Best ways to keep your vivid hair fresh for longer

Hi! It’s Jorgia from Lucido Hair Studio in Burlington, Ontario. As someone who’s been dying their hair with semi-permanent vivid colours for nearly 10 years, I’ve picked up a few tips and tricks on how to keep my colour as vibrant as possible and try to fight the fading process. These are the best tricks I keep up my sleeve.

 

v Washing in cold water

I know it’s uncomfortable, but heat is what will fade your colour fastest, Cold water helps seal the cuticle and lock in moisture and all those pigment molecules in our hair that we want to hold onto.

v Stretch out hair wash days

Try and go as long as you can between hair washes. 1-2 times a week is ideal as most vivid colours are made to last only about 16 washes. Dry shampoo will be your new best friend!

v Shampoo matters

Using good quality, colour-safe shampoo and conditioner is so important especially when trying to lengthen the life of your haircolour. Majority of the shampoos found in the drugstore have lots of harsh chemicals that aren’t so good for our hair. They will almost always contain sulfates, which is one of the big ones to avoid as it causes your colour to fade so much faster. One of my favourites is the Eufora Bodifying shampoo and conditioner, not only does it help protect my colour but it also has a damage cure complex to help keep my hair healthy.

v Colour masks

This is a personal favourite when I’m in need of a quick freshen up. Mix your usual colour in with your fav hair mask. This is a great way to not only refresh your colour but it also helps maintain your hair’s health and moisture. It’s totally customizable to your hair’s needs whether it be repair, moisture, frizz, etc. Unfortunately, this hack doesn’t work for everyone as it won’t be effective unless you only have one solid colour.

v Keeping up with trims

Trimming your hair every few months makes more difference than you may think. Healthy hair holds colour better and our ends are usually the most damaged and porous parts of our hair. Cutting off those porous ends helps the colour take more evenly and if your hair becomes too porous the colour will fade significantly within only a handful of washes.

v Protect your hair from harsh chemicals and minerals

The chemicals and minerals found in some water will fade your colour. We’re talking about hard water from your shower, chlorine and salt water. (This will also affect blonde hair). To combat this you can get a water softener for your shower. When you go swimming if a swim cap isn’t your style, getting your hair very wet with regular old water or putting in a leave-in conditioner before you get in the pool will help create a barrier on your hair. This will help but it may still fade a little especially when it comes to chlorine.

v “What products should I be using?”

Heat Protectant: Non-negotiable. If you use any sort of heat on your hair you must use heat protection. Heat in any form will open up your cuticle and fade your colour.

UV Protection: The sun pulls pigment out of anything even our hair no matter what colour it may be even vivid colours. some multi-benefit sprays will also have some sort of UV protection.

Strengthening/bond repair: using a repairative product every so often to maintain your overall hair health will help your hair hold onto colour. Most vivid colours require prelightening your hair for maximum vibrancy but overtime this can take a toll on the molecular structure and porosity of your hair, strengthening and bonding treatments will help.

Hair oil: this helps lock in moisture and seal the cuticle. This will also increase shine in your hair and will make your colour appear more vibrant. you can use these sparingly – a little goes a long way. This is customizable to your texture, if you have finer hair there’s tons of great lightweight oil options that won’t make your hair look greasy.

*oils are most effective on dry hair, if applied on damp hair it can make your hair look oily once its dry. Please please don’t use oil before using any hot tools this can be damaging – it is a finishing product!

 

It’s also important to note that some colours will fade faster than others, a pastel lavender won’t last nearly as long as a brighter purple. And if you start out with a darker base your colour won’t be as vibrant to begin with and typically won’t last as long as a lighter base.

Hopefully you can add some of these tips to your hair routine and you find them as useful as I have. Achieving vivid hair takes a lot of time and money and it’s a shame for it to wash down the drain so fast.