11 Effective Steps to Take Care of your Colored Hair

Trying new hairstyles and coloring your hair can be great fun! Especially with the variety of products that are on the market to try out and experiment with. Using Dyes can add an interesting look to your everyday style and can even make you seem much more attractive changing to another hair color.

However, with this great change comes a greater responsibility of maintaining your hair after you’ve used chemicals and colorants on it.

Types of Hair Dyes

Hair coloring is the reaction of your hair pigments and the pigments in the dye, peroxide, and ammonia that mix and stay on your hair.

It is important to know which type of hair dye you are using so that you know how to maintain your hair. There are a few types of dyes that you can use.

Permanent Hair Dyes

These dyes need to be touched up at least once every twelve weeks. They penetrate the hair all the way to the cortex and are full of ammonia that increases the pH level of the dye.

Semi-Permanent Dyes

These dyes only coat the hair shaft cuticle, while partially being absorbed into the cortex.

Temporary Hair Dyes

These dyes need to be touched up every few weeks. The first one includes bleach – this chemical is used to lighten hair and color dark hair into lighter colors. For example, black to red and brown to yellow.

Another temporary dye is an ammonia-free dye, they do not have any ammonia in them, however, they do include chemicals such as hydrogen peroxide, para-dyes, and resorcinol. These chemicals are less harsh than ammonia-filled dyes.

Pitfalls of Hair Dye

1. Overprocessing

The ammonia in the hair dye breaks through your hair shaft and the peroxide neutralizes the natural pigment of your hair. This strips away your natural color. This is essentially damaging to your hair as you relax the hair cuticles to get to the cortex of your hair. If you over-treat your hair, it will break easily. Read our guide on caring for damaged hair for more information on this topic

2. Allergic Reactions

Hair dyes contain the chemical paraphenylenediamine and this is a common allergen. It can also cause itching, skin irritation, redness, and swelling on the scalp.

3. Effects on Fertility

Although little evidence shows the effect of hair dyes on pregnant women or fertility. It is best to stay away from these products.

4. Upkeep

It is a long-term commitment to continuously color your hair and this can cause damage to your hair and expose you to allergens.

5. Conjunctivitis

You must be careful when applying the hair dye to your hair to avoid touching your face or getting any into your eyes. If these chemicals, contact your eyes it can lead to pink eyes. It can also irritate the skin and cause inflammation and severe discomfort.

6. Asthma

Inhaling the chemicals in the hair dyes can lead to wheezing, lung inflammation, throat discomfort, and asthma attacks. This is one of the most severe allergic reactions to using hair dyes.

7. Cancer

In the beginning stages of hair dyes, a compound was used called carcinogenicity and this was cancer-causing. This chemical has been replaced but some people still feel that hair dyes could have cancer-causing agents in them.

Why Is It Important to Maintain Colored Hair?

When you color your hair your hair can become more porous. This means it absorbs and releases moisture quicker. Every time your hair gets wet it can result in the loss of color molecules.

Using colorants and dyeing your hair isn’t healthy for your hair. It can cause great damage to your hair, especially at the roots and the ends. There are also many side effects of dyeing your hair. These side effects can affect your health as well.

11 Steps To Maintain Colored Hair

Aside from getting the right hair colour that matches your natural hair, maintain said dyed hair is important as well. Here are some tips that you can use to maintain colored hair,

1. Wait three days before using shampoo

After coloring your hair, you need to wait for three days before you use shampoo on your hair. When you apply colors to your hair, the hair cuticle layer is open and exposed for the color to be absorbed into the hair shaft.

This means that by washing your hair sooner than 3 days you could risk washing out the color as the cuticle layer can still be open. The longer you wait until your next wash, the more pigments can soak into your hair cuticles. This results in your new hair color staying in longer.

2. Use sulfate-free products on your colored hair

Sulfate is found in a lot of hair care products, it is an anionic detergent used to help produce the foaming you see in your shampoos and conditioners.

If you use products that have sulfate in, your hair will be stripped of its natural oils and its moisture. Once you lose your natural oils and their moisture, your color can be stripped away as well. Use a non- sulfate shampoo and condition to avoid your color from fading out.

3. Add dye to your conditioner

If you want to brighten your hair color, add some dye to your conditioner. Use Kristen Ess’s Color – Depositing Conditioner to re-dye your hair every time you wash your hair. This will keep adding color to your roots until they grow out completely.

4. Use cold water when rinsing Shampoos

If you use hot water to wash and rinse your hair you risk washing out your hair colors. Use lukewarm water to wash your hair with shampoo and cold water to rinse off after you use conditioner.

The warm water will make it easier for the shampoo and conditioner to clean the hair and scalp while the cold-water rinse will seal in the moisture of the conditioner and prevent the color from fading.

