History of the beginnings of colorimetry.

Who used the first hair dye?

As we have already said, the pioneers in hair issues were the Egyptians, who applied henna to cover their gray hair, but they were not the only ones, the Romans and the Greeks were not far behind. It is even said that the Romans created the first natural dye in hair. black color and they achieved it by extracting the pigments from some plants, the Greeks also set to work to create more shades, a curious fact is that in the time of the Roman Empire the women of the gallant life had to wear blonde hair and They achieved this with a series of herbal mixtures.

Some ancient civilizations change  They used hair dyes on the battlefield as a means to show their rank and scare the enemy.  and the color red was his favorite

In Mexico we are not far behind either, the Aztecs dyed their hair ,  with a mixture of black clay and acacia powder .

During the Renaissance, it seems that it was in Venice where the technique of  hair discoloration  by applying a solution of natural soda or natrum and exposing  to the  hair  in the sun for hours , too  It was carried out with a mixture of beech wood ashes that formed a paste with goat tallow .

Many of the things we use every day were created by accident and dye is one of those things, in 1856 Professor William Henry Perkin  In his search for a cure for malaria, he created the first synthetic mauve dye, adding to this discovery August Wilhelm Von Hoffman , a professor specializing in chemistry  that created paraphenylenediamine (PPD ,  This element is still present in the base of many permanent dyes.  is for this that I know  He considers him a pioneer in colorometry.  This method spread to the rest of Europe and was highly appreciated in France.  ye s in  1860  when you start applying hydrogen peroxide in hair cosmetics to bleach your hair.

But like everything, over time it continued to evolve and in 1908  the French chemist, Eugene Schueller took the PPD and made history by creating the first hair dye commercially.

The dyes were perfected and in a short time the double process to dye hair blonde appeared on the market, already in 1950.  Lawrence Gelb,  invented the first dye that lightened hair without bleaching it.

Since then, hair dyes have been perfected and we find an endless number of techniques and shades to recreate incredible looks, the complete opposite of the era of the 50s where a sober and simple look in natural shades was sought, the hair revolution took place. It was in the 70s where we began to see more marked blondes and even copper and red.

Fashion and trends have changed and evolved since then but the basis of colorimetry remains the same.