Hair strippers are chemical treatments which are intended to strip out artificial color pigment with less risk or damage to the hair. The chemicals used are called reducing agents.
However, the action of stripping inevitably leads to weakening of the hair structure however ideal the condition prevailing, no matter what chemicals are used. Furthermore, hair stripping rarely proceeds evenly; resistant red pigments may be left' behing to give unsightly streaks in the hair shaft.
The action of a stripper is to break up the red pigments into small colorless particles. These fragments can then be easily rinsed out through the cuticle. The alkaline content of the stripper causes the cuticle to swell even more than when the hair was being tinted. The alkali opens the keratin chain the weakens the bonds holding the tint pigment to the hair protein.
Because the hair has been excessively softened during this process, it is essential that a thorough rinsing be carried out to remove all traces of the stripper. After rinsing, it is vital that the hair be reconditioned. The acid content of the conditioning cream will restore some of the body to the hair and will make it easier to manage giving the set more holding power.
Alkali strippers leave the hair in a very dry state. Although creams are included in the stripper itself, they only help prevent excessive hair damage and not really condition the hair. Mere ringing of the stripper will not bring the hair back to its normal acid Ph on reform the bonds in the cortex broken by the alkali.
Certain 'metal' strippers containing sodium sulphoites are sold for reducing hair dyed with metallic dyes, as these dyes react violently with tint stripper containing hydrogen peroxide-the subsequent reaction may cause so much heat that the hair gets dissolved.
Often grey hair treated with the so called hair restorers contain metal salts or often lead sulphide which darkens the hair. With this dyed hair, even metal strippers are not effective. In fact, the only real way to remove metallic dyes is to cut off that portion of the hair strand as soon as sufficient growth has taken place.
