Ghosted | Five reasons your hair color faded too fast
Ghosted | Five reasons your hair color faded too fast
1. You're washing it in hot water... frequently.
Since water and shampoo are the main culprits of color loss, you should know that hot water and clarifying shampoos are their worst enemies. Always rinse with cold water and sulfate-free products! Dry shampoo is a great way to extend the life of your color! There are tons of brands to choose from, so whatever dry shampoo you like best should do the trick - but our friends at IGK have a vegan and cruelty-free dry shampoo we happen to love.
2. Your hair is pretty porous.
Some hair types are more prone to fast fading than others, so if you find your hair loses a lot of color with each wash, it could be the porosity of your hair. Initially, when you bleach your hair you are creating a more porous, roughed-up surface for the color to grab on to. After several rounds of bleaching the follicle can become too open- which means it won't hold color as long. Try picking up a color sealant! Whether it’s a color sealing hair mask, or a shampoo and conditioner, products designed to seal the pigment into your hair strand may help you see a longer-lasting color. There’s a wide variety of these products, but we love the vegan, cruelty-free Vault Color Lock line from amika.
3. You style with high-heat settings.
It’s common knowledge that the sun can lighten your hair over time, but lesser-known is the fact that any exposure to high heat can burn the color right out of your hair! It’s true - high heat styling can cause very rapid fading, as the pigment is burned out of the hair strand. This video from Guy Tang features a variety of semi-permanent brands all being stripped out from high heat. Of course, it can be hard to completely cut styling tools out of your routine, so when you do bust out that curling iron or straightener, use a lower heat setting for the gentlest treatment. Apply a heat protectant before you start styling and your color should be safe!
4. You went swimming.
Swimming is awesome! It's just not awesome for semi-permanent hair color. You can wear a swim cap if you want to preserve your colorful hair or you can just touch it up after your fab vacay. Some of the color-locking products can help! As a general rule, just know, if you go swimming you will strip your color.
5. Your base color wasn't super light.
The healthier the hair - the less time it will hold color (in general). So for our light-brown haired babes : if you use Wrath or Purple Rain on your gorgeous, healthy hair you will get a pretty good tint on there! However, it won't last as long on your hair as it would on someone who's hair has been pre-lightened. For example: someone with level 9 pre-lightened hair can expect a color like Purple Rain to last for months! But on light brown hair, Purple Rain may only last 2 weeks or so.
Good to know...
There are always a lot of circumstances and conditions to take into consideration when trying to choose, maintain or remove any hair color and sometimes it takes a bit of trouble-shooting to figure it out. Luckily you have us and we are always here to help! Please email us at support@arcticfoxusa.com with any and every hair color question you have and we will do our best to solve your hair problems.
XOXO,
AF
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