need to be patch tested for allergies and avoid the dye with those products in them. I am allergic to propolyne glycol which is in most hair dyes. Even the peroxide can cause scalp burning and hairloss. You need to check with a dermatologist or Allergist.

http://www.ehrs.org/conferenceabstracts/2001tokyo/researchabstracts/044-tosti.htm

I'm experiencing a burning and soreness on my scalp (particularly around the crown) after dying my hair with a semi-permanent a few days ago. I've never dyed my hair before, (although I have had highlights). I'm a little concerned. It's the same sensation as if someone were pulling on my hair at the roots. Does this indicate an allergy to something in the dye? Does that mean my hair will probably fall out? If it does, will it just be temporary and grow back if I don't dye my hair again, or can it do permanent damage to the folicle? I'm surprised as the dye used was supposed to be relatively mild--it was a no-lift (no ammonia) semi-permanent with only 2 percent peroxide. It also wasn't on my head that long.
Is there anything I can do to stop the burning? I'm a little worried.

The chemicals have probably irritated the skin. Peroxide is enough. Some hair will probably fall out, but the hair should regrow again if you give it 3 months or so. Sometimes a really bad reaction can damage the hair follicles permanently but you would be in real pain if this was the case.

You can get a corticosteroid solution to help with reducing the burning. And try to avoid ittitating chemicals.
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Kevin - The management - keratin.com

How often do hair folicles actually get permanently damaged from hair dye? Is that pretty rare? Is there any way to tell if that's happened to you? That post from the women whose hair got permanently damaged through perming worried me.

Permanent damage of hair folicles by hair dye is rare. Permanent damage would involve heavy chemical exposure and would be quite painful to experience. There's no test to find out if the hair follicles are permanently damaged other than they don't grow hair.
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Kevin - The management - keratin.com

help:- i had my hair dyed underneath and small sections on top with a semi permanant in february this year for the first time and 4 hours later i had a allergic reaction as my head started really itching and burning this carried on for a few week so i went to the doctors who gave me some cortisone cream to help. then in july this year i noticed that my hair was falling out at both sides of my ears and also underneath at the back only were this dye had been put it is still slowly coming out but seems to itch before it comes out,it seems to be spreading very slowly it is starting to grow back at the nape of my neck and working its way back, do you think the hair dye has caused this or does it sound more like a condition.