Pro Tips for Preventing Your Hair Color from Fading
Nothing is more frustrating than leaving the salon with a gorgeous, vibrant new hair color, only to find that beautiful hair color faded within two weeks. Watching our fresh hair color come out in the shower is like watching money go down the drain!
So, what can you do if your hair dye keeps washing out?
Incorporating hair products for color-treated hair into your hair-care routine is crucial. As we age, it becomes even more essential to protect our aging locks from environmental, physical and chemical stress. Protecting our hair after dyeing not only helps maintain the health of our hair, but it also helps prevent our hair color from coming out in the shower and turning brassy or dull.
We’ve got expert advice for dealing with hair color that fades quickly, along with how you can incorporate hair products safe for color-treated hair into your hair-care routine to extend the life of your color. Read on for more tips on how to prevent your hair dye from washing out!
How Can I Keep My Vibrant Hair Color from Fading?
1. Use a Sulfate-Free Shampoo and Conditioner for Color-Treated Hair
The best shampoo and conditioner for your aging, color-treated hair will be free of sulfates and parabens and specifically address your unique hair’s needs. For example, curly tresses require much more moisture than straight hair, so a shampoo with shea moisture for color-treated hair, like Better Not Younger’s Bounce Back Super Moisturizing Shampoo for Curly Hair, is a perfect choice for hydrated, defined curls.
For thin, fine locks, however, shea moisture on this color-treated hair may weigh hair down too much. We love our Wake Up Call Volumizing Duo for a color-safe volumizing option. Wake Up Call uses natural ingredients like bamboo, sage and burdock root to strengthen mature hair and add body without causing dryness!
Pro tip: Don’t head straight to the shower to suds up after you leave the salon. Talk to your stylist about how long to wait before shampooing, so your new color has time to set.
2. Avoid Shampooing Your Hair Daily
Daily shampooing can dry out your tresses and cause your hair color to fade quickly. To stretch out the time between salon visits and maintain your vibrant color, wash your hair every other day at most—longer, if you can manage!
“Try to avoid shampooing daily because water lifts our hair cuticles,” says Emily Kirk, stylist and owner of Salon Shenanigans in St. Louis, Missouri. “Any time the cuticles on our hair are lifted, the color can fade, and this is caused by changes to our hair’s pH balance. Our hair is happy at a 4.5 to 5.5 pH balance. Water changes our pH and can cause the cuticle to lift, which allows color to fade from our hair’s cortex.”
Using a dry shampoo for color-treated hair is an excellent option for extending the time between washes. You can also control oil by cleaning your hairbrush and touching your hair as little as possible. When we run our hands through our hair throughout the day, we’re transferring the oils on our hands to our hair. This can result in greasy, flat hair that needs to be washed more frequently.
3. Use Cooler Water to Wash
To prevent your hair color from coming out in the shower, always wash your hair with lukewarm water. Excessively hot water is drying for mature locks as well as your scalp, and while water will slightly lift the hair cuticle regardless of the temperature, the hotter the water, the more the cuticle opens allowing hair color to fade quickly. Keep in mind, ice cold water can prevent sulfate-free shampoos safe for color-treated hair from lathering properly, preventing optimal cleansing, while also constricting the scalp’s capillaries—good blood flow is essential for healthy hair growth!
Pro tip: We’ve all heard that cold water helps seal the cuticle, but research reveals that this final rinse doesn’t necessarily lead to glossy shine! Instead, researchers have found that using lukewarm water to rinse makes hair glossier. For an extra boost of shine, try pairing our hypoallergenic and color-safe Full Transparency Shine Revitalizing Conditioner with your favorite sulfate-free shampoo that’s safe for color-treated hair before your final rinse!
4. Add a Heat Protectant When Styling Color-Treated Hair
Heat protection is a requirement any time we heat style. Without a heat protectant, we risk permanently damaging our hair. High temperatures cause air pockets to form in our hair strands, and this damage is known as “bubble hair.”
But this damage has consequences beyond dryness and brittleness. When the cuticle layer is fractured, our hair color is unable to stay sealed in properly and this leads to accelerated color fading.
“Use heat protection as much as possible!” stresses Kirk. “When your hair is wet, put on a heat protectant before blow-drying. And if you’re using a hot styling tool like a flat iron or curling iron (only after your hair is dry!) add another layer of heat protection.”
To keep using your heat styling tools safely, try Better Not Younger’s No Remorse Heat Protection & Taming Spray to banish frizz and weightlessly shield hair strands for heat protection for color-treated hair up to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
In addition to heat protection, it’s also important to protect your locks from the sun’s damaging UV rays, which research shows can damage the proteins that make up our hair and contribute to color changes. The best sun protection for color-treated hair is layering a physical barrier over a product barrier. Along with using No Remorse liberally, amp up the sun protection for your color-treated hair with a stylish scarf, beach hat or cap!
5. Try a Post-Dye Deep Conditioning Treatment for Color-Treated Hair
After your first shampoo following your fresh color, try replacing your sulfate-free conditioner for color-treated hair with an ultra-moisturizing hair mask designed for color-treated hair.
Adding a deep conditioner for color-treated hair like our Hair Redemption Restorative Butter Masque helps protect mature hair from the chemicals used in the coloring process while also locking the color into the hair shaft. Hair Redemption contains a luxe blend of hydrating plant butters and argan oil, and researchers have found that using argan oil after a hair color helps reduce damage from the chemical dyes!
Moisturized hair retains its true color more easily. If you've gone lighter and worry about your color turning brassy, hydrate and prevent yellow tones with a deep conditioner for color-treated hair like our Silver Lining Purple Butter Masque. It's a hair mask designed for color-treated hair and infused with D&C Violet 2 to offset brassy tones and maintain gorgeous silvers and blondes!
Tell Us: Do you have a favorite way to prevent your hair color from fading quickly? Share your tips and tricks for keeping your vibrant hair color from fading in the comments below!
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Better Not Younger knows that hair color that fades quickly is frustrating! That's why we formulated our entire line of products to address the unique concerns of mature tresses, including hair color fade, dryness and dullness. Whether you're searching for the best shampoo and conditioner for aging, color-treated hair or a deep conditioning treatment to prevent brassiness in color-treated hair, let us help you find the right products for your mature hair's unique needs!