Your tween may want to express their individuality by changing their hair color. Now the decision on whether to allow them to dye their hair is completely up to you as a parent. But if you do allow your tween to take on a new hair color, there are a few things to keep in mind about the whole process.
For their first time, you might want to take them to a salon and have a discussion about their type of hair. Some hair colors tend to be very harsh and if your tween isn’t aware of how to take care of color-treated hair, they can easily fry their hair. For tweens with really dry hair, you also want to add a deep conditioning treatment during the salon visit.
The school they go to probably has a dress code regarding hair color. Usually, this dress code requires tweens to maintain a natural color. This means that orange, blue, some reds, and purple are automatically ruled out. To help your tween from getting in trouble at school, pick out the more natural looking hair colors and ones that are already close to their natural color. Save the wilder colors for the summer months.
In addition, save the extreme color changes such as black to blonde for the summer months as well especially if this is the first attempt. A lot of bleaching products can turn dark hair orange rather than desired blonde color. Until you know exactly how a product is going to affect your tween’s hair, the summer is the best time to attempt those drastic changes.
Stick with the temporary hair colors. Avoid anything that says semi-permanent or permanent. This way your tween can easily change color if they change their mind which happens a lot with tweens. You also avoid any prolonged embarrassment by your tween if the color doesn’t come out quite as the box promised.
Periodically, check your tween’s hair to make sure that it isn’t becoming fried if your tween is changing their hair color more than once or twice a month. You may need to temporarily put an end to colorings if there is damage. A hair salon can only fix so much with color damaged hair. At some point, their hair is going to need time to recover in order to accept color again.
Your tween is at an age when looks are important and there is a need to express their individuality. Coloring their hair is a part of that. If you decide to let them, then just make sure that they take care of their hair in the process.