Guide to Making Your Hair Color Last Longer

Coloring your hair takes time, money, and can cause extreme damage to the hair if overdone. For all of these reasons, it is important to make it last as long as possible.

If you haven't already picked your color, remember that the closer you stay to your natural color the less noticeable your roots will be when they start to grow in. Dyeing just the roots is not as hard as coloring the entire head though, so if you have a little bit of time every four to six weeks or so to touch up your roots then this shouldn't be a problem. If you stick with the same color and it is still looking great throughout, make sure that when you re-color it that you only do the roots. If the rest of your hair is already the color that you want it, then it will thank you for sparing it the damage of the hair dye.

Wait at least 24 hours from the last time you washed your hair to dye it to make sure that your natural oils are there for protection. Don't dye it though if you have a lot of product build up in your hair. The color will not be able to penetrate as well. Also, make sure that your hair is dry to prevent dilution of the dye.

After dyeing, wait 48 hours before washing it with shampoo. When you do wash it, make sure to use cold water to keep the cuticle closed. If you can't shower with cold water, then try to get as close to cold as you can. It is important that the cuticle stay closed as much as possible to keep the color lasting a long time.

Deep condition the hair weekly to keep it strong and healthy. It is best to use a deep conditioner that is made specifically for color treated hair. Using shampoos and conditioners for color treated hair is also recommended. These products are designed to keep your color from fading. Some shampoos even get more specific and are made of ingredients that will benefit certain hair colors and have color deposits mixed in them. I personally recommend John Frieda Luminous Color Glaze, which can be found at Wal-Mart and just about any other store.

Some products to avoid include dandruff shampoos, volumizing products and heat styling tools. Dandruff shampoos contain chemicals that are too harsh for your colored hair and will strip the color right out. Products that enhance the volume of the hair do this by blasting the cuticle open. This might make your hair style look nice, but will be a disaster to your color. Heat styling tools do damage to every kind of hair. The damage is what will hurt your dye job, so just be sure that when you do blow dry or straighten that you use a heat protectant.

If you do find that your color is fading, use a temporary hair color. This will give you just that boost that you need to get back to that perfect shade.