Are Ammonia-Free Hair Color Brands Better?

Many hair color brands market themselves as “ammonia-free” hair colors. This phrasing makes it sound like you should want your hair dye to be a “no ammonia” hair color. After researching hair colors for over a decade, I want to share with you what I have discovered about best ammonia-free hair dye brands. These findings will help you make informed decisions and buy hair color products that you want – not what hair color companies want you to buy.

Ammonia-Free Hair Color Brands: Better Or Worse?

To begin with, ammonia is a colorless, flammable gas with a characteristic “ammonia-like” pungent, suffocating odor (source). They use it as a fertilizer and as a refrigerant as well as in the manufacturing of plastics, fibers, and other chemicals. It has many other applications, including in permanent hair colors as a hair shaft opener.

Further, exposure to ammonia may cause symptoms like eye, nose, and throat irritation. In addition, exposure to ammonia may lead to coughing, shortness of breath, breathing difficulty, wheezing, or chest pain. On top of that, conditions like pulmonary edema, pink frothy sputum, burns, blisters and frostbite may develop (source).

Moreover, in this animal study, gestational exposure to ammonia induced protein oxidative damage in the neonatal rat brain and a long-term cognitive impairment.

It makes you wonder if hair dyes that contain ammonia can cause all that, too – right? And if turning to an ammonia-free permanent hair color is actually a good idea. Stay with me on this one, though: the answer might surprise you!

Why Do Hair Dyes Need Ammonia?

Basically, for a hair dye to penetrate the hair, something corrosive must open the hair cuticle first, strip it of its present color, and let the desired color adhere to the hair shaft. Ammonia is one of the best substances to achieve this goal. As you can imagine, this process is damaging to your hair. All permanent hair colors use this technique to make the color stay longer and provide gray coverage for even the most resistant grey hair. In other words, a permanent hair coloring product must use some corrosive substance to be able to perform its permanent coloring function.

Again, only permanent hair coloring products—not semi- or demi-permanent ones—require ammonia. If it is NOT a permanent hair dye, there is no need for ammonia in the first place. So, in a way, it is like saying “plastic-free” about a glass product.  It is obvious that all glass is “plastic-free,” but sometimes manufacturers add something meaningless to their marketing claims to make their product sound good. They know we’re all very busy and might not stop to think how silly the claim is. (If that’s all they can say about their product, though, I would be very careful!)

What Hair Colors Do Not Need Ammonia?

The hair coloring products that are not permanent are called “semi-permanent” or “demi-permanent” hair colors. They do not need ammonia because they do not work by opening the hair cuticle. Instead, they coat the hair, which makes the color wash off in 8-12 washes. However, all in all, it is a less damaging process. Therefore, it may be a good idea to switch to semi-permanent or demi-permanent ammonia-free hair color brands if you can.

The downside of semi- or demi-permanent hair colors is that they do not provide full gray coverage for resistant grey hair. However, I think it is a good idea to try semi-permanent hair colors before you resort to hair dyes with ammonia for the following reasons.

First, you will skip on using ammonia. Second, semi-permanent hair colors typically use less harmful dyes (colorants) to give color to your hair. To clarify, instead of harsh chemicals with long names (e.g., p-phenylenediamine or toluene-2,5-diamine), semi-permanent hair dyes typically use hair dyes with a color name and a number (e.g., yellow 2, red 33, blue 1).

What Are The Best Ammonia-Free Hair Dye Brands?

The great news is that you can easily see ammonia-free permanent hair colors in my Permanent Hair Color Rating List. The book presents the results of a comprehensive study of numerous permanent hair dye brands. Every year I add to the list of the brands. Besides, you can contact me for feedback on a hair dye brand of your choice. Among the listed brands, you will easily find ammonia-free hair color brands as well as hair dyes with ammonia. 

Additionally, you will easily see which hair colors contain hair colorants that are classified as “extreme sensitizers” by the EU Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety, which will help you avoid them. Also, you will be able to find out all the hair colors that contain resorcinol which may have the potential to interfere with the normal function of thyroid. You will learn all of that and more so you can make an informed decision about the best ammonia-free permanent hair dye brand for you. 

