How to Achieve Staying Power for Your Hair Color
Sometimes all it takes to transform a woman is changing up her hair color. Whether it’s streaks, highlights, lowlights or an entirely different overall shade, nothing feels more fabulous than getting a fresh new look. Of course with coloring comes responsibility. Needless to say, there is a special regimen that women who color should follow in order to not only maintain the health of their tresses but keep their favorite shade radiant, too.
The most obvious hair care tip when it comes to coloring is to invest in shampoos and conditioners formulated to work with chemically treated hair. There are countless brands on store shelves that work to maintain and even enhance a woman’s hair color to make it last longer in between salon appointments. That’s all well and good and should certainly be a part of the routine but there are other steps to boost results as well.
If you currently don’t do so already, before heading to the salon, wash your hair. Giving the tresses a good lather, rinse, repeat at least 24 hours before sitting down in the colorist’s chair guarantees that the hair will be at its most natural state. Showing up to the salon with dirty hair could actually affect its overall color, making it not as easy for the colorist to tell what the natural shade is.
On a similar note, after the coloring has been done, hold off on jumping into the shower to wash the hair. Waiting at least 48 hours gives the coloring chemicals plenty of time to settle into the hair and become completely deposited. This particular hair care coloring maintenance tip is mainly applicable to women dying their tresses brown or red. For more information click here.
Turn to other hair care products besides a shampoo and conditioner that works with chemically treated hair. Throw a quality deep conditioner and gloss product into the mix. While this can be done at the salon, those wanting to save money can find DIY at-home versions for a fraction of the salon cost both online and in local stores. The deep conditioner serves to provide much needed moisture to color treated hair, which prevents dryness, breakage and excessive split ends. When the hair is at its healthiest, the dye looks its best.
Using at-home gloss treatments also gives tresses a naturally shiny and radiant appearance, fighting any “dullness” that might occur in between coloring appointments. It is best to deep condition at least once a week after getting the coloring done, while the at-home gloss treatments should be introduced a few weeks after coloring and used as needed or as instructed on the product’s label.
Worried about certain activities harming the results of a professional coloring job? In most cases, the common enemy of hair color is chlorine. Women who happen to be avid swimmers or that plan on making the pool their home during the hot summer months can take precautionary steps to ensure their new color won’t be wasted so soon after coming out of the salon.
The solution: apply a leave-in conditioning spray to the hair before going swimming. This acts as a barrier that rapidly slows down how fast the chlorine penetrates the hair.