It sounds cool to dye your hair with some crazy and trendy colors. As with anything else, the main part is to maintain it long enough. If dyeing your hair sounds tedious to you, the aftercare is no less a deal. In this article I intend to tell you that what not to do once you have dyed your hair. So let us know the basic Aftercare for Dyeing Your Hair.
1. Don’t use normal shampoos:
Anti-dandruff, and sulfate containing shampoos only make the hair color fade faster. Traditional ‘color safe’ don’t work either, as they contain all kinds of harsh chemicals and sulfates. The only shampoo you should use to ensure your color doesn’t fade immediately is a gentle sulfate-free shampoo. Since conditioners are usually sulfate free, you don’t need to worry too much about it. You can also add a few drops of your hair dye into the conditioner, and use it every time you wash your hair, to refresh your hair color and make it last longer.
2. Don’t use too much heat
My advice- Don’t use heat at all. Since bleaching has already damaged your hair, using your straighteners and curling irons might not be the right decision. The heat makes the color fade faster, and while it may seem like the only thing that can tame your ‘hay-like’ hair is a straightener, in the long run, its very damaging. If you’ve had an Olaplex treatment, you’re probably free to use any heating tools you want, but don’t use it in a ‘high’ heat setting. This will make the color fade in just one or two washes.
3. Don’t ditch the conditioners:
Some websites might tell you not to apply hair oil, as it fades the color faster, and blah, blah. But in my opinion, it doesn’t make much of a difference. And since you’re already refreshing your hair color with every wash (remember , conditioner +hair dye thing), you won’t lose much color.
So, before you get into the shower, make sure you’ve soaked your hair in coconut oil overnight, then wash if off using your sulfate free shampoo and conditioner. You don’t have to do this for every single wash. Once every two weeks is enough. Along with that, use a hair mask (any home remedy or chemical-free product will do) and leave-in conditioner.You can use any alcohol/sulfate free product you like, but if want to avoid chemicals and go completely natural, use Argan Oil. It is non-sticky and non- greazy, which makes it a great leave-in conditioner, and, is rich in nutrients and helps tame frizzy hair. It also has a bunch of other properties which makes it an ideal product for hair & skin use. It’s not called “Liquid gold” for nothing, right.
4. Don’t use bleach to remove hair color
When we don’t like a certain color on our hair, our first instinct is to bleach it off. Don’t do that! Your hair has been already bleached to the max, if you bleach it again, not only will it remove the color, but your hair as well. I may or may not be speaking from experience.
If you want to change your hair color, try using an anti-dandruff /clarifying shampoo method first. It will fade the dye just enough for you to apply another one. If the fading isn’t enough for you, do a Vitamin C treatment(not right away, though). Resort to Bleach bath only if none of these things are working for you, and you need your hair to go completely blonde in a short amount of time.
Anti-dandruff/clarifying Shampoo Method:
Wet your hair with warm water (the warmest you can handle), and apply the anti-dandruff/clarifying shampoo. Scrub your hair with it and squeeze off the excess foam. Rinse with warm water and repeat, but don’t rinse. Put your hair up in a shower cap, and apply heat to it using a blow dryer (put a towel around your shoulders to catch any drippage). Let the shampoo then sit in for 20 minutes, and then rinse with warm water. Shampoo and rinse once more , and then after you’ve rinsed them, apply your conditioner.
By now your hair should be in a considerably lighter shade. You should probably use a hydrating conditioner since anti-dandruff/clarifying shampoo is a bit drying.
Apply heat to your conditioner applied hair and let it sit for another 20 minutes. Then wash everything off using ‘cold’ water (the coldest you can handle).That’s it . This should do the job of fading your hair dye. You can do this again in the next wash if you want to fade your color a little bit more (though the maximum fading is done in the first wash itself ).
Vitamin-C Treatment :
Mix one tsp powdered Vitamin C (if you have tablets, just crush it) to two parts shampoo. Apply it to your hair and lather. Then, put it in a shower cap and let it sit for about 40 minutes. After your 40 minutes are over, condition rinse with cold water and let it dry. You’ll notice that maximum of your hair color has been removed. Do it once again after a few days to remove the traces of color left in your hair. You can then apply a toning treatment (toner+20V developer) to turn it to a completely blonde shade.
Bleach bath:
Mix bleach bath and 20V developer and shampoo in a 1:2:1 ratio. Apply it to your hair immediately.Use precautions for your skin & clothes, as you’re dealing with bleach. Check your hair every 5 minutes and then wash off after 30 minutes. Don’t keep the mixture on for more than 30 minutes. You’ll notice that your hair dye is almost completely stripped off. Note that this bleach bath not only removes semi-permanent hair dye, but also affects your natural hair color. It can lighten the natural color, so if you only have dye here and there on your head, you need to apply the mixture accordingly.
**Apply a conditioning mask after all the treatments, as they can be very drying for your hair.
That’s It! If you have questions or suggestions regarding this article, let me know in the comment section down below. Till then, enjoy your gorgeous hair. xo