Absolutely everything I do to stop my hair colour fading
It’s 1am, I’ve got work in the morning, I absolutely hate showering at night, and my bathroom looks like a slasher scene. There is red everywhere. On the shower floor, on the glass door (Great. I can’t wait to clean that later…), on the tiles, in the grout and even on the bloody ceiling. No, I’m not having the world’s worst period, I’ve just hastily dyed my hair a hot pink, which I apparently have to do whenever I wash my hair now.
Let’s rewind: two weeks ago, I was sat in a chair at Hadley Yates Salon and Georgina Hamilton-Hopkins, A colour director at the salon, was looking at me dubiously: “You’re absolutely sure you want to go pink, babe? Like, pink pink?” I was sure — I’d been ready to enter my King Kylie era (IYKYK) for ages now. So, with a nod of reassurance, Georgina (who just so happens to be behind some of the industry’s most-famous barnets, BTW) began an entire day’s work.
Eight hours later, I left the salon feeling like Kim Possible. Read: hot as hell. My hair was bright pink — a fun addition to my otherwise boring uniform of a white tee and jeans — and it still felt healthy despite my naturally dark black base, thanks to a K18 treatment that Georgina added to my service. But there was a catch: “I’ve dyed your hair brighter than you wanted, because it’s going to start fading as soon as you wash it,” she warned as I bounced out of the salon with naive glee.
Now that it’s faded to the perfect peachy-pink shade, I maintain this by whacking a bottle of dye on it with every wash. Well, kind of — there’s a little bit more to it. “Something that a lot of people don’t realise is that any unnatural hair colour, (like blue, pink or purple), is only temporary,” says Georgina, which means you have to really commit to maintaining your chosen hue. “Brightly coloured hair equals high-maintenance hair!” she adds, before telling me that colour fades in as little as three to 30 washes — it all depends on your hair health, type and commitment to aftercare and there are somethings that you can do no matter your hair health or texture.
With this in mind, consider this your suits-all guide to all things crazy colour maintenance. Ahead, you can find out exactly how to extend the life of your perfect shade.
How to keep coloured hair vibrant
Use cold water
I’m not saying you should freeze yourself, but turning the water down to a more tepid temperature whenever you rinse your hair is ideal. “Hair follicles stay closed in cold water,” explains Georgina, “which means your colour is less likely to fade and wash out.” The hotter the water, the faster the fade.
Wash your hair... less
Yeah, this one sounds a bit odd, but trust the process. Georgina recommends finding a good dry shampoo to extend time between washes. While nobody wants really dirty hair, doing this will inevitably make your colour last a little longer because you simply aren’t washing it out as frequently. I personally adore the ARKIVE Headcare Reset Dry Shampoo — it smells dreamy and doesn’t leave an annoying residue. If I’m exercising, then I opt for Batiste’s Sweat-Activated Dry Shampoo, which cleverly releases little bursts of freshness upon contact with moisture.
Add colour to your conditioner
Ah, the tip that turns my bathroom upside down with every hair-wash day. I could (and should) tell you to get a little bowl, add your conditioner into it with a squirt of hair dye to boot, and then use a proper tinting brush to carefully apply the mixed concoction to your hair. Oh, and that you should wear gloves. Realistically though, I squeeze some conditioner into my hands as normal, add a dollop of dye, smush it together with my hands and then go to town on my hair — applying it as I usually would plain ol’ conditioner. With my current colour, I love using Pinkissimo by Crazy Color. Georgina recommends using Shrine Hair Drops, which actually comes with a handy mixing bowl and spatula for if you want to be less slap-dash than me.
If all this cocktailing sounds like a bit of a faff, opt for a pre-dyed mask instead, which can be used alone to top up colour without having to mix anything at all(!).
Use hair repair products, oils and heat protectors
Unless you’re a natural white-blonde, you have to bleach and lighten your hair before you can enjoy a vivid colour. “The lighter the hair, the brighter the colour,” confirms Georgina. This is, after all, why I spent a whopping eight hours in her chair — Georgina spent a long time bleaching every single strand before waiting for my colour to lift and then going back in to bleach any stubborn, pigmented areas further.
As a result of this bleaching (read: traumatising) of my lengths, hair repair formulas and hair growth rituals are a must. “My favourite is K18’s Leave-In Molecular Repair Mask, which reverses damage at a molecular level to improve the integrity of the hair and help lock colour in,” gushes Georgina. I must confess that I too own a bottle (or two) of this to keep my hair in tip-top condition.
Using heat protectors for both styling and sun exposure is also essential. “Using heat on your hair won’t affect the colour directly,” Georgina explains, “but heat causes damage, which leads to colour fading.” To help prevent this damage, she unsurprisingly recommends the iconic Colour Wow Dream Coat, which enhances shine and shields against humidity and heat styling. Meanwhile, a favourite of mine is the Sun Bum 3-in-1 Leave In, which not only protects against heat and UV rays but makes my natural waves look defined and shiny when I leave my hair to dry naturally.
As a South Asian girlie, I’m also quite partial to a bit of hair oiling. It keeps my scalp and hair healthy, which is crucial considering how much I’m putting my hair through when it comes to bleaching, colouring and styling. A current favourite of mine is the invigorating Cantu Rosemary & Mint Hair & Scalp Oil — I use it as a pre-shampoo treatment, massaging it into my scalp and lengths before leaving it overnight and washing it out in the morning. If I’m in a rush and don’t have an entire night to let my hair marinate, I use this oil-mask hybrid product from NUXE and leave it in for ten minutes before washing. Post-shower, I like to add a little Indē Wild Champi Hair Oil to help reduce hair fall and keep my strands looking shiny.
Rough-dry your hair before blow-drying
Hair is more prone to damage when it’s wet, so going straight in with a metal-spiked round brush to achieve your Matilda Djerf-inspired blowdry of dreams is a bad idea. Instead, Georgina says you should rough-dry your hair until it’s about 90 per cent dry before you reach for styling tools. My weapons of choice are the Dyson Airstrait and Hershesons Wand — I use the Airstrait to both rough-dry and then straighten my hair before using The Wand to deftly add sleek curls.
The Airstrait uses air to straighten hair without heat damage (score!), and The Wand has a sleek, clipless barrel with multiple heat settings to make curling your own hair easy to do. Together, these tools make styling my hair straightforward and speedy, which means I’m spending less time smothering my hair in heat overall.
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