8 Tips to Make Your Hair Color Last Longer

Living in a tropical climate can be fun, although the same can’t be said to your hair. What’s more if you get your tresses coloured. As UV rays can easily cause the colour pigments to fade, proper countermeasures should be done to ensure that the beautiful colour stays vibrant as long as possible. Here are some tips to prevent your hair colour from fading.

1. Wait to Wash Your Hair as Long as Possible

Shampooing your hair is very important, but it may not be the case for newly dyed hair. After the colouring process, wait at least 24 to 48 hours before washing the tresses to ensure hair cuticle closes thoroughly. The colouring process involves cuticle opening so that pigments can get into the keratin, hence if you wash your hair when cuticle is still open, you will wash away the colours and your newly applied colour will go to waste.

The longer you put off the shampoo, the longer the pigments are thoroughly absorbed into the cuticle, and this, in turn, ensures that colour lasts longer. If you feel the need to clean your hair after dying, rinse it with cool water and scrub scalp gently with your fingertips.

2. Rinse Your Hair with Cool Water after Conditioning

Hot water opens your cuticles and may wash away the colours, vice versa, cool water closes your cuticles and prevent colour from running off. Here’s how you should wash your hair - Rinse off shampoo with warm water, apply conditioner, and rinse conditioner out with cool water to “seal” conditioner into hair, this will also minimize colour loss.

3. Schedule Your Hair Washing

Shampooing your hair every day not only strips away its natural oils but the colour as well. Keep your colour fresh by washing every alternate day, or every third day if your scalp isn’t naturally oily.

If your hair looks dirty, greasy or limp between washes, use dry shampoo to absorb excess oil from the scalp (after all, not washing your hair in a tropical climate will likely lead to oil build up, causing hair to lose its elasticity).

4. Add a Filter to Your Shower Head

Water may contain minerals and chemicals that strip the dye from your hair, and even rough up its texture. Consider adding a filter to your showerhead to remove minerals so they don't ruin your hair colour.

5. Use a Shampoo for Colour-treated Hair

Choosing the right shampoo is also critical to your hair colour. The compounds in normal shampoo produce foaming effects to lather onto your hair, and at the same time strips away the pigments and speeds up the fading process. To counter that, simply use a sulphate-free shampoo and conditioner. Ask your stylist for recommendations on colour-friendly shampoos.

If you have vibrant and creative hair colour, you may want to consider using a colour-depositing shampoo. It not only extends the life of your hair colour; if used regularly, you can not only extend the life of your hair colour, but also keep your hair colour fresh and shiny.

6. Invest in Hair Masks and Other Hair Conditioning Treatments

Colour treated hair can be a bit fragile as the chemicals in hair dyes may leave the strands porous and dry them out. To impart moisture and shine, use a deep-conditioning mask once a week; this will help keep your hair soft, shiny and smooth, at the same time prevent colour from fading after switching up your hue.

Between your salon visits, use a glaze treatment to freshen up the look of your hair. The glaze coats your hair to add extra shine and sometimes colour that can help revive faded hair. The results typically last for 1 to 2 weeks.

7. Turn the Temperature Down

Try to cut down usage of styling tools and air-dry your hair few times a week rather than blow-drying every day to keep your hair colour fresh. If you need use heat for styling, apply a heat protectant product on your hair first.

8. Cover Up

Just as the sun can damage your skin, it can be as harmful to your colour-treated hair. Sunlight can actually fade your hair colour. If you are going to spend time outside, use protective SPF products on your hair. If you are going to be outside for a prolonged period, wear a hat or a scarf to cover your hair for extra protection.

If you love swimming, protect your hair by using a leave-in treatment before taking a dip. Chlorine in pool water and sunlight tend to strip the hair of its natural moisture, leaving it dry, brittle, and frizzy. Apply a leave-in product to help moisturize your hair, and prevent your hair from absorbing too much water. If you do not have any products with you, wet your hair with fresh water first, when your hair is already wet, it will not absorb as much pool water.

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