Love how shiny and vibrant your mane looks when you walk out of the salon after having a hair color treatment? Sadly, many people notice that their hair’s new luster starts to fade after just a couple of weeks, leaving their freshly dyed locks looking dull. 

The good news? Making a few tweaks to your hair care routine could help prolong the lifespan of your new shade, keeping your strands looking glossy and bold for much longer. Keep reading as Evalectric explains exactly how to care for your locks after a hair color treatment. 

Keep Your Hair Dry for 48 Hours

While this may seem like a no-brainer, you’d be surprised at how many people accidentally end up getting their strands wet within 48 hours of a hair color treatment. Why does this matter? Because not only do the dye molecules that have just been applied need some time to settle into the hair, but the cuticle layer of the hair also needs some time to close. Washing your hair within this time interferes with this process. This will cause your color to look washed out. 

So, for the first two days after you’ve had your hair dyed, keep your strands tucked under a shower cap whenever you shower. Avoid getting your hair wet in other ways too, such as by swimming.

What should you do if your hair starts to feel oily during this time? Turn to a dry shampoo. It will soak up any excess grease without disrupting the setting process of your hair color treatment. 

Extend Your Hair-Washing Cycle

After the first 48 hours are up, you may be eager to jump back into your usual hair-washing cycle. However, if you want to maintain your new hair color for as long as possible, try to extend this cycle. The more you shampoo your hair, the faster your color will fade.

Usually, with colored hair, the general recommendation is to avoid shampooing more than two or three times a week. If you’re struggling to keep your hair feeling clean and grease-free with this schedule, consider co-washing once a week in between your shampoos. Co-washing involves washing your hair with a conditioner instead of a shampoo. Although this won’t cleanse your hair as thoroughly as a shampoo will, it won’t strip your color away either. 

Again, a dry shampoo can be helpful here too. It will de-grease your locks in between shampoos, making it easier to leave it an extra day or two before your next hair wash.

Use a Moisture-Rich Shampoo and Conditioner

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While all shampoos will, unfortunately, contribute to stripping away your hair color treatment, some do this to a much greater extent than others. Yes, there are plenty of color-safe shampoos out there, but you don’t necessarily need to splurge on these formulas. Instead, simply look for shampoos and conditioners that feature gentle ingredients and boast a moisture-rich formula. The better hydrated you can keep your hair, the longer it will hold onto its color for.

How can you tell if a shampoo or conditioner is moisture-rich? Look for ingredients that are known for adding and enhancing moisture. Plant oils do this particularly well, which is why the Evalectric Moisturizing Shampoo has been infused with argan oil. Not only is this plant oil intensely moisturizing, but studies have also found that when argan oil is used after a hair color treatment, it reduces the appearance of damage caused by the chemicals in hair dye. It’s a great ingredient to add to your hair care routine if you regularly color treat your hair.

Keep Your Shower Water Cool

While we’re on the topic of washing hair, let’s talk about water temperature. Many people love hot showers, and we’re definitely not arguing with how satisfying they can feel! However, exposing your hair to hot water, especially after it has been colored, is one of the worst things that you could do to it. 

Why? Because hot water opens up your hair cuticles, which then makes it much easier for those dye pigments to be washed away. This occurs no matter the shade that you’ve picked, although it tends to happen much faster with vivid colors.

Either way, if you want to preserve your hair color treatment for as long as possible, keep your shower water at a cool temperature. This will keep your hair cuticles closed, allowing those color pigments to remain trapped within. 

Go Easy on the Heat

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It’s not just hot water that will affect your new hair color – other forms of heat do this, too. Just like with hot water, using heated styling tools on your hair will lift your hair cuticle and allow those dye pigments to escape much more easily. Even worse, high levels of heat can cause hair to oxidize. This will immediately make your hair color look duller. 

