Dying your hair can turn into an addiction and vicious cycle real fast. I was a typical scenario: I wanted to dye my hair a nice rich brown for fall, and when I walked out of the salon, it looked great. Following all my hair dresser’s color tips, I bought expensive color-preserving shampoo, I didn’t wash my hair right away after dying it, yet it was orange about four or five months later. I go back into the salon, re-dye it, except this time it only lasts three months! I tried to convince myself the orange was maybe a nice strawberry blonde look, but who was I kidding?!
Has this ever happened to you? It’s very frustrating and it’s difficult to break out of the cycle without further damaging your hair. Here’s why it happens:
My hair dresser told me that some people have more difficulty holding hair color than others. Typically, those people have damaged, porous hair. You’ll know if you’re one of “those people” if you go into a salon, have your hair dyed brown, and whoa…it’s almost black. This is because your damaged hair has lost its keratin seal and the porous layer underneath quickly absorbs the color. In fact, it absorbs the color so well it tends to over-saturate it. This was the case for me. Don’t panic yet if this happens to you because over the course of the next week or so, your black hair will slowly begin fading to that rich chocolate brown you wanted. This is great, but don’t rest easy yet. A few months pass by and your hair keeps fading and fading into a brassy copper tone. If only there was a pause button! Just as quickly as your porous hair absorbs dye, it also loses it because the color has nothing to hold on to and quickly leeches and washes from your holy tresses.
If you keep going back to the salon and have your hair re-dyed or glazed over to add some ash tones to counteract the copper, you’ve entered a viscous cycle that needs to stop. It’s no surprise that dying your hair damages it, and the more you dye it, the more porous it becomes. The more porous it becomes, the shorter it holds your desired color. And then you go back to have it dyed again.
Can you fix it or prevent it from happening? Your stylist may recommend some special shampoos and products to prolong your color, racking up your bill even higher with every visit. I have an easy and free way to solve your hair-dye woes. You may not want to hear this, but the only surefire solution to fixing your damaged and over-processed hair from constantly changing and fading is to stop dying it. It’s a gusty move to make, but letting your virgin, healthy, and non-porous hair grow back in is the best route to go. In a few years (or depending on how long your hair takes to regrow) you can start on a clean slate if you wish and dye your hair again. You’ll find that the color will hold much longer, perhaps even years to the point that you no longer have to go to the top laser hair removal clinic in Brampton.
It’s been two years since I’ve dyed, flat ironed, or blow dried my hair. I cut as much coppery hair off as I could tolerate (chin-length). Now my natural dark ash blonde color has finally come back in and only my ends remain discolored. My hair is now half-way down my back and healthier than ever and I certainly don’t plan on dying my hair for a very long time. It’s too much work!
This is my not-so-quick, but easy, affordable, and (most importantly) guaranteed way to fix your color-fading catastrophe.
