You just walked out of the salon with the color you've been wanting. Now the goal is keeping it that way. Color-treated hair needs more care than hair that's never been colored, and blondes and brunettes need different kinds of care. Here's exactly what we tell our clients in the chair.
Caring for Blonde Hair
Lightening is what makes blonde possible, and it's also what makes blonde fragile. To lift your hair, lightener opens the cuticle and breaks down your natural pigment. That leaves each strand more porous and more easily damaged by heat, dryness and breakage. The good news is that a few habits protect almost all of it.
Heat can permanently change your blonde
Most people don't know this one. High heat from a flat iron, curling iron or even a blow dryer can turn blonde hair yellow or brassy, and it doesn't wash out. Once heat has changed the color of your hair, the only correction is more color. That means another trip to the salon, more processing on hair that's already been lightened, and more money spent fixing something you could have prevented.
Protecting your blonde from heat takes two steps.
Before you blow-dry: Oribe Mystify Restyling Spray
Mist it through damp hair before you pick up the dryer. It hydrates, strengthens and protects your hair from heat up to 450°F, so your blowout starts with protection already in place.
Before any hot tool: Oribe Gold Lust Dry Heat Protection Spray
Once your hair is dry, and before a flat iron or curling iron touches it, spray it through section by section. It's made for dry hair, so you can use it right before styling. Use it every time, even for a two-minute touch-up.
Keep your tools turned down, too. Never go above 360 degrees. Anything hotter is working against you.
Get regular trims
Your ends are the oldest, most processed part of your hair. On blondes, worn-out ends look dull, frayed and see-through, and split ends keep moving up the strand if they're left alone. Regular trims keep your blonde bright and healthy from root to tip, and they help you keep your length instead of losing more of it later. Most blondes do best with a trim every 8 to 12 weeks.
Build a solid night routine
What you do before bed matters as much as what you do in the shower. While you sleep, there's no heat, no sun and no styling working against you, which makes it the best time of day for repair.
Step 1: Brush thoroughly with the Oribe boar bristle brush
Before bed, give your hair a thorough brushing. Detangle your ends first, then brush from scalp to ends until your hair feels smooth. Boar bristles carry your scalp's natural oils down the length of your hair and smooth the cuticle, so your hair is ready to take in the treatment.
Step 2: Apply Oribe Gold Lust Restorative Night Crème
Work it through your mids and ends, focusing on the driest spots. It's a leave-in, so there's nothing to rinse. It repairs while you sleep.
Step 3: Seal with Oribe Gold Lust Nourishing Hair Oil
Warm a couple of drops between your palms and smooth them over your ends. The oil seals in the treatment, and your ends wake up soft.
Step 4: Protect your hair while you sleep
Sleep with your hair in a loose braid, in a satin or silk bonnet, or on a satin or silk pillowcase. Cotton pillowcases create friction that roughs up the cuticle and leads to tangles, frizz and breakage. A loose braid keeps your hair from knotting, and satin or silk lets it glide instead of rub. Doing one of the three is good. Doing all three is amazing.
Give your hair a weekly reset
Once a week or every other week, turn your regular wash into a full reset for your scalp and your hair. Healthy hair starts at the scalp, and product, oil and dead skin build up there faster than you'd think.
Step 1: Detox your scalp with The Ordinary Glycolic Acid 7% Exfoliating Toner
Before you get in the shower, part your dry hair into sections and apply the toner directly to your scalp. It gently exfoliates, clearing away buildup and dead skin so your scalp is clean and balanced. Keep it on your scalp, not your lengths, and skip this step if your scalp is irritated or sensitive.
Step 2: Apply a pre-shampoo treatment to your mids and ends
While the toner works on your scalp, apply a pre-shampoo treatment from mid-lengths to ends. Shampoo is the harshest part of any wash, and this step protects your lengths from it, so your hair comes out of the shower soft instead of stripped. Let both sit for 10 to 15 minutes.
Step 3: Shampoo
Get in the shower and shampoo, concentrating on your scalp. Your lengths get clean as it rinses through, while the pre-shampoo treatment keeps them protected.
Step 4: Finish with a conditioning treatment
Use a conditioning treatment in place of your regular conditioner, and give it a few minutes before you rinse. Lightened hair loses moisture and strength faster than regular conditioner can put it back. On the weeks you skip the full reset, still use the conditioning treatment. Blonde hair wants a treatment every week.
All of these steps work together to keep your hair soft, strong and vibrant, and to protect the investment in color you just made.
Caring for Brunette Hair
Brunette color faces a different problem. Blondes worry about yellow. Brunettes worry about fading and warmth. Dark hair has warm red and orange pigment underneath, and as your color fades, that warmth starts to show. A rich, glossy brown turns flat, dull or brassy. Caring for brunette color means slowing the fade and keeping the shine.
Wash less, and wash cooler
Every wash releases a little color, and hot water opens the cuticle so more of it slips out. Go as long between washes as your scalp allows, and rinse with cool or lukewarm water. When you do wash, use a sulfate-free, color-safe shampoo.
Cancel brass with a blue shampoo
Blondes use purple shampoo to cancel yellow. Brunettes use blue, which cancels the orange tones that show up as color fades. Once a week is usually enough. Leave it on for a few minutes, then rinse, and use it less often if your hair starts to look too cool or ashy. If you love a warm, golden brunette, skip it or ask us first. Blue shampoo is for keeping cool and neutral browns from turning orange.
Heat fades brunettes too
Heat doesn't turn brown hair yellow the way it does blonde, but it speeds up fading, brings out brassiness and dulls your shine. Blondes and brunettes use the same two steps: Oribe Mystify Restyling Spray before you blow-dry, and Oribe Gold Lust Dry Heat Protection Spray before any hot tool.
Protect your color from the sun
UV light breaks down color, and in Los Angeles the sun doesn't take a day off. Sun-faded brunette turns reddish and brassy, especially on the top layer and around your face. Wear a hat on long days outside, and rinse with fresh water after the beach or pool, where salt and chlorine join in.
Shine is everything for brunettes
Brunette hair looks its best when it reflects light. The night routine and weekly reset from the blonde section work just as well for you. A thorough nightly brushing with a boar bristle brush carries your natural oils down your hair, a couple of drops of Gold Lust Nourishing Hair Oil on the ends adds a glossy finish, and a weekly conditioning treatment keeps the cuticle smooth. Smooth hair shines.
Refresh with a gloss between appointments
If your color starts to look a little flat or warm before your next full appointment, a gloss brings back richness and shine without a full color service. Ask your stylist whether a gloss makes sense for your hair.
Protect Your Color
Your color should look as good in week six as it did the day you left the chair. A few minutes of care each night, and a little more each week, make that happen. If you're ever unsure what your hair needs, ask us. We're happy to build the right routine for your color.
Have balayage? Our balayage maintenance tips cover what to do between appointments.
Book Your Next Color Appointment in Downtown LA
Park & Eve is located at 527 W. 7th Street, Suite 600 in Downtown Los Angeles. Open Tuesday through Saturday. Book online or call 213.992.9365.