After coloring them a hot magenta or a cozy orange or maybe a charcoal black, now you wonder if you did the right thing. You wonder about the ways you can keep the color from fading away into a non-glamorous shade of itself in no time. Fret not. Help is here. We let you in on the 8 best ways to preserve the color and vitality of your hair after coloring them.
Hair trivia: Did you know your hair gets its natural black color from the presence of a pigment called eumelanin. If you have it a little less, you get brown hair and even lesser gives you a blonde look.
Your hair loses moisture after dyeing. Your hair structure has the medulla at the center, cortex, and finally the layer of the outer cuticle. When you dye your hair, the dye can sort of block off the flow of natural oils, also called sebum, to the innermost layers of the hair strands, affecting the overall quality and health of your locks. So you must additionally use moisturizing hair masks and oil your hair every alternate day. You can use Shankara’s Hair and Scalp oil which is specifically designed to moisturize dry and damaged hair and to give you shinier, healthier, and more luxurious locks. The oil is safe to use on colored hair; it penetrates the hair shaft deeply to nourish and hydrate.
This oil is made using the enriching goodness of sesame oil; avocado oil; jojoba oil; Vitamin E Tocopherol; amla extract; essential oil of sandalwood; Saraswati Churna extract; Gotu Kola extract; bringraj extract; essential oils of lavender, clary sage, coriander, rosemary, and cedarwood.
Your hair also needs to be well-hydrated going into coloring. Nourished and fortified with nutrients like proteins and vitamin C, healthy hair will be less porous and this will allow for the pigment to stay on for longer.
This may seem only logical but this one tip can save your hair from turning into dry lifeless straws of hay. Do not let dye residue sit on the scalp. This can cause sensitivity in the skin and increase breakage from hair damage.
The shampoo you pick for regular use is going to determine the quality and hydration of your hair as well as how long the color will likely last. Avoid shampoos that contain sulfate unless you are willing to spend long hours rehydrating and making up for the loss of moisture from the use of sulfates. Sulfates are good cleansing chemicals. Really good. This means you stand to lose the pigment you have taken the pains to add to your hair, in other words, causing the color to fade. Also, avoid chemicals like salicylic acid which can be drying and cause irritation or scalp inflammation.
Before you get down to shampooing, set aside an hour for applying a nourishing, moisturizing, and reinvigorating hair mask. Use ingredients that have enough proteins and Vitamin C to make up for the loss of nourishment. Ayurveda recommends the use of hair masks made from amala or gooseberry, Alexandrian Laurel or Kinjalka, parts of butter tree, and honey that promote hair growth and restore natural color. Make sure your masks stay on a bit longer if your hair has undergone bleaching or heat treatments.
For the extra dose of conditioning, you can use ingredients like avocadoes, banana, yogurt, mayonnaise, or aloe vera.
(also read: 6 DIYs for all types of hair problems)
Your diet should have sufficient minerals including vitamins (A, D3 and biotin), zinc, folic acid and iron, protein, and antioxidants that support hair growth and maintain the health of hair follicles when you color your dye regularly. Vitamin A not only supports good hair growth but also aids the skin glands in producing sebum that maintains the moisture in the scalp. The secretion of sebum often gets compromised from the use of dyes and excess heat. Vitamin C helps produce collagen that helps in making the scalp healthy. Biotin is non-negotiable for robust hair follicles. Having white sesame seeds and curd is also a good remedy to have strong hair follicles.
Research has shown, people reported significant hair growth after consuming Vitamin E for about a year, naturally found in sunflower seeds, avocado, and almonds among other foods.
Aloe vera juice is also good for improving hair growth. Aloe contains fatty acids, Vitamin A, B12, C, and E that promote good growth of the follicles. The enzymes present in it help break down fats and help remove excess sebum.
As counterintuitive as that sounds, avoid washing your hair more than twice a week, especially after coloring them. You need to follow this in order to let the natural oils be. These natural oils moisturize, maintain the health of your hair follicles and keep them shiny.
Make sure the water you use to wash your hair is not too hot. Let it be cold or lukewarm at best. We tend to lose color faster on washing hair with hot water.
As with the temperature of the water so with your styling equipment-do not overheat or use them as such in your hair and definitely not too often. If there is a way for you not to use heat at all, nothing like it. This will allow time for your hair to breathe and for the repair work to happen, as the benefits of ingredients from your hair masks start playing out.
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