Hair Color Root Touch Up and Easy Maintenance Tips

Keeping up with your all over color does require you to get a root touch up. If you prefer to get your hair done at the salon or if you do your own color at home the same rules will apply. When I refer to the term all over color, I am talking about a one color application, meaning one color was applied to all of your hair.

As your hair grows out you will see the line of demarcation. This is the new outgrowth of your natural hair coming in, otherwise known as your roots. How noticeable the line is depends on how different your natural hair is from the new hair color you have used. The more different it is, the more noticeable it will be.

Root touch ups are usually needed anywhere between 3 to 5 weeks, but again this can vary depending on the color difference and how fast your hair grows and the difference between the new growth and the hair that is colored.

Here are some basic guidelines to follow when touching up your roots.....

You only need to color what has grown out and you do not and should not recolor your whole head with the same formulation that you use to retouch your roots.  If you pull the same color through your whole head for just a touch up you could be causing unnecessary damage.  You should just do the new outgrowth and try not to overlap as much as possible.  You will need to make another formulation to refresh your ends.

Formulations to refresh your ends.....

♦ One way to refresh the ends of your hair is a shampoo cap or a soap cap. This is done by mixing whatever color you have left over from retouching your roots with equal parts of shampoo.  If you are using a bottle applicator just add the shampoo into the bottle and shake it up.  If you are using a bowl and brush you can mix the shampoo right into the bowl.  Evenly distribute the shampoo cap on the whole head for the last 5 minutes of your processing time.

 ♦ Another way to refresh your ends is mixing the same color formula you used for your root touch up with a lower volume of peroxide. By using a lower volume of peroxide you are causing much less damage to the ends of your hair. The higher level of peroxide use use the more damage you can cause to your hair. This can be applied right after you touch up the outgrowth. This can stay on the entire processing time or just the last 15 minutes.

♦ Another method you could use is to apply a semi-permanent color on you ends. Many companies have a semi-permanent line to compliment their permanent line for this exact purpose. Just simply apply it on your ends right after you touch up your outgrowth. This can stay on for the entire processing time or just last 15 minutes.

Follow up and fading preventatives.......

♦ You want to use a shampoo and conditioner for color treated hair. Regular shampoo can strip your color making it fade out faster.

♦ Use cooler water on your hair when you shampoo and try not to wash it everyday. Hot water opens the cuticle on the hair shaft letting the color out and the more often it is shampooed the faster it will fade.

♦ Where a hat or a UV protecter in your hair when you are out in the sun to preserve your color. You can even spray regular sunscreen in your hair. You just want to prevent the sun from fading it out.

Keeping up with your color can take a bit if effort, but you will see results that last and last.