When you’ve spent the money to dye your hair, you don’t want the color to fade too fast. Regardless of whether you’ve chosen a box dye, or had your hair professionally dyed in a hair salon, all hair dye fades.
There are some things you can do, to try and reduce the speed of color fade, to make your hair color last longer.
Why Does Dyed Hair Color Fade?
Hair dye works by opening the outer layer of the hair shaft, so the hair dye can settle inside, but the dye isn’t permanently sealed in.
Every time your hair gets wet, the hair strands swell slightly, and some of the hair dye pigment slowly slips out – which is why we can see some hair color leave our hair, when washing.
If you wash your hair too often, use hot water, or frequently use hot hair tools, it speeds up the process of the hair color fading.
Plus, sun exposure and pollution can also weaken your hair color over time, leaving your hair color looking brassy or dull.
Hard water can cause a mineral buildup on the hair, which also affects how your hair dye looks, and how long it lasts.
If you hair is already dry or damaged, before applying hair color, the color tends to fade faster, as the hair cannot hold onto pigment as well.
What To Do In The First 48 Hours After Coloring
The first 48 hours, after coloring your hair, is the most important, and should be seen as a “set time” for the hair dye pigment.
Try and keep your hair strands dry, and touch it as little as possible, as water, sweat and friction can all disturb fresh hair dye.
Avoid wearing your hair in tight ponytails, wearing hats and rough towel rubbing when drying, and instead use a soft microfiber towel to blot the water. Plus, use a satin or silk pillowcase for sleeping, to reduce friction.
You should also avoid swimming pools, hot tubs and saltwater, and also protect your hair from the sun, by using a UV spray.
When brushing your hair, detangle gentle with a widetoohed comb, starting at the ends, an apply a lightweight leave-in conditioner to reduce tangling.
How Often Should You Wash Freshly Dyed Hair?
After the first 48 hours are up, aim to wash your hair 2-3 times a week, as shampoo lifts a little hair dye every time you wash your hair, and can end up dulling shine.
If you have oily hair, stretch the time between your hair washes with a rinse-only day, to refresh your scalp, and reduce the amount of fully hair washes you have.
When it comes to your ideal hair washing routine, it will depend on your hair’s natural texture and your hairstyle.
If you have fine, straight hair, you may need to wash your hair every other day.
Those with thick, curly or coily hair, can wash their hair once or twice a week.
Although, if you swim, work out daily, or live in a humid environment, you might need to wash your hair more often, but try and avoid daily shampooing.
Here are three ways you can make your hair dye last a little longer…
Deep Conditioning Treatments
Deep conditioning treatments can make a noticeable difference in how long your hair color lasts.
Color-treated hair loses water and “lipids” faster, so your hair can feel rough, and end up leaking hair dye.
If you use a weekly deep conditioning treatment, it’ll boost moisture retention, smooth the hair’s cuticle, and help keep pigments in place between salon visits.
Choose a conditioning treatment specifically for color-treated hair, as they tend to contain ceramides, fatty alcohols and plant oils, and apply the conditioner after shampooing, like you do with your usual conditioner of choice.
Comb the treatment through your hair (gently), and leave it to sit for at least 5-10 minutes.
Using Cold Water
Cold water can help to lock in your hair color, by keep the hair’s cuticle flatter, so less dye molecules can slip out, when your rinse your hair.
After shampooing and deep conditioning, use a cool hair rinse for 30-60 minutes, to seal your hair color.
If icy cold water feels too intense, you can start with lukewarm water, and end with cold. Focusing the coolest water on your mid-lengths and ends, where hair color tends to fade fasted, and keep the water pressue moderate, so you don’t roughen up the hair’s surface.
Avoid long, steamy showers, as that can swell the hair’s cuticle, and encourage more color bleeding.
Between hair washes, you can refresh your scalp with a quick cool rinse, and gently massage, instead of a full hair wash.
Sulfate Free Shampoos
Harsh shampoos strip away hair color pigment, every time you wash your hair. Switching to a sulfate-free shampoo will help to keep your hair dye richer, and longer lasting.
Sulfates create lots of foam, when washing your hair, and the sulfates roughen the hair’s cuticle, and pulls out hair dye, especially from freshly colored hair.
You will still thoroughly cleanse your scalp with sulfate-free shampoos, without over-stripping, so your hair color looks deeper, and highlights stay refined.
Look for formulas that are labeled as being “color safe” and pair them up with a matching conditioner, to seal in moisture.
Focus your shampoo on the scalp, and not the ends, and let the bubbles rinse through the lengths, or scrubbing