New seasons usually bring out an urge for a new look: see what you should know when it comes to hair color care and maintenance.
1. See a Professional for Your Hair Color
An $8.99 box dye sounds tempting versus the $150 salon dye job, but you get what you pay for when it comes to hair. Your hair colorist will determine just how much lift and tint is needed to achieve the perfect color, and box dye just isn’t as savvy as a trained professional.
Ask An Expert, Leidi Grisales (Founder/ Senior Stylist): Box dye, which is usually permanent hair color, works through the use of ammonia. The corrosive nature of ammonia allows it to blast open your hair's cuticle, allowing the new color particles to penetrate the hair, and irreversibly changing the hair's pH to an undesirable level. But a professional tailors the hair formula to your hair's color level and health and can monitor the process to ensure you hair has as minimal damage as possible.
For a more detailed example, see how hair care professional Brad Mondo compares box dye to professional color below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApU6UGwNW5k&ab_channel=BradMondo
2. For Color Maintenance, Invest in Products
Some shampoos can strip the cuticles in your tresses and cause the blonde (or the color you choose) to be brassy, therefore it’s best to use a sulfate-free shampoo. Actually, ensuring sulfates are not in most of your products is best.
Sulfates are chemicals used as cleansing agents. They're found in household cleaners, detergents, and even shampoo. The purpose of these sulfates is to create a lathering effect to remove oil and dirt from your hair. If your shampoo easily makes a lather in the shower, there's a good chance it contains sulfates. Sulfates help a shampoo to strip oil and dirt away from the hair. However, the hair needs to retain a bit of its natural moisture and oils to stay healthy. Sulfates may strip away too much moisture, leaving the hair dry and unhealthy.
A nourishing shampoo complemented with a mask is a great combination to keep your tresses healthy and your hue vibrant in-between salon visits.
Ammonia in hair color tends to strip away a lot of the protective barrier that keeps the hair cuticle sealed and the strands shiny, so to avoid dull hair, replenish what you’ve taken away with a good conditioner that’s made for color-treated hair.
3. Style Carefully
Heat tools and low-quality hair brushes can be damaging to the hair. Use a natural boar bristle brush to comb through your hair (gently!) and high-quality ceramic tools to straighten or curl your hair. Use a tourmaline or ion blowdryer on a low to medium heat setting to dry your hair post-shower or bath.
