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What are the halachic issues involved in hair dyeing for women? Most importantly, does hair dye constitute a chatzitza for mikvah?
Also: are there any communities that forbid hair dyeing altogether? A book I am reading mentions anecdotally that it is forbidden in Satmar; is that so anywhere else, and why?
From the Shiurim of Rav Baruch Gigi of Yeshivat Har Etzion
The Rashba (Torat Ha-bayit Ha-katzar 32b) wrote in a similar vein about a woman who dyed her hair: "It [the coloring] is now part of the hair, like dye is part of a colored garment. Dye is not considered a separate thing that is a chatzitza, but part of the garment itself that does not impede the immersion [of the garment]." Rashi (Eiruvin 4b) writes that an obstruction that one is not particular about does not impede the immersion because it becomes "part" of the person's own body.
Shulchan Aruch Y"D 198:17-
צבע שצובעות הנשים על פניהן וידיהן ושער ראשן, אינו חוצץ.
(My translation) "Color that women use to color on their faces, hands, and hair of their heads, is not chotzetz."
Maran doesn't seem to object to the practice of women coloring their hair; i doubt he would have written dinnim about it if it was assur.
Just to add to Gershon's point: there's a serious problem for a man to dye his turning-grey-or-white hairs black, as it's "feminine practice." Implying that it was normal for women to dye their hair!
