How to Make Hair Color Last Longer

Coloring your hair whether it is at home, or at the salon, can get to be pretty expensive. Sometimes the color will fade before you even really have a lot of grow out. Waiting as long as possible to touch up your hair will keep it healthy and strong. These tips will help keep your hair color from fading between touch ups saving you money and time

A few days before you color your hair use a deep conditioner. This will help the dye penetrate, last longer, and protect it from damage. Don't wash your hair for a day or two before dying it. This will let your hair build up a good amount of its own natural oils. This will keep your hair from fading to quickly after you color it.

There is a natural way that you can seal in the hair dye at home. All you need is a cup of vinegar. Right before you rinse out the color shampoo the vinegar into your hair. Leave it in for about five minutes and then continue to rinse as usual. The vinegar locks in the color. This is not a replacement for the conditioner that comes with box dyes it just helps to seal in the color. Also rinse out the dye with cold water only.

Unfortunately frequent washing can cause fading too. It is very important to use a shampoo and conditioner made especially for color treated hair. There are many different brands in every price range so this should not be to difficult. You can choose a shampoo specifically for the color of dye as well like reds or brunettes. Another thing you can do is to simply not wash your hair everyday. This keeps your hair from fading and is good for your scalp. Washing to frequently will rob your hair of its natural oils that keep it healthy.

Heat styling is not only bad for your hair it will make your color fade too. This includes all forms of heat styling. There are a few ways to protect against the damage and fading this causes. The first being to avoid heat styling as much as possible. The second would be to use a heat protectant spray this will minimize the damage greatly. The third would be using a hair dryer with a diffuser. This is also really helpful when styling. It helps if you can find a hairdryer with low heat or cool settings. Whenever using a curler or straightener make sure the heat is as low as you can get away with to get the job done.

To much sun can make your hair color fade quickly. Keeping your hair out of direct sunlight for long periods of time will prevent fading. If you are going to be in the sun quite a bit you could try covering your hair with a sun hat or bandana.

temporary dyes can help disguise fading in between touch ups and dye jobs. The temporary dyes are usually in the same section as the permanent. There are even natural temporary dyes you can make at home. For brunettes try adding a little coffee or cocoa to your shampoo. This will help darken your hair a little more and disguise the fading. For red shades try rinsing a strong batch of strawberry tea or cranberry sauce into your hair to bring out more red tones. These are temporary and will last only a day or two.