The dos and don’ts of coloured hair

How to keep coloured hair healthy

Upgrade the health of your hair with these easy tips

Beauty Crew Beauty Writer / July 26 2018

Whether you’ve been bleaching your hair for ALL of the years or have just dipped your toes in a casual ombre look, nothing sucks more than forking out for a fabulous new hair colour, only to find it ends up dull, brassy and is hard to manage. 

But before you start a full-blown vendetta against your hairdresser, it’s important to know that with proper care (and the right products) you can keep your colour-treated hair healthy, shiny and vibrant.

Once your new hair colour is in place, there are some crucial steps you should take to ensure optimum hair health and a long-lasting colour. Here we’ve rounded up the dos and don’ts of salon colour-treated hair.

#1 / Do indulge in at-home treatments over winter

You’re more cautious with nourishing and hydrating your skin in the winter, so why not your hair? Moisture loss and dryness are common after-effects when you colour your hair, and these escalate even more in the chillier months. Using maintenance hair treatments in between salon visits is an absolute MUST as they help rebuild the strength, structure and pretty much ‘reset’ your locks.

Tracey Cunningham, celebrity hair colourist and Olaplaex ambassador says, “Winter months are the best time to concentrate and rejuvenate the hair. You don’t have that harsh sun damage, swimming in chlorinated pools or the beating of the salty surf.” 

A weekly at-home conditioning hair mask is great way to help repair damage, lock in moisture and restore vibrancy and shine instantly. Look for a nourishing, antioxidant-rich formula specifically designed for colour-treated hair in order to target weakened and damaged strands. We recommend L’Oréal Professionel Vitamino Color A-Ox Jelly Masque.

L’Oréal Professionel Vitamino Color A-Ox Jelly Masque

#2 / Don’t overheat your hair 

In short, heat-based styling tools won’t do anything good to colour-treated hair. Remember that your hair is vulnerable after colouring, so using too many heat-based styling tools can wreck havoc on your freshly-dyed tresses.

If you absolutely must use heat styling on your colour-treated hair (let’s face it, sometimes a blow-dry is crucial), we recommend following two rules: do not use heat on your hair for two days after colouring, and use a thermal protectant on your hair every time you apply heat. Every. Time. 

A good hair protectant will work to absorb some of the heat to minimise damage and save your hair from frying and losing that vibrant colour. Before styling, we recommend applying a heat protectant like Kérastase Sérum Thérapiste to ensure you keep your hair in good nick.

Kérastase Sérum Thérapiste

#3 / Do use colour-enhancing products

Using the correct products for colour-treated hair can make ALL the difference. Rather than using whatever is in your shower already, it’s important to opt for products that are specifically designed for dry and colour-treated hair, because these will work to lock in hydration and prolong colour retention. 

According to Cunningham, if you’re using shampoo and conditioner containing the wrong ingredients, you could be damaging both the health and colour of your hair.“[I recommend using] Olaplex No. 4 Bond Maintenance Shampoo and Olaplex No. 5 Bond Maintenance Conditioner to restore, repair and hydrate your hair,” says Cunningham.

If you’re an Olaplex fan, you’ll be pleased to know that the new No. 4 and No. 5 formulations have just landed in Australia.Their formulas are packed with essential vitamins, natural oils and fruit extracts that work to repair and hydrate colour-treated hair, and these guys are free of siliconesulfates (which tend to dry out the hair) and parabens. Plus, they’re colour-safe, gluten-free, nut-free and vegan.

Olaplex No. 4 Bond Maintenance Shampoo

Olaplex No. 5 Bond Maintenance Conditioner

#4 / Don’t wash too often

Overwashing your hair will dull your colour and make it fade WAY faster. Try cutting down your hair-washing schedule to just two times a week, (although those with oily or fine hair may need to shampoo every other day to keep greasy strands at bay). It’s also a good idea to add a cool rinse at the end of your shower, because this will work to seal the cuticle, meaning the colour molecules in the hair strands are protected and won’t rinse out.

Want to discover more tricks to repair coloured hair? Here’s how to repair your hair without having it cut.

Do you have a favourite product for colour-treated hair? Let us know in the comment section below.

Main image credit: Getty

Erin Docherty is a Beauty Writer for BEAUTYcrew, Beauty Editor for Women's Health magazine and a Grooming Writer for Men's Health magazine. She has a keen interest in cosmeceutical skin care and is currently working on minimising her 9-step skin care routine – because ain’t nobody got time for that. When she’s not writing about the latest beauty news, or applying copious amounts of serum, you can find her spending all her money in Sephora.