When you have left the hairdressers with a new hair color, you want to keep the color looking as good as it did on day one, right? But sometimes, even after one wash the color can fade and not look as good as before. So how can you keep that ‘just done’ look even after you’ve left the salon? Here are some tips to help you to care for your bleached or dyed hair.
photo by Snapshots by Sierra
Use a Quality Color
The difference between going to a salon  or doing it yourself at home, can be that the quality of the product you’re using at home is likely to not be as good. When you use professional hair color, it is going to be well made, with conditioning properties that will carry on moisturizing your hair as time goes on.
If you’re going to do it yourself, then look for the colors that are labeled as ammonia-free or that use natural oils like avocado oils, for example. These are much more likely to make the color last. I’ve been known to use a box from time to time, and my other tip, and this only applies to blondes, is to go darker and cooler than you think. Bleachy and brassy is not a good look, but I love my most recent experience with a darker ash color.
And make sure you love your stylist. There are three people in the world I trust with my blonde: Sylvia & Jenn P. at Progressions (Sylvia did my highlights from when I was 12-18 and Jenn started doing them when I was in college) and Amanda at Illusions.
Don’t Wash Your Hair Daily
Of course, you need to hop in the bath or shower daily. But you don’t need to always wash your hair when you’re in there. Washing your hair every other day, or even longer perhaps, can help to make the color last longer. Plus, the things that you are washing your hair with can strip the natural oils from your hair. And when your hair is drier, it is going to absorb color less. So do think about how often you wash it.
Use a Shampoo For Your Color
If you want your hair color to last longer and keep looking as glossy as it did on day one, then using a shampoo and conditioner that are specific to your color is going to help. Not only will it help to keep the color to last longer, but it will be designed to treat drier hair, just as colored hair will be. You could look at a site like The Right Hairstyles, for example, as it has a review of shampoos for dyed hair if you needed to find one right for you. But speak to your hairdresser as to what they recommend too.
Choose a Toner
This can be specifically if you have blonde in your hair, but a toner works wonders to bring the color back to life. If you have some blonde in your hair, then it can fade with time and become a little yellow or brassy. Which is where a toner comes in as it adds in tones of blue or violet, to balance out the brassy yellow tones. This is good to do every couple of weeks, to keep your hair looking as good as new. It is especially important if you’re trying to achieve the silver or platinum blonde look.
BONUS: Play with color
When I was in college, this girl Missy dyed the underside of my hair hot pink for Halloween. A ton of fade, two bleachings, and seven months later, I was back to blonde. But gone are those days! There are shampoos and conditioner with fun colors abound, but my favorite is the Celeb Luxury brand shampoo. I’ve used their silver and lavender and I’m going to have a little pink somethin’ somethin’ for my bachelorette party but the best part is I can use it for a few days, and then it comes completely out in a couple washes once I’m sick of it!
Do you have experience of dying your hair different colors? Have you found anything that works for you? It would be great to hear what you think.
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have you ever used the “purple shampoo”? i had a friend recommend it to me now that i have all the blonde on my hair.
I’ve used two kinds actually! A super pricey one that I only used once or twice a month- Oribe Bright Blonde- as a toner and general blonde upkeep
and the the Celeb Luxury Color Viral in Lavender and that was for fun! It was cooling to my blonde but using it for a few days in a row it actually made my hair a nice unicorn blue (I wish it had been more purple.) 10/10 would recommend SOME kind of purple shampoo to keep your blonde from being brassy!