How to Care for Color Treated Hair

Found a color that you absolutely love and want to make it last as long as possible? Here are some tips and tricks on color-treated hair care.

Hair color is always a fun way to change up your look and express your individuality. Gone are the days when people just colored different browns, blacks, and blondes. Hair color now ranges from all the colors in the rainbow and every which tone and hue. People now use hair color to be artistic, do something fun and new to their look, and show some personality.

Once you find a hair color that you love, it’s a top priority that you maintain its vibrancy and make it last as long as possible. Whether you are using permanent color or semi-permanent color, you want to have a hair care routine that caters to your color-treated hair so that it stays on for as long as it possibly can.

So, what should change once you color your hair from your ordinary hair care routine? Here are a few things you can for your color-treated hair care routine.

Wash Less

Coloring your hair, if you used bleach, makes your hair very porous and dry. It comes with the territory, and there is nothing you can do to prevent it. But there are ways that you can make sure that even though your hair does take some damage from the color, you are still making it as healthy as possible given the circumstances.

Washing your hair less will help it retain more natural moisture and lessen the dryness. Because your hair is more porous and dry after washing, you’ll find that you will need to and should washing it way less than before. Shampooing hair strips it of moisture. Washing your hair also means that you are one step closer to washing away your color. It takes approximately 30 or so washes for a permanent coloring to fade, and for demi or semi-permanent color, even less. Washing less will slow down that fading process.

Use a Sulfate-Free Shampoo

As mentioned earlier, shampooing the hair strips it of both moisture and a layer of color especially if you are using a shampoo that contains sulfates. Sulfates are a very harsh detergent designed to cleanse away the heavy buildup. Because of this, sulfates are quite drying, stripping, and will definitely speed up the process of your hair color fading.

To limit the harsh effects of shampooing the hair, use a gentle sulfate-free shampoo instead such as the Mayraki Ultra-repairing & Weightless Moisture Shampoo. This shampoo will not strip the hair of its natural moisture but still cleanse your hair thoroughly of excess oil and buildup. Making sure that your hair still has moisture and the color isn’t harshly washed will make your color last longer.

Limit Heat Damage

Heat has been proven to speed up the process of fading for hair color. After coloring your hair, it’s best to limit heat styling in your routine. This includes blow-drying (on a hot setting), curling irons, flat irons, and any hair styling tool that uses heat. Especially during the first week of your color, it’s best not to use heat styling tools at all. If you must, since you are already washing your hair less, just style your hair after every wash and keep it fresh by putting it in protective styles.

Limit Your Shower Temperature

Heat doesn’t only come from styling tools, you also encounter heat during your shower when you turn up the temperature and let the hot water rain down on your hair. We all know that hot showers are just about the best thing in the world. It feels amazing to have a nice hot shower especially when it’s a little chilly. However, a tip for making your hair color last is to limit the temperature that you wash your hair with. You can do this without taking a miserable cold shower by turning down the temperature and washing your hair separately. Turn your head upside down and let lukewarm water run over it. Then you can turn up the temperature once you are finished with your hair and still take a hot shower.

Filter Your Water

Chlorine has a reputation for fading hair color super fast. That’s why it’s usually also advised not to swim in pools too much if you want your color to last. But chlorine isn’t just found in swimming pools, it’s also in your local water supply to keep the water clean. One way you can combat this is to get a shower filter to get rid of chlorine, hard water, and other chemicals in the water supply.

Use a Heat Protectant

One of the most frequent ways your hair gets heat damage is not only just with heat styling tools or a hot shower. If you’re one to enjoy sunny days and are always out and about, your hair is probably prone to heat damage from the sun. Not only will the heat damage from the sun fade out your color much faster, but it’s also going to turn it into weird shades as time goes along. To prevent this, use a heat protectant with SPF on your hair every time you go out.

Deep Condition Less, Use a Regular Conditioner

Deep conditioners and hair masks are usually amazing for the hair and highly encouraged. However, if you have color-treated hair, it may not be the best thing for you to regularly do. That’s because deep conditioners and hair masks as usually hard to wash off and they grab onto hair color molecules and take it with them as you wash it off. Instead of using intense deep conditioners or hair masks, just use a really good but light conditioner when you wash your hair.

Keep It Colorful

Hair color will always fade in time, this is just how things go. But caring for your hair in a way that considers your color-treated locks will make a significant change in how your hair color lasts. Take these tips and tricks and use them in your routine to make sure that you’re getting the most bang out of your buck!