How to Protect Color Treated Hair

By Leah Williams •  Updated: 08/27/22

The salon is the best place to have your hair color-treated. But what about protecting and maintaining color-treated hair after the treatment?

The good thing is that you can keep your color-treated hair looking vibrant and fresh in a few steps. 

This article demonstrates how to protect color-treated hair and more. Hopefully, you’ll learn new tricks that work well on your color-treated hair.

8 Ways to Keep Colored Hair Healthy and Shiny

Use a color-safe shampoo.

The type of shampoo you use has a key role in protecting your color-treated hair. It is important to use a specially formulated shampoo for color-treated hair to maintain color and ensure it does not fade too quickly.

Moreover, color-safe shampoos contain ingredients with moisturizing and conditioning properties that repair and restore your hair. You should avoid ingredients like alcohol and sulfate as they’re too aggressive on your hair and will cause color fading. 

Shampoo your hair less frequently.

Frequent washing can cause the dye to leach out resulting in faded hair color. In addition, washing your hair too often can strip natural oils which make your strands prone to breakage and hair damage.

So, to prevent this, shampoo your color-treated hair twice or thrice a week. This will keep the dye fresh while also making your strands stronger.  

Condition your hair.

Conditioners form a protective layer on your hair strand which seals the hair cuticle and locks in moisture. This can result in a shinier finish with a nice volume. 

So, condition your color-treated hair, and be sure to choose color-safe conditioners. This will leave your color-treated hair soft, healthy, and glossy. 

Use lukewarm water when washing hair.

A lukewarm shower is more suitable for washing dyed hair. The reason is that hot water opens the hair follicle which allows the hair color to escape easily. In short, lukewarm water is gentler on your colored hair. 

Moreover, this also stands true for heat styling tools like blowdryers, curling irons, and hair straighteners. When heat styling, your hair’s outer protective layer is disrupted, and as the heat penetrates the hair cuticle, it causes the dye to bleed out.

Deep condition your hair.

Pamper your color-treated hair with deep conditioning treatment. Apply leave in conditioner to your hair once a week and leave the treatment for at least 30 minutes.

Speaking of treatment, protein treatment is recommended on dyed hair. Your hair is losing protein when it goes through coloring. And the only way to fix it is protein treatment!

Use UV protection products on your hair.

Avoid prolonged sun exposure as the UV rays can fade hair color fairly quickly. UV rays break chemical bonds from hair dyes causing the dye to fade quickly. 

That said, wearing UV protection hair products is recommended. Look for conditioners and hair sprays with SPF. Also, it is a wise idea to wear a hat if you’re going to be under the sun for quite a while. 

Don’t color your hair too frequently.

Too much of everything is always a bad thing. This is so true in the case of hair color treatment. Coloring your hair frequently can damage your strands and makes them dry resulting in breakage.

So, do not color your hair more than once within 6 weeks. In addition, you should look at the instructions written on your coloring kit for guidance. (this applies to those doing DIY hair coloring)

Don’t overdo chemicals.

Avoid double cross process on color-treated hair. For example, you shouldn’t dye and perm your hair at the same time.

However, if you really want to do both, it is best to stagger the treatment and be sure to ask your hair stylist for low ammonia and natural hair coloring formula. 

Conclusion

If you want to protect your color-treated hair and boost hair health, you must follow some hair care tips even before doing the treatment. 

When using hair dye, it is vital to keep your locks moisturized and conditioned to protect your hair. Also, you should use the right products to preserve your hair’s luster and keep the color stay longer on your hair.

Read this article for recommendations on the best shampoo for colored hair.

Leah Williams

Leah Williams is the founder of Lucky Curl and has been in the hair care and styling industry for the last 15 years. Since then, she has developed incredible expertise and a deep understanding of how to treat and style the most difficult hair types and is passionate about sharing her knowledge with the readers of Lucky Curl.

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