5. Wash your hair less times

Try washing your hair 2-3 times a week to help maintain your color. However, if you start to notice that your hair is becoming greasy and oily and your hair color is fading, mix your shampoo and conditioner together to help keep your color longer.

6. Use dry shampoo on the days you don’t wash your hair

Try a color-safe dry shampoo. This will help keep your hair fresh and revamp your colors without running the risk of washing them out.

7. Use leave-in treatments on your hair

Using leave-in treatments will help protect your hair color. Hair that has been colored and chemically- treated often needs hydration and protection from the sun to prevent hair damage and loss of natural oils.

Leave-in treatments help smooth your hair and hydrate it. UV protection treatment helps the color not to fade in the sun. You can even opt for a sunscreen spray as it serves the same purpose.

8. Use heat protectant sprays

Using heat tools to style your hair will lead to damaged hair and strip away your hair color. Make sure to use a heat protectant spray before you use heat on your colored hair.

Heat protectant sprays reduce the moisture loss from inside the hair and smooth the outside to protect your hair from humidity. Even while using the heat protectant spray before using hot tools on your hair, ensure that the tools are on their lowest heat setting to help maintain your color and not pull it from your hair.

9. Prepare for the next color session

The day before you color your hair again, use a clarifying shampoo. This shampoo strips away hair oils that could block your color from being absorbed into the cuticle at a deeper level

10. Avoid saltwater and chlorine

Do not go swimming in pools or the ocean, chlorine is a chemical bleach that will remove all the color from your hair if you should go swimming. Before getting into a pool or going into the ocean, put conditioner on your hair and then put on a swimmer’s cap to create a barrier between the saltwater and the chlorine and your hair.

11. Make sure to trim your hair

If you have dead ends or split ends the color won’t stick to it, and it will fade faster than the rest of your hair. Make sure to trim your edges every 6-8 weeks.

Best Products to Use For Maintaining Dyed Hair

By using the right products to maintain your color-treated hair you can maintain the look for longer. Here is a list of the best products to use,

• Pravana The Perfect Brunette Toning Shampoo

Brunette hair can quickly fade. This toning shampoo consists of blue and green pigmentation, and this helps cancel out the red or orange color that you can see when the brunette starts to fade.

Use shampoo and let it soak into the hair for a few minutes before rinsing off.

• Olaplex Hair Perfector No. 3

This conditioner helps to restore your hair back to the way it was. It strengthens the hair structure and reverses the damages your hair might have. Using this conditioner means further protecting your hair from damage should you color your hair again.

• Amika Soulfood Nourishing Mask

Dry and damaged hair should get a mask treatment at least twice a week. This product helps prevent color from fading and it also moisturizes and strengthens hair.

Use the mask when you have extra time and leave it on for about 10-20 minutes before rinsing off.

• Color Wow Color Security Conditioner

Instead of just having conditioning agents that do not change the makeup of your hair or the color, this conditioner helps in detangling and smoothing colored hair. It also helps prevent breakage.

• Keracolor Color Plus Clenditioner

This clenditioner is for all those bright colors just as pinks, blues, and purples. It can also be used for redheads if their color is fading.

• IGK Call Time Styling Primer

This styling primer has a UV protectant and acts as a detangler to help protect your hair from heat and prevent your color from oxidizing. Its ingredients include coconut oil and water and thus keep hair frizz-free.

• Joyce K- Pak Color Therapy Shampoo & Conditioner

If you are someone who has used a lot of bleach or lightener on your hair, these products are good for that protein-depleted hair.

With the help of the Quadra bond peptide, it restores and repairs the hair’s natural layers. It also allows for the color to last longer and reconstructs and hydrates the hair.

Are You Equipped to Take Care of Your Colored Hair?

This article explains how important it is to keep maintaining your hair especially after exposing it to harsh chemicals such as dyes. You could opt for natural alternatives such as coffee or tea, food coloring, beetroot and carrot juice, lemon and honey, and henna. These healthy homemade dyes can be substituted for chemical hair dyes and still achieve the same results without the negative side effects of damaging your hair.  

Although coloring your hair is a fun activity there are some precautions you need to take while you dye your hair. Avoid using permanent dyes, use temporary ones as they have a less harsh effect and do not contain as many chemicals as the permanent dyes. Test your dye on a piece of hair before you use it on your whole head. You could also rather go to a professional instead of doing it yourself with products that are harmful.

Use hair dyes in a well–light and well-ventilated area. Make sure to use trusted brands even though it might cost you extra. Check out some of the hair products, dyed hair extensions, and accessories that JuvaBun has, they will definitely take care of your dyed hair and make your hairstyles look spectacular!

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