How to Care for Color-Treated Hair with Pantene Color Protect Shine Shampoo, Conditioner and Nourishing Treatment

Color-treated hair needs special attention to maintain it's vibrancy, intensity and health. Even with today's advances in professional hair color, hair can become dry, brittle and, unfortunately, faded. Pantene has created an entire haircare system specifically designed to care for color-treated hair and meet its needs.

In order to preserve your hair color and make it last as long as possible, it's best not to wash your hair every single day. Your hair's natural oils will help to keep your hair strands healthy and strong. Washing your hair too often will strip your hair of it's natural, important oils and make it drier and more difficult to manage. When you do wash your hair - no more frequently than every other day - be sure to use a shampoo that is specifically made for color-treated hair, such as Pantene's new Color Preserve Shine Shampoo. If you use a lot of hair product on your hair, you may need to shampoo your color-treated hair twice, rinsing well afterward. Hot water will make your hair fade faster, especially if it is porous or damaged. Use the coolest water that you can stand.

After you shampoo your hair, you need to use a conditioner. Even if you have oily or short hair, you still need to condition your color-treated hair. This is because the process of shampooing your hair opens up the cuticle (the outside of the hair strand), just like shingles on a house that have been blown open by the wind. This can allow color molecules to wash out. Conditioner is designed to close the cuticle, which makes your hair look shinier and locks the hair color in place. Pantene's Color Preserve Shine Conditioner makes your color-treated hair look shiny and healthy without making it heavy or weighing it down.

If you really want your color to last and your color-treated hair to look healthy and shiny, use Pantene's new Color Nourishing Treatment. This product will help seal the cuticle even more and impart healthy moisture and shine to color-treated, dry hair. It is not heavy and has a pleasant scent.

I have to admit that I was skeptical about trying Pantene products for my color-treated hair, since I have always used salon brand products. I was pleasantly surprised that Pantene's Shampoo did not fade my hair color as some other brands have done. Even better was the Color Nourishing Treatment, which felt nice on my scalp and made my hair wonderfully shiny -- all without weighing down my fine, short hair. I used to always skip the conditioning step, even though it is very important, because conditioner would make my hair flat. Now, I can shampoo, condition and treat my color-treated hair and keep my fine hair full of volume, great color and shine. Thanks, Pantene!