You might have read my post a little while back about the pro’s and con’s of having brightly coloured hair, and I thought I’d follow on from that a little and talk about what I do to look after my hair and keep it as healthy as possible with all the bleaching and dying I force it to go through! I’ll admit my hair isn’t perfect, its pretty frizzy and all over the place but it is reasonably healthy considering how long and how many times I’ve been bleaching it without having any idea what I’m doing.
Get the right shampoo and conditioner.
There are so many different shampoos and conditioners out there claiming to do all sorts of different things, it can be difficult to know what to use! Have a little look around wherever you usually buy it and make sure you’re getting one specifically for coloured hair. They tend to be more moisturising and gentle, meaning your hair will be healthier and you’ll be able to keep your colour for longer! I tend to just get the cheapest one I can find that specifies being for coloured hair, I’ve used the more expensive ones in the past and honestly not noticed any difference.
Give it the odd treatment.
You never want to go too crazy with hair treatments, too much moisture isn’t good either! Every month or so though I like to do some kind of treatment just to keep it healthy. I really love the hair oils from Lush that melt into water when I have the money, which isn’t often! The rest of the time I usually just use coconut oil or recipes I find online. Avocado is shockingly brilliant for keeping your hair soft and healthy. Lots of sites recommend mashed banana, I tried this once and spent almost 3 hours trying to wash out the lumps so I definitely wouldn’t advise anyone try that one!
Only bleach or dye when you need to.
I know its tempting to dye your hair again the second it starts to fade, or to bleach it the second theres the slightest bit of root visible, but do try to hold off for a while. If you look after your colour you shouldn’t need to dye it more than once every two months or so, bleaching depends on how fast your hair grows but there are lots of ways to disguise roots or even just make them look like they’re meant to be there! The longer you go between bleaching or dying sessions, the more time your hair has to repair and recover.
Be nice to your hair!
It doesn’t matter if you bleach, dye or just leave your hair alone most of the time, being nice to it is the best way to keep it healthy! Don’t brush it when its wet unless you have a hair brush thats meant for that, put it in styles that don’t need too much (or any!) back combing or teasing. If you want healthy hair, you need to look after it like its healthy and that means being nice to it!
If all else fails, I’ve heard that hair transplant results are pretty brilliant these days!
-Dana
Carry on Beautiful! 