Hair Care

Guide on Hair Care Routine for Color-Treated Hair with Essential Tips

Just as you get extremely excited before coloring your hair, you must be equally diligent about the post-coloring hair care. Your hair undergoes significant changes at both the molecular and surface levels during a coloring service, making it prone to breakage and damage. Hence, switching to a dedicated hair care routine for colored hair is crucial. In this guide, we will discuss the importance of post-coloring maintenance for a shiny, vibrant, and glossy appearance that will surely make heads turn. After all, you're worth it!

In this Article:

What Is the Importance of Post-color Hair Care?

Hair Care Routine for Colored Hair

Tips on Post-color Hair Care

What Is the Importance of Post-color Hair Care?

Coloring hair makes it porous and prone to moisture loss, leading to fading and damage. A dedicated post-color hair care routine is crucial to maintain color vibrancy and overall hair health.

Hair Care Routine for Colored Hair

  • Oiling is a MUST: Use oils like argan, castor, or jojoba oil for regular oil massages.
  • Use Color-protect Shampoo: Switch to a shampoo specifically designed for color-treated hair.
  • Lock in Moisture with Color-protect Conditioner: Follow shampooing with a color-safe conditioner.
  • Apply Hair Serum: Use serum to nourish, detangle, and protect against heat.
  • Deep Condition Regularly: Incorporate deep conditioning masks into your weekly routine.

Tips on Post-color Hair Care

  • Let Your Color Settle: Wait 2-3 days after coloring before shampooing.
  • Limit Heat Exposure: Reduce the use of heat styling tools.
  • Use Lukewarm Water: Wash hair with lukewarm water to keep the cuticle closed.
  • Shower Less Often: Shampoo only 2-3 times a week.
  • Protect From UV Rays: Shield hair from harmful UV rays.
  • Get Regular Trims: Trim hair every 6-8 weeks to remove split ends. Following these guidelines will nourish, protect, and maintain the color and health of your hair.

What Is the Importance of Post-color Hair Care?

Before diving deep into the intricacies of the best hair care routine for colored hair, it is essential to know why it is important to indulge in such care. When you color your hair through oxidation dyeing, it makes your hair more porous, forcing it to soak and release moisture easily. When your colored hair loses excessive moisture, it starts fading with each wash. Other factors like heat styling, exposure to UV rays, using harsh shampoos, and swimming in chlorine water can also affect your hair color. That’s why you must follow a dedicated hair routine for colored hair to maintain optimum health and let your hair shine at its best.

Hair Care Routine for Colored Hair

Whether you color your hair at home or choose professional service, a post-color hair care is essential. Here’s a step-by-step guide on the best hair care routine for colored hair:

Step 1: Oiling is a MUST

Kick-start your hair care routine for colored hair with oiling. Treating your colored tresses with a regular oil massage helps survive the damage (frizz and dryness) caused during the process. For best results, indulge in a hot oil massage 2- 3 times a week before shampooing and apply it to your scalp and hair to ensure it is evenly spread. You can also leave it overnight for maximum nourishment. Wondering what is the best natural oil for color-treated hair? Argan oil, castor oil, jojoba oil, sesame oil, etc.

Step 2: Use Color-protect Shampoo

Swap out your regular shampoo for a dedicated color-protect shampoo products. This is a crucial aspect of your hair routine for colored hair. These products contain gentle yet advanced formulas with UV filters to cleanse and nourish, protect hair from the harsh UV exposure, increase color performance radiance and more! Wash 2 – 3 times a week based on your hair type.

Step 3: Lock in Moisture with Color-protect Conditioner

The next step in your hair care routine for colored hair would be to use a color-protect conditioner. It delivers the required nourishment to the hair, prevents fading, helps detangle easily, boost strength, and shields from UV damage. Apply color-protect conditioner from mid-lengths to the ends, spread evenly using fingers. Follow it every time you wash your hair.

Step 4: Apply Hair Serum

Once you have cleansed and conditioned your hair, move on to apply a hair serum. It will provide further nourishment, prevent tangles, and shields against heat styling. Apply from mid-lengths to the ends and gently comb out your hair using a wide-tooth comb.

Step 5: Deep Condition Regularly

Add deep conditioning treatment to your weekly hair care routine for colored hair. Deep conditioning masks give your color-treated hair an intense dose of moisture and nutrition and prevent moisture loss.

Now that you know what an ideal hair care routine for colored hair, let’s focus on the tips to enhance radiance and maintain healthy hair.

Tips on Post-color Hair Care

•  Let Your Color Settle  

For maximum color performance, wait 2-3 days after coloring and before shampooing your hair. This allows the hair color pigments to sit and blend better into the hair’s structure. For best results, pick no-ammonia hair color to avoid damage, itchy scalp, and more!


  Limit Heat Exposure


Apart from following a dedicated hair routine for colored hair, you must adopt healthy hair styling practices to ensure lasting color. Due to the structural changes in the hair, colored hair becomes prone to damage. And relying heavily on heat styling tools causes damage both to the hair and color. Hence, try to reduce heat styling and if you must use such tools, use heat protectant serum or spray as it creates a barrier and prevents color fading.

•  Use Lukewarm Water

Hot water causes the hair cuticle to open, letting color escape. For best results, use lukewarm water to keep the cuticle closed and color intact.


  Shower Less Often 

Over-shampooing causes color to fade. Hence, try to shampoo your hair only 2-3 times a week
.

  Protect From UV Rays

Following a hair care routine for colored hair isn’t enough, you need to shield your hair from the harmful UV rays. These can damage hair structure and cause color fading. As a best practice, avoid prolonged sun exposure, seek shade or wear a hat when possible, and consider using hair care products formulated with UV protection.


  Get Regular Trims

Split ends can ruin your newly colored hair look. Hence, get regular trims every 6-8 weeks to chop off split ends and maintain a healthy appearance.

With a tailored hair care routine for colored hair and these expert-approved tips, you can surely maintain the shine, vibrancy, and freshness of your color-treated hair without compromising its health and vitality. Permanent, semi-permanent, and temporary, there are different types of hair color. Choose one based on your preference, lifestyle, and hair condition and flaunt beautiful hair with confidence.

Looking for suggestions for your next coloring appointment? Check out the L'Oréal Paris Hair Color Virtual Try-On tool to experiment with various hair colors in real time without any commitment. For further assistance, browse through our hair care tips and hair color tips, and be the top of your hair game!