Best Hair Color Tips
10 / 19 / 18

Best Hair Color Tips

Tip #1: Choose Color-Safe Hair Care

After you have made the investment in a gorgeous hair color, you want to make sure that it will remain beautiful long after you leave our Slidell hair salon. While it may be tempting to choose a cheaper drugstore brand of shampoo and conditioner, we encourage our salon clients to select color-safe hair care products that will protect and enhance color-treated hair. Cheap shampoos with strong lathering agents have a negative effect on hair color and can cause it to prematurely fade or lose its luster. Color safe shampoos and products are designed with a special formula that prevents the hair cuticle from being opened, allowing color molecules to stay intact.

For our hair salon clients with highlights, permanent color, or semi-permanent hair color, we recommend the Ultimate Color Repair Collection by Paul Mitchell. This is an excellent group of sulfate-free products that helps to prolong hair color while strengthening hair and repairing the damage. The products are proven to give you up to 9 weeks of vibrant color, as well as 88% less breakage, 59% more shine, and protection against thermal damage that can result from daily blow drying, curling, and straightening.

Tip #2: Stay Cool

Heat styling as well as very hot water can cause damage to delicate strands of hair. Heat also has the effect of opening the hair cuticle, which allows color molecules to escape, leading to color fading. For best results, try to limit heat when possible. Always use the lowest setting on your blow dryer and use the lowest temperature or curling irons and flat irons. After shampooing and conditioning your hair, use a cool water rinse to seal the cuticle and add shine to your hair.

Tip #3: Shampoo Less

Not washing your hair everyday will not only help preserve your hair color, it will also make your hair less dry and add more shine. If possible, shampoo your hair no more than three or four times a week. If your hair gets oily easily, use a dry shampoo on days you skip a normal shampoo.

Tip #4: Seek the Shade

Just as you apply sunscreen to protect your skin from the sun’s rays, you will need to protect your hair from the sun if your hair has been color-treated. If exposed to the sun on a regular basis, your color can prematurely fade. The solution? Seek the shade or wear a hat to protect your hair color from UV rays and sun damage.

Tip #5: Avoid Chlorinated or Hard Water

Hard water and chlorinated water can be rough on color-treated hair. Minerals in hard water as well as the bleaching effect of chlorine can shorten the life span of your new hair color. If your water is hard, or if you are a regular swimmer, you can use a clarifying shampoo to remove chlorine or hard water build-up. We recommend Paul Mitchell Clarifying Shampoo. It has an excellent cleansing formula that will not wash out your hair color and it leaves your hair feeling soft, clean, and fresh.

Before swimming, you can also saturate your hair thoroughly with a good quality conditioner. This will keep your hair from absorbing as much chlorine as you swim. Shampoo & condition your hair immediately following time in the pool in order to remove any chlorine.