I had a funny experience with Plaquenil and the hairdresser yesterday! I always get high and low lites and yesterday was no different. The hairdresser used the very same formula she has used the past several times. Imagine both our surpise when my hair was as red as Lucille Ball's! She was able to put a toner on it and take most of the red out, but it was scary for a few minutes!
I came home and checked the Internet and found that Plaquenil does indeed change your hair color- and the chemicals can cause your hair to turn red!
Just wanted to share this with anyone else thinking of coloring their hair! Thank goodness, I had a good outcome and my hairdresser was able to fix it!
I don't think this is true...your hair dresser must have made a mistake in mixing the color product. Lesley
I think Harrigan will be here soon to share her experiences. We had a discussion about this a few months ago and lots of people had the same experience with hair colour or highlights. Me ... I'm growing grey (dis)gracefully!
Love to all - Chickpea
I have also read that Plaquenil causes "hair bleaching."
Wow! Last year I had that red type of experience one time too. You should of seen the look on my hairdressers face, we both almost started to cry. She fixed it the best she could but I still had a bit of red in it. I almost let her have it and tell her off, I'm glad I didn't because now I realize it may not have been her fault. :-[
Plaquenil does cause hair bleaching or color stripping, my hair is going to be white pretty soon.
Plaquenil does indeed cause changes in hair colour in some instances, and especially in chemically treated hair, because of the interaction. I've had almost the opposite experience, I've always had a touch of red in my mousy brown hair, with a small streak of coppery colour on one side. That seems to have faded away, leaving me with just a hint of lighter brown.
Thank goodness I have a great rheumy who advised me of this problem when I first mentioned having my hair permed. He said "I don't think you better. With the Plaquenil it changes your body chemistry and you run a chance of having your hair turn red or burn and break off." (He had ask me what I was doing with the rest of my day. It was a beautiful day.)
Since I was already loosing hair right and left from the Plaq, I listened to him and found another hairstyle that didn't require a perm. After getting use to the Plaq, my hair is growing back where it thinned out. So I'm very glad I listened to him.
Pooh
I have never heard of this reaction with plaquenil....and I get my hair permed all of the time...otherwise I would look like a I don't know what! So glad it hasn't affected my hair and if it did it is very unnoticeable.
Whewwww!
Thanks for the information! See? I still learn something new here all of the time!
Oh my! I get my high lights and low lights every 5 wks like clockwork. I tried Plaq and it hurt my stomach so bad I stopped, so I didn't' experience the color thing. I take a lot of other meds though and my stylist has to put some kind of stripping solution on my hair to prep it for color.
Terri
My hair went from black to dark brown after a few months of Nivaquine (almost similar to Plaquenil). ::)
Since I'm a natural red head, this is one itty bitty thing that will not bother me!....or wait...I'll probably be one of the ones that goes white when I color!
Janna
Chickpea's right - I do have experience of Plaquenil and hair colour loss. I've been dyeing mine for years but since starting plaquenil in March it just hasn't taken the same. The roots are still mainly grey, even after my usual shade of medium brown. I was very demoralised - I don't so much mind BEING grey, just the process of GETTING there.
Teaching teenagers is hard enough without comments that 'Your roots need doing Miss!' However, I have found that a non-permanent shade without amonia works a little better. It's supposed to wash out after 4 weeks but doesn't last quite that long. If anyone else has ideas, I'd love to know. I wish I could just get rid of all the colour and be grey - is there a product that will do that?! xx Ailsa
Harrigan, I completely hear you. I'm a teacher, too, and the kids notice and ask about anything ("What up with your red eyes, Miss?"). I'm planning to use one of those temporary colors next week as a treat to myself once finals are done; I hope that it works!
I am glad it wasn't all in my head! I was mortified, but now I am laughing about it. My hairdresser said she did not think it was a good idea to color my hair anymore- and she said a perm would not do well either. She said I already have a lot of thinning and breakage, so I guess SJS has claimed one more thing from me.
I have learned one thing- SJS strips us of our vanity. Between the red eyes, dry skin, nasty dry cough that makes people afraid to be around you and now the hair problem...who has time to be vain? LOL!!!!
Thanks all for letting me share- and for sharing with me!
Hmmmm, interesting thread . . . . I have thyroid "issues" and thought my hair problems was from that (which they very well could be), but . . . they could also be from the Plaquenil!!
I have natural reddish highlights to my hair, but they have been a little bit "more" the last couple times I've had my hair colored.
It seems the color doesn't last as long as it used to . . . does anyone else notice that?
Interesting . . . .
Bucky
I sure have noticed that too! My hair is almost a "white" instead of the light brown highlights I have put in for the last several years, and no one could explain it. By the end of the 2-3 weeks, it's as though the sun highlighted it even more, very strange as I don't get out in the sun much.
And my hair is now growing so fast now that I have to have it trimmed every 3-4 weeks, and have it touched up at the same time. Hummm, could this also be a side effect of Plaquenil? Just wished I had the hair I had before the old thyroid slowed down, this fuzzy stuff is depressing.
Patze
I don't know if this will make a difference or not, I have never dyed or highlighted my hair until last year, since I have alopecia my hairstylist uses only organic perm and highlight solution...the perm did not last as long as they used to but I have not had any problems with the highlights.
I read at either Mayo Clinic or Johns Hopkins that Plaquenil can cause hair bleaching. I was looking for a reason my white hair was turning yellow. I look like a smoker (not). My hair dresser has tried everything and cannot get the yellow tinge out. She thought it might be my medication, so that is when I went hunting. I have been almost completely white at a very early age and do not color my hair because of the dry conditions of Sjogrens, just wish I had my white hair back!!!
I let my perm "grow" out and thought I'd just color my hair and find a nice short style that would work with my thin(ning) and fine hair. Well, I could see my scalp and no matter if I just colored, it looked like I had white roots, the scalp showing through. Well, I tried curling a bit with a curling iron, just a twist or two on top and sides. It wouldn't stay and I was back to straight seeing my scalp.
Well, I had a perm a week ago because I couldn't stand it any more and colored my hair at home tonight. I'm not sure what it will look like in a few days. The perm is soft and I'll add a little touch with the curling rod before I say "go." Lucy
I sure never dreamed I of all people would have issues with thinning hair and hair loss.My hair was always super thick and the stylists would complain about how long it took to dry it.I haven't had a noticeable problem with them coloring it.It always has a reddish cast.I started to do my own color lately because I hate taking time to go to the salon.I ended up with carrot orange and had them fix it but I tried again and got boring brown so I'll stick with that.I hate,hate hate the bald scalp that shows on the left front.Considered a wig even but fear it would be to hot,uncomfortable and fake looking.
Ruby
when I was on it last year,, my hair went from light brown to looking like I had bleached it