There are certain looks that age you instantly, and the main one is dry, over-processed hair with patchy color. If you look at youngsters, the most noticeable thing about them is their natural and healthy looking hair. But in our efforts to look younger, we can easily overdo it and end up with dry, frizzy or color-faded hair color.
This looks worse than leaving your hair naturally gray or white, in excellent condition and cut in a trendy style! So if you’re regularly spending your hard-earned cash on trendy colors and balayage highlights, it makes sense to brush-up on your dyed-hair care skills!
1. The 3-day ‘Leave It Be’ rule
Wait at least three days after you have your hair dyed, before assaulting it with oil-stripping shampoos and color-removing hot water.
Stop washing your hair every day if you want to keep the color fresh. The more you wash it, the sooner you’ll wash out that expensive hair color applied by your colorist.
2. Ditch sulfate containing shampoos
Start using shampoo and conditioner that’s clearly marked, ‘sulfate-free’. The sulfates in hair wash products are only there to create lots of foam, so we feel we’re getting a luxurious washing experience!
This chemical is totally unnecessary and just strips oil, moisture and hair-dye from already chemically-treated hair! The gentlest shampoo is Baby Shampoo, as the law prohibits the addition of chemicals to baby products!
3. Use conditioner that contains hair-color
Conditioner that has color added keeps your hair-dye gently refreshed each time you wash your hair. Products like Crazy Color or L’Oreal Nutri-Color Crème are so quick to apply it’s easy to use them at home. The range of colors is wide and you get two benefits in one easy application.
They are really hair-stains, so they don’t add any more chemicals to your hair. Just leave colored-conditioner in for 3 or more minutes and then rinse as normal. This prevents ‘faded’ looking hair color and you can go longer between expensive salon visits!
4. Dry-shampoo with color
Colored dry-shampoo is another quick-fix hair tip that soaks up excess oil at the roots without you having to wash your whole head. And it’s a clever way to help disguise gray or white roots for another couple of weeks!
5. Don’t double-shampoo dyed hair
Washing hair with hot water opens the cuticles and flushes all the hair-dye out and down the drain! So don’t wash your hair twice each time, unless it’s absolutely caked with hair spray.
The idea of double shampooing was invented by shampoo companies, as a marketing ploy to get us to use twice as much shampoo as we need to! Double-shampooing just equals double profit!
6. Heat protecting lotion is essential
Hot tools are hair dye’s natural enemy, so it’s essential to use heat protecting lotion . It fills in the roughness in hair shafts caused by dryness, to give a smoother appearance and seal in moisture.
You should also use Leave-in UV Treatments with good levels of UV protection, to avoid fading of your hair dye. This is necessary whether you use hot tools or let your hair dry naturally.
7. Wear a sun hat
If you do spend time outside in sunny weather, the best advice is to wear a sun hat or scarf. There is nothing better for blocking the sun’s rays, if you don’t want your color bleached out.
8. Do you really need to blow dry your hair every day?
Blasting soaking wet hair with very hot air is very damaging. And this is because you are soaking your hair in water much hotter than you would ever use to wash it! Thick hair may need help from a hair-dryer, but finer hair types don’t always need to be speed-dried with high heat!
I use a hair dryer a couple of times a week and mostly leave my hair to dry naturally. After it has dried naturally, I style it with a gentle hot-brush. This keeps the henna color in great condition, without using lots of expensive chemicals.
9. Worst case scenario
We all make mistakes and sometimes the best of us ends up with over-dried hair. I ruined my own hair this year by having a perm that was left on too long, and then a few weeks later having a box-dye on my fine hair!
The best way to deal with this level of dryness is simply olive oil! Olive oil is full of nutritional properties that get soaked into your dry, brittle hair shafts to feed and repair it from inside. And oils don’t leave your hair lank and greasy either!
10. Best dyed hair repair tips
Other oils are also good for intensive care for dyed hair, but you really don’t need to buy expensive products. Olive oil is the original conditioner used for thousands of years. Apply to damp hair generously, and cover with a plastic bag to keep it warm, so it penetrates well.
Leave your chosen hair-oil on for 30 minutes, or overnight, for a really deep repair treatment. Then wash it off with warm water and a large helping of a gentle Baby Shampoo. Then blot it gently with a towel and leave to dry naturally.
The trend for adventurous hair-dye colors and techniques is growing every year. So make sure you keep your hair in great condition for fresh-looking color!
