How To Treat Colored Hair At Home

Protecting your salon color: the at home guide

You’ve made the decision about the color you want to dye your hair, booked the appointment and spent the better part of the day in the colorist’s chair while they work their magic. The dye’s been left to soak, washed out and your hair has been cut and styled to perfection. You do a quick mirror check and head home with your fresh new locks and a spring in your step.

It’s at that moment that the fun begins: ensuring you prolong the color, helping it to stay looking (and feeling) as vibrant as the moment you left the salon. The issue is, keeping your salon colored hair healthy and gorgeous isn’t always top of the list of priorities. But choosing the right aftercare products, ones that will protect your color and keep your hair healthy, is one of the most important things you can do to ensure you really get your money’s worth.

It doesn't have to be hard work – not if you’re savvy and take notes from us. Keep reading and we’ll share everything you need to know to keep your color looking fresh. From the best shampoos and conditioners to use to the powerhouse ingredients to look out for, along with some clever ways to prevent color fade.

Why does my hair color fade so fast?

Hair color fades for a number of reasons, and understanding why is the key to preventing it from happening. In short, chemical coloring damages and depletes the natural proteins in hair, making it look less vibrant, dull and flat – so it’s a case of counteracting that impact. Colored hair is delicate and it should be treated as such, which means investing in products that are labeled as either gentle or color safe. Using the wrong shampoo and conditioner can strip color, as can using other products that contain color stripping ingredients or using styling tools without heat protection.

What shampoo and conditioner is best for colored hair?

As mentioned, ensuring you’re using the best shampoo and conditioner to wash your freshly-dyed strands is one of the most important (and easiest!) things you can do to ensure the color doesn’t fade quickly. Ingredients to avoid that can strip color include sodium lauryl sulfate, sodium laureth sulfate, alcohol and sodium chloride. Luckily, Nexxus’ Color Assure Long Lasting Vibrancy Shampoo and Conditioner don’t include any of the above, and are also amped up with elastin protein and quinoa, two ingredients that are naturally rich in the same amino acids that are lost during the dyeing process. Plus, they’ll work to restore essential natural proteins while simultaneously keeping color looking vibrant for up to 40 washes.

Can you wash your hair after dying it?

A quick search will throw up conflicting answers to this question, but let us be the ones to answer it once and for all for you: the answer is yes, you can wash your hair after dying it, but it’s best not to do it straight away. Instead, embrace that professional blow-dry and wait a couple of days – ideally around 72 hours or so if you can. The reason is because it can take that long for the color to be fully sealed into the hair cuticle, so delaying your first hair wash post-color will help allow it to last longer and prevent fading from occurring.

How to treat dry, colored hair

It’s no secret that dyed hair is prone to looking and feeling much drier than non-dyed hair, especially if you’ve used bleach or gone for a lighter shade than your natural color. However, there are ways to restore the lost moisture – and one of the most simple is by incorporating a deep conditioning mask. Nexxus’s Color Assure Long Lasting Vibrancy Deep Moisture Masque protects color for up to 40 washes, and – like the shampoo and conditioner in the same range – it’s infused with elastin protein and quinoa, along with a blend of hair softening, hydrating ingredients that’ll prolong the color and give hair enviable shine.