Your first point of call should be to cut back on how much heat you expose your hair to. If you plan on heat styling, whether this may be with a blow dryer, a hair straightener, or a curling wand, pick a tool that allows you to control the amount of heat that’s released. Most of the heated styling tools from Evalectric come with an adjustable temperature dial, making this easy. 

A heat protectant is also essential. This will coat your strands to save them from having to deal with the intensity of the heat from your heated styling tools. The heat protectant will take the worst of the damage instead, which will help to preserve your hair color treatment.

Protect Your Hair From the Sun

If you want to keep your hair color looking vibrant for as long as possible, sun protection is a must. While short bursts of sunshine aren’t going to cause too much damage, longer amounts of exposure to the sun will fade your color faster than you could imagine!

How can you protect your hair from the sun? You have a few options. The first would be to invest in an SPF hair care product. However, some of these can contain ingredients that also won’t do your hair color any favors. Instead, consider going with a simpler solution, such as keeping your hair covered with a hat on sunny days. Wrapping a scarf around your strands will also help to shield them from UV rays, while protective hairstyles, like braids, will minimize the surface area of hair that’s exposed to the sun. 

Deep Condition Weekly

It’s easy to overlook how damaging a hair color treatment can be for your hair. All of those chemicals can really weaken the hair shaft, leading to dryness, frizz, breakages, and split ends. 

Incorporating a deep conditioning product into your hair care routine will help to counter this. It will leave your hair shaft feeling stronger while also giving your strands a bouncier, shinier, and more elastic finish. Plus, conditioned hair helps to encourage healthy hair, which will make your hair color look much fresher! 

Deep conditioners are available in a variety of forms, so pick one that works best for you. Whether you go for a hair mask, a leave-in conditioner, or anything else, aim to deep condition your colored strands once a week. 

Consider a Water Filter

Do you live in an area with hard water? This term refers to water that contains a high concentration of minerals, such as calcium and magnesium. Certain chemicals, like chlorine, are also often found in hard water. Over 85% of the USA has hard water, making it quite difficult to get away from. 

What’s the problem with hard water? That depends on exactly what’s in your hard water, but either way, it’s not going to spell good news for your hair. Chlorine, for instance, dries out the hair and fades dye, while minerals build up on the hair very quickly, which will make your hair color look dull. Some hard water also contains metal ions. These react with dye pigment, especially if you’ve dyed your hair blonde, and can cause color changes. 

Fortunately, there’s a simple solution: install a water filter. They’re relatively inexpensive, easy to set up, and will filter away minerals and chemicals before they have the chance to hit your strands. 

Add a Color-Protecting Product to Your Hair Care Routine

Earlier, we spoke about how you don’t necessarily need to purchase a color-safe shampoo and conditioner. However, there are plenty of other color-protecting hair care products available – you may want to consider adding one to your routine to help prolong the lifespan of your hair color treatment. 

From sprays to serums, many of these products are capable of boosting hair color and reviving dull-looking shades. Start using them soon after your hair color treatment, and you won’t have to deal with fading color quite so soon! 

Sleep on a Silk Pillowcase at Night

People often don’t realize how influential their pillowcase can be on their hair. However, think about how much contact the two of them have. Your strands are pressed against your pillowcase for several hours every night! 

What’s the issue? If your pillowcase is made from cotton or a similar material, friction will be created each time your strands rub against the pillowcase. Due to the chemicals it has endured, color-treated hair tends to be more delicate. It’s more susceptible to breakages, which are exacerbated by the friction caused by a pillowcase. 

Switching to silk, however, will do away with these problems. With silk being such a smooth material, your strands will glide over the fabric without the resulting friction. Not only will this preserve your hair color, but it will also leave your locks looking smoother and silkier each morning.

Summary

A hair color treatment can be a great way to revive the appearance of your strands and rock a fresh new look for a while. However, any chemical treatment will take its toll on your locks, making it important to give your hair the correct aftercare. Follow the tips that we’ve shared above, and you’ll be able to keep your mane looking vibrantly colored for much longer, saving you from having to splash out on another hair color treatment quite so soon.

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