Lately, I’ve been having the urge to color my hair. I think about it almost three to four times a day. I even stalked the Dark and Lovely coloring kits at Target last week and was super close to buying one (I didn’t do it though).

Part of the reason why I have yet to color my hair is because I’m nervous to. I’m not necessarily nervous about doing it myself because I would never do that! I would absolutely pay a professional take care of that for me. I’m more nervous about the extra time I would have to invest in my hair. I already know the amount of work I put into my hair just to keep it healthy. I can only imagine the extra maintenance I need to do to make sure my hair doesn’t break off from the chemical processing.

I did a little research to help me determine if I should color my natural hair. I already know that I need to have a permanent color process done to my hair to lighten the natural pigment of the follicle. During this process, the hair cuticle is lifted to allow the auburn color (the color I want!) in. Titi Branch of Miss Jessie’s stated on NaturallyCurly.com, “A cuticle that is rougher (kinkier textures) is actually more porous and more likely to take color faster. Wavier textures tend to have a smoother cuticle (and are more likely to be more resistant to color) unless there has been some chemical processing to cause a looser curl pattern to be more porous.”

While the cuticle is lifted, it is very important to do a moisturizing deep conditioning treatment (with heat) after coloring the hair for about 20-30 mins. This allows your hair shaft to be penetrated while the cuticle is opened. According to an article on blackgirlwithlonghair.com, rinsing the deep conditioner out with cool water will help smooth and close the cuticle which keeps your color and moisture in the hair shaft. Doing deep conditioning treatments twice a week, along with regular hair maintenance will help keep your hair moisturized and prevent breakage.

Since I currently deep condition my hair once every two weeks, deep conditioning twice in one week seems like a lot (sigh). My life just doesn’t accommodate the extra time needed to maintain color-treated hair, so I’ll hold off on debuting sun-kissed auburn kinky tresses for a little while longer.

If you need me, you can find me in the Target hair dye aisle.