However, let me reiterate that normally permanent hair dyes work by opening the hair cuticle. Hence, they must contain a chemical that will do this job. So, if there is no ammonia, there must be another chemical to perform this function. My experience of studying each ingredient in many different “ammonia-free” permanent hair colors shows that typically the ingredient used to do this job in place of ammonia is ethanolamine (aka monoethanolamine, or MEA).  Let’s learn about its role in ammonia-free permanent hair color products.

What Is Ethanolamine?

For starters, ethanolamine, like ammonia, is a corrosive chemical, and it can irritate the skin and the lungs as well. Thus, the ECHA states that ethanolamine may cause respiratory irritation and an allergic skin reaction. It must be corrosive in order to fulfill the same function – open the hair cuticle. Ironically, ethanolamine is produced by reacting carcinogenic ethylene oxide with aqueous ammonia (source). It is not surprising then that ethanolamine has an ammonia-like odor, too, albeit not so strong.

As for cancer risks, in a 2015 report, the US Cosmetic Ingredient Review Expert Panel cautioned that MEA should not be used in cosmetic products in which possibly carcinogenic N-nitroso compounds can be formed.

The EU Commission allows ethanolamine use with the following restrictions: it cannot be used with nitrosating systems, must have purity of 99% with a maximum secondary amine content of 0.5%, and a nitrosamine content of 50 micrograms/kg or less, and the products must be in nitrite-free containers. In comparison, I have not found any evidence of ammonia either increasing the risk of cancer or disrupting hormones.

On the other hand, there is evidence that ethanolamine may interfere with fetus development in animals and, possibly, humans. In an animal study, it was found to increase the risk of birth defects, which is a big deal. As for ammonia, as I mentioned above, in an animal study, gestational exposure to ammonia induced protein oxidative damage in the neonatal rat brain and a long-term cognitive impairment. Therefore, if you are pregnant or planning to be, I highly recommend not using permanent hair color with ammonia or ethanolamine altogether.

Are Hair Colors With Ethanolamine Safer For Your Hair Than Hair Colors With Ammonia?

You would think that since ammonia has a stronger smell, it is more corrosive and, consequently, more harmful to the hair. However, this is not the case. Because of their corrosiveness, both ammonia and ethanolamine can potentially damage the hair, but ethanolamine may damage the hair even more.  

In fact, in this study, researchers applied different methods to measure hair cuticle damage and protein loss. The researchers found that there is more hair damage from ethanolamine than from ammonia. In some extreme cases, ethanolamine was found to increase hair damage as much as 85% more than ammonia. Can you believe that?! I was shocked, too!

Furthermore, this study found that hair colors that contain ethanolamine versus ammonia are more likely to cause hair loss and hair dye-associated dermatitis.

Thus, apart from a more pungent smell, a hair color with ammonia may be a better choice for your hair than an ammonia-free permanent hair color.  In my Permanent Hair Color Rating List, you can find out which brands use ammonia and which ones use ethanolamine.

You might want to ask a hairstylist who has had experience using both hair dyes with ammonia and ammonia-free hair color brands which hair dye damages the hair more. Make sure, though, that the hairstylist is not bound by contractual terms with an ammonia-free hair dye brand so they will have an independent opinion. When I asked my hairstylist, she confirmed the researchers’ findings that ethanolamine was more damaging to the hair.

Summary: Are Ammonia-Free Hair Color Brands Better For You?

Instead Of Ammonia, Ammonia-Free Permanent Hair Dyes Typically Use Ethanolamine, Which Is Potentially More Damaging To The Hair And Health.

In sum, every permanent hair color must contain an ingredient that will open the hair cuticle and let the hair dye in. The ingredients that do this job happen to be very corrosive and damaging to the hair. Currently, the most commonly used chemicals as “hair-shaft openers” are ammonia and ethanolamine.

Both chemicals are corrosive and exposure to them may cause skin and lung irritation. Plus, both ethanolamine and ammonia are associated with reproductive damage in animals. Yet, ethanolamine has shown to be more damaging to the hair and cause more hair loss than ammonia.   

Personally, I would be skeptical of permanent ammonia-free hair color brands. Everything else being equal, permanent hair dyes with ammonia may be a better option for your hair, unless you are pregnant or trying to get pregnant. 

Additionally, find out why there are no organic hair color brands and read a fascinating story about Natulique hair color.

Also, remember to download my unprecedented Permanent Hair Color Rating List e-book. It will help you easily see ammonia-free permanent hair colors as well as hair colors without extreme sensitizers and resorcinol.

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