8 Winter Hair Coloring Tips and Tricks
Changes in season inspire change in ourselves. We set new goals and try new adventures. We update our makeup and explore new hairstyles and colors. Variety is the spice of life, after all! If you’ve been thinking about refreshing your look with a new winter hair color, we have eight tips and tricks to help brighten your look through the dullest winter days ahead.
1. Strengthen Your Strands First
It’s important to fortify your hair before trying a new color this winter. Even though winter hair dyes aren’t harsh, your strands must be the strongest and healthiest. This is especially important for aging hair, which is prone to dryness, brittleness, and breakage, particularly when the air turns cold and dry.
We love our Wake Up Call Volumizing Shampoo and Conditioner for an instant hair-strengthening option designed for aging tresses. This powerful duo contains Bamboo, which is high in silica and mineral content to help strengthen hair strands and support moisture retention. And when used together, they are clinically proven to reduce breakage by 98%.
We also love our Superpower Fortifying Hair & Scalp Serum for its Centella Asiatica (or tiger grass), which helps strengthen and activate hair follicles over time. Stronger, active follicles are vital for healthy hair!
2. Undo Damage with a Darker Hue
In the summertime, it’s no secret that highlights reign supreme! When the weather is warm and sunny, we love a sun-kissed style to match. But highlights can be hard on our hair.
In winter, changing your color can reprieve your hair from the harsher processes of highlighting and bleaching. Lightening treatments strip color from hair, which can damage the hair shaft. This is especially problematic for curly hair, which is even more delicate. But with darker hair dyes, color is added to hair, making the coloring process far less damaging, and the redeposited pigments help revive tresses for an instantly healthier look.
In need of some winter hair color ideas? Winter season colors like chestnut brown, warm auburn, and dark toffee blonde are perfect on-trend choices for your locks this winter season! And if you can’t part ways with the look of highlights, consider winter highlights. Toned-down highlights can be a striking way to keep the definition you love while showing your tresses the care they crave.
3. Choose a Winter Hair Color That Complements Your Complexion
As we age, our skin’s undertones can change, which means that hair colors that looked great in the past won’t necessarily be as flattering now. Examining the veins on the back of your wrist is a quick way to check your undertones. You likely have cool undertones if your veins have more of a purple or bluish tint. You have warm undertones if your veins appear more green in color.
Cool complexions look great in shades of ashy blonde and copper, while warm complexions favor mocha and honey blonde shades. If your complexion has changed with age, reevaluate whether your undertones have remained the same. Whether your undertones require a cool winter palette or warm winter colors, you want to be sure that your winter dye colors are complementary!
4. Moisture Matters More Now—Especially for Curls
Our hair and skin become drier with time. And while we know to tailor our skincare routine to our changing needs as we age, we often don’t give the same attention to our hair-care routine. If you’re coloring your hair—especially in the winter months—it’s critical to keep your strands hydrated!
This is especially true for curly hair, which tends to be drier. Our scalp provides most of our hair’s natural moisture, and oils have a more challenging time reaching the ends of strands when they travel through tricky curl patterns, especially with longer hair (they’re furthest from the source, after all!).
Try super-hydrating products like our Bounce Back Super Moisturizing Shampoo and Conditioner for Curly Hair to protect your curls as they age. They are designed to revive curls with a weightless moisturizing boost that brings back their definition and bounce!
5. Space Out Your Hair Washes
Frequent washing strips hair of its natural oils and can irritate the scalp. Spacing out washes helps prevent dryness and keeps your cute winter hair colors vibrant!
So, how frequently should we wash our hair in the winter, especially if we have color-treated hair? Our scalp’s sebaceous glands produce less oil as we age, so we usually go two to three days between washes.
To maximize the longevity of your winter hair dye, wash your tresses with the coolest water you can stand (This can be hard to handle when it’s cold outside). Washing with cold water is especially crucial if you opt for a shade of red, as this color fades the fastest. Cool water washes and washing less often will help keep all your cute winter hair colors looking salon-fresh as long as possible!
6. Ask Your Stylist for “Color Blending”
To extend the time between touch-ups on your new winter hair color, ask your stylist to color blend your hair. This involves weaving color into gray roots for a natural, blended effect. Using balayage, lowlights, and minimal highlights (in those winter season colors you’ve been eyeing), your stylist can camouflage gray hair by blending each color in with your natural gray.
As we head into the winter season, when we’re already short on time with work, family, and holiday obligations, the last thing we need is an extra unnecessary salon appointment! Ask for a color blend at your next appointment to maximize the time between color retouches.
7. Add Dimension and Volume with Winter Colors
To create the illusion of volume, ask your stylist about using a multidimensional hair color palette for some “hair contouring.” Hair that’s only one color can look thin, flat, and lifeless. Lowlights from the same chromatic range are a great option to create a sense of fuller hair—something thinning tresses will surely welcome!
If you have any lingering highlights from last summer or fall, you’re in luck, and you can likely get away with using a single winter dye color. In this instance, you’re still working with a multidimensional hair color palette because of the variety of shades already in your hair. The result? The one color you choose will set differently from your existing colors, giving you beautiful dimensions with less salon time and effort.
8. Use Color-Safe Hair-Care Products
In addition to cool water washes and washing less frequently, use color-safe hair-care products on freshly dyed winter hair. These are vital to maintaining lasting color and protecting the hair shaft of dyed locks.
Always look for products free of parabens and sulfates, as they can dry out hair and cause significant color fade. Opting for shampoos and conditioners without these chemicals will protect your hair from dryness and help you retain your true winter hair color longer!
And if you have blonde hair or any warm winter color, our Silver Lining Purple Brightening Shampoo will help keep your hair looking fresh by preventing brassy yellows from setting in.
Let Better Not Younger Take Care of Your Hair This Winter
Harsh winter weather takes a toll on our hair. For those of us who color our hair, these effects are amplified. The constant changes in temperature—freezing outside and warm inside—coupled with dry air make a perfect environment for winter hair issues. Better Not Younger has hydrating and volumizing options and great winter hair color ideas to help all hair types and colors look gorgeous this winter!
Tell us: What winter hair colors do you love this season? Share your favorite winter styles in the comments below!
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