There’s no better feeling than stepping out of a hair salon with freshly styled locks and a gorgeous new color, feeling like a million bucks. Whether it be subtle balayage or a totally new ‘do, it’s fun to experiment with new colors and shades that complement your complexion or coordinate with the season. What’s not so fun, however, is the damage that dyeing your hair often creates and how high maintenance it can be to keep up with. Split ends, brassiness and dryness are no strangers to girls who often color-treat their hair, but not to worry, we at Luxy Hair have a complete guide to caring for your colored hair! From products, to healthy hair hacks and diet changes, follow along for all our tips and tricks.
Products
Use a color-care specific shampoo and conditioner
To begin, one of the first products that girls who color treat their hair should use is a shampoo and conditioner that’s specifically catered for colored hair. It’s important that the hair products you use align with your hair’s needs, to ensure that washing and lathering up your hair is providing all the benefits it possibly can. As always, we recommend to opt for a shampoo and conditioner that is alcohol and sulfate-free (bonus points if it's all natural!), as these ingredients can be quite drying on your already dry hair. Opt for an intensely moisturizing shampoo and conditioner that will bring lustre back into dyed hair that may be fading or feeling dull.
Purple Shampoo
If your color needs a pick me up and you can’t make it back to a salon in time, purple shampoo is a miracle product for toning and brightening your color. Purple shampoo counteracts any yellow, orange or brassy tones that might occur in your hair over time, which makes it ideal for blondes or even brunettes who have added highlights or balayage to their hair. Say goodbye to brass and hello to cool, ashy blonde.
Hair Masks
Hair masks of every kind will be your best friend if you color treat your hair. Whether it’s damaged or not, it’s important to incorporate hair masks into your hair routine simply for maintenance and ensuring healthy, shiny locks. Check out one of our favorite DIY mask formulas for color treated hair here.
Diet Changes
The food you eat has a direct correlation with how your skin, nails and hair look and feel. Ever notice how your skin glows when you nourish it with lots of water and clean foods? It’s more important than you’d think to keep a clean, healthy diet if you want your hair to look healthy and smooth. Follow along for a few of the key nutrients you should emphasize in your diet to ensure your colored hair is as healthy as possible.
Iron-rich foods
Foods that include iron-rich protein help to nourish the scalp, improves texture and stimulates hair growth. Iron contains protein which builds keratin and strengthens the hair. To ensure your diet consists of enough iron, try to regularly consume lean meat, egg whites, fish, low-fat cheeses, leafy greens, nuts and soy.
Focus on Vitamin A
Vitamin A is one of the most key vitamins for helping dry, brittle hair that’s been processed. Vitamin A provides moisture to the scalp and brings shine and lustre back into faded locks. Some foods that are highly rich in vitamin A include fish, spinach, carrots, red peppers, apricots and sweet potatoes.
Hair Accessories
If you love the look of balayage and ombre but aren’t sure if you want to commit to coloring your hair, we have a hair hack for you! Dyeing your hair is a big step, we totally get that. It causes damage and can totally transform the look of your hair. If you want to get that ombre look without the damage, use Luxy hair extensions!
The trick is to use extensions a shade lighter than your natural hair color or to use an ombre set, where the roots match your natural hair color. This way, you get the look of lighter ends without having to change your real hair at all. Extensions allow you to play around with your hair color and try different looks without any commitment. If you don’t love the results, simply take them out and try something new! Here's a tutorial for how to achieve easy, at-home ombre or highlights without a drop of hair dye using our 220g Ombre Chestnut Luxy Hair extensions.
Healthy Hair Habits
Having a healthy hair care routine is key when you are regularly color treating your hair. Processed hair naturally makes it more susceptible to damage, but luckily there are a few tips and tricks you can follow to keep your luscious locks shiny and healthy.
Shampoo less frequently
If your colored hair struggles with brittle ends and dryness, one of the best ways to combat this is to shampoo less frequently. It’s difficult to know for certain how often to wash your hair, but we recommend washing your hair two to three times a week at a maximum, because washing too often can strip the oil from your hair. Healthy oils are key to having healthy, shiny locks and nourishing dry, damaged ends. Even better if you can bring you hair wash schedule down to one day a week. Dry Shampoo will be your best friend here, to keep any greasy roots at bay.
Get regular trims
If you struggle with broken hair and split ends, getting regular trims is key. While it is impossible to undo split ends once they occur (as your hair is literally split down the middle), we recommend getting your hair trimmed every six to eight weeks to ensure clean ends and healthy hair overall. Learn more about how to prevent split end here.
Avoid UV Rays
It’s been proven that direct sun exposure and UV rays can not only be harmful for the hair, but also fades color. The sun naturally lightens the hair and breaks down chemical bonds that are present in hair dye, which in turn strips the hair of color and causes dye to fade. To avoid this from happening, especially during the summer, we recommend taking precautionary measures like wearing a hat in the sun or using products that have UV protecting properties.
Avoid heat
Hair that’s been processed and dyed is already quite fragile, so regular heat styling can further add to this and is something that should be avoided. Especially in the summer when UV rays and heat are a factor, we would suggest trying to find heatless styles that work for you. Leave your hair natural and limit heat styling to once or twice a week to avoid further damage! Heatless curls can be quick and easy to create—check out our tutorial to achieving heatless curls 7 different ways here.
Avoid chlorine
It’s crucial to avoid too much exposure to chlorine if you color treat your hair! Chlorine is a harsh chemical that can dry out your hair, leaving it dull and lifeless. Uf you are blonde, this is especially important, as too much time in the swimming pool can damage your color and pull green tones (yes, green!) in the hair that are tricky to counteract once the damage is done. If you do plan on swimming, we recommend to check out our guide on how to protect your hair before, after, and while swimming.
Use consistent deep conditioning treatments
Deep conditioning is one of the most proactive steps you can take for color treated hair. A good, deep conditioning mask provides intense moisture and helps restore hair to sleek, shiny, and healthy again. We recommend treating your hair to a deep conditioning hair mask at least once a week, and if you’re feeling thrifty, try some of our favorite DIY hair masks that you can make right at home.
Use cold water
For color treated hair we’d recommend sticking to lukewarm or cool water temperatures in the shower. Scorching hot water strips dye out of the hair faster because it opens the surface of the the hair strand. A cold water rinse is a better option and also brings extra shine to the hair.
So, our colored haired friends, we hope you enjoyed this guide and take our tips into consideration. Your hair will thank you!
Written by: Olivia DiPede
