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The day has arrived, and you are ready to go to the salon, get pampered, and color your hair. Five weeks later, you can’t figure out why your color is not lasting at all. I’m here to share with you five reasons that may be the culprit as to why your color is fading.
First reason your color may be fading quickly is because of medication.
Different medications can cause a reaction where your hair will either take a color unevenly or fade quickly. Some common types of medications that can cause a difference in hair color are thyroid medication, chemotherapy medication, and some antibiotics.
Surgery is also a common cause. Your body goes through a lot of trauma, which causes stress. The different types of medications that are used during surgery can affect your hair color.
I have noticed working in the salon after a client has surgery, their hair does not take the color properly. It can take your body time to recover after the stress/trauma; it’s endured. Also, it takes time for your body to release the medication built up in your system.
Secondly, poor quality water can cause your hair to fade quickly.
Hard water and well water are harsh and can cause your hair shaft to stand up, which can cause hair color to fade. In other words, think about it as a hole that allows balls to escape (the color molecules are the balls). Side note, that’s why it’s essential to always condition, it helps to lay down the hair shaft.
In addition, your water can contain a higher level of minerals that can disrupt the coloring process. For example, you will find higher levels of iron, magnesium, calcium, etc. Also, your water can have chlorine in it. All of these deposited on your hair can either make your hair more porous, so the color can’t adhere, or it can change the color.
For instance, I’ve seen where someone’s highlights won’t lift as high and are very orange. This is common when there is a lot of iron deposited on the hair.
Some other things that hard water and well water can do are make the hair feel rough and appear dry and dull. This is a result of making the hair shaft stand up within return will not reflect shine.
I recommend getting a shower filter. A shower filter is just like the filter you use for your drinking water. It is a showerhead, and it will filter out the majority of the harsh minerals. Thus, leaving your hair feeling silky and more manageable. This is one that I would recommend on Amazon. https://amzn.to/32SRDfD We like the larger showerheads at my house, but they also have smaller handheld ones that you can try as well.
One more thing you can do is use a clarifying shampoo at least once a week. A clarifying shampoo will aid in removing mineral buildup, product buildup, and free radicals. I highly suggest you clarify your hair before you go to the salon for your color. It will help to have a more even coverage.
Thirdly your color may be fading quickly because of the shampoo and conditioner you are using.
I hate being the bearer of bad news, but shampoo and conditioners are not all created equally. Some of the products on the market have some harsh chemicals in them. They will strip your color as well as all of the natural oil in your hair.
Always make sure that the products you buy are color-safe. Since you spend the money to color your hair, spend the money to take care of your purchase. However, it goes further than that. You want to make sure you are nourishing your hair. Make sure that your hair is benefiting from what you put on it, otherwise, what’s the point?
I highly recommend avoiding products containing Sodium Lauryl Sulfate and Sodium Laureth Sulfate. Both of these ingredients are very drying and can strip your color. They are also commonly known skin irritants and can cause allergies. In worse cases, it can contain NitroSamines, which is a carcinogen (cancer-causing).
In addition, you want to avoid products containing silicone. Silicone creates a barrier around the hair shaft, making it difficult to get a full, even coverage of hair color.
Those are a couple of ingredients to avoid, click here, to grab my copy of 10 Harmful Ingredients to AVOID in Your Beauty Products. After reading this list, I promise you will be turning over your products to read your labels.
Fourth reason why your color may be fading quickly is because of frequent washing.
Are you a daily washer? Every time you wash your hair, the warmth of your water will open your hair cuticle. Each time your cuticle is open, it allows color molecules to escape. We already discussed how the water itself could affect your hair color.
It can be found many times online that you should wait 72 hours to wash your hair after you get your colored. Your hair has just gone through a chemical process. I don’t care how gentle the product is; it still had to open your hair cuticle and push color molecules in. Then it was layed back down. You want to wait longer to wash after a fresh, so you allow the hair to heal and the cuticle to remain down.
I recommend not washing your hair daily, either. I like to tell my clients to wash every 2-3 days and use dry shampoo in between. The less you wash your hair; the less oil your body will create. Thus, creating less greasy hair. You can buy a dry shampoo at your salon or the store, following the Harmful Ingredients List you downloaded from me, to make sure there are no toxins hiding in it. You can DIY your dry shampoo too. Here are a couple of links to try: https://mamainstincts.com/homemade-dry-shampoo-recipe/
or
https://www.recipeswithessentialoils.com/diy-dry-shampoo/
The fifth and final reason your hair color is fading quickly is because of a poor diet.
