Lustrous Hair Color

One of the best ways to keep hair color looking vibrant is to keep up on your coloring routine. Harsh coloring procedures such as bleaching hair from very dark colors to very light colors should be minimized as these are the processing procedures that really cause the breakage and hair loss from damaged strands. Depositing color though, should not harm your hair much, particularly if the deposit of color is not too, too far from the underlying shade. In fact, the color going onto the hair can make it look much richer and lustrous. When dyeing your hair by yourself at home, choose color shades that are vibrant in hue but not too overly electric or synthetic looking. The more synthetic the hair color looks, the more it will clash with an older woman’s natural skin coloring and make her look older. Rich deep hue colors in golds, reds and browns are going to look the most flattering.

Fade Free Color

Once you find a color shade that you like for home hair dyeing, you can start to watch what is going on with your hair. If you look closely, you will find out that right when you do the color your hair is going to look really strong. Usually, one or two shampoos after the color is applied will be the time when your hair looks its absolute best. After a few weeks, the color will start to fade. This is true no matter how high quality the color product, particularly with auburns which fade the fastest. Color protection shampoos can only help a little bit, the color will still gradually fade and there is no avoiding that. Even the permanent colors fade once they have been through shampoos and natural sun light for a few weeks.

Close Shade Mixing to maintain rich Color Tone

To keep color vibrant here is what I do. I buy the same hair brand of color one and two shades down darker. That means if I like Strawberry Blonde, I will also buy Light Auburn and Medium Auburn. If I notice that my color is starting to fade, I will do a shampoo with the deeper color (same hair brand, I happen to like Revlon ColorSilk because it is cheap and the colors are pretty nice and fairly natural looking). I apply the deepest color for a little less than the indicated time, because I don’t want it getting too, too dark. 15 to 20 minutes works well. What this does for my hair is that it gives it a shot wash of deeper color tone. It counteracts the fading and brings healthy color back in.

Try getting one or two shades away from your regular color. As your hair starts to fade, and depending on the time of year (sun causes faster fading) rotate between the three colors. When color starts to fade, try the deeper color for a shorter length of time on hair. If color is looking too light, try the one shade down for a switch up to bring in more tone. If all looks well, apply your favorite color as usual. All told, I never wait the whole four to six weeks before applying color. I apply a color every few weeks. I don’t necessarily keep the color in for the whole indicated time, I only keep it on long enough for a good color boost.

Add conditioner if you Dare

Another thing I do is deep condition when I color. Sometimes I actually mix conditioner and a hot oil treatment in with the color application, sit in the bath and keep it all on for 15 minutes or so. Obviously mixing conditioner hair products in with the hair color is risky as it might cause a reaction with the color or make it less effective. I personally do it all the time (particularly in between coloring every 4-6 weeks as a quick color boost) and it seems to work out fine for me. I am only getting a shot of hue in and the conditioner stops it from doing any harmful damage. I also let conditioner sit in the hair for quite a while after the color is washed out.

The packets that come with the hair dye are not enough for a woman with long or thick hair. I recommend using more than half a cup of good conditioner to color all your hair. Sometimes I save the packets up and use several of them for a good deep condition too. The Revlon Colorsilk conditioner packets are literally impossible to open, in order to use them you need to keep a scissors near buy to cut the packet open.

The home hair color tricks. Boost your hue

All told, here are my secret tips. Buy color one and two shades down deeper from the color you love, sticking with the same hair color brand. Track your hair between colorings and by season to watch the fading process. In between dyes try to intersperse a shorter hair dye/conditioner boost routine to add tone and prevent fading. I put color in every few weeks to keep the auburn perfect. If I waiting the full four to six weeks the color would not be as stand out.

I need the color boost in between colorings and that’s when I wash in the deeper color, leaving it on my hair for a shorter amount of time. You can try mixing hot oil or conditioner right in with the color when boosting hue, or if you are not willing to mix products, condition after applying the color for quite a while. This works best with colors that are not too far off the spectrum of your hair color. Keep your hair conditioned and if you notice damage then it is time to stop dyeing it. Women with damaged hair sometimes have better luck with the nonpermanent color like NiceNEasy or ColorSpa. If your hair is getting dried out it is time to reexamine the processing you are doing to it. You don’t want to break your hair. Keep it healthy, shiny, conditioned and colored near to your natural tone for the safest results.