The dark ash blonde hair color has been a popular trend lately and many people are trying out this style to suit their style. If you have been doing the same, you may be wondering what is the best way to maintain dark ash blonde hair.
In this post, I connected with hair and makeup professionals and asked them to provide me their best tips on this topic.
Andrea Claire is a licensed hairstylist with 30 years of experience. Her clientele includes L’Oreal Paris, Lancôme, Revlon, Dyson, Sephora, and Clear Shampoo.
Andrea explains that factors that contribute to fading of ash blonde hair include:
- Using cheap sulfate shampoos – Sulfates strip the hair and fade colors fast
- Not using conditioners
- Not using products for color-treated hair
- Sun exposure
- Chlorine exposure
Andrea provides the following tips for maintaining dark ash blonde hair at home:
Use Sulfate-Free Shampoos and Conditioners
Use sulfate-free shampoos and conditioners for color-treated hair. Most sulfate-free shampoos have UV protectors in them which can help reduce the damaging effects of sun rays on your hair color. Make sure to comb the conditioner from roots to ends with a wide-toothed comb.
Try Anti-Brass Shampoos
Anti-Brass shampoos help to remove the unwanted warm and yellow tones in blonde hair. If your blonde hair starts to yellow, using a purple shampoo can help neutralize the yellow tones and restore your hair by dispensing purple pigments into your hair. Purple is opposite to the yellow on the color wheel which makes them ideal for restoring blonde hair that’s faded to yellow.
Similarly, if your blonde hair fades to orange, use a blue shampoo to neutralize the color and remove the brassiness.
Try Leave-in Conditioners
Leave-ins conditioners can provide your hair with UV protection. They also contribute to the longevity of your hair color. Iles Formula Finishing Serum is my recommendation for all hair types. It’s not heavy and makes the hair manageable with a healthy shine. Aveda also makes a sun veil for hair to block out the rays.
Wear a Hat
Wear hats when spending long amounts of time in the sun. This is by far the easiest way to protect your hair from UV rays. You can also try other hair accessories such as a headscarf.
Stay Clear of Shampoos with Sodium Chloride
Melissa Franco, a blonding specialist with 10 years of experience and owner of EmberRose Salon in the silicon valley, suggests staying clear of shampoos with sodium chloride. Studies have shown that shampoos containing sodium chloride show a significant amount of fading when used on colored hair.
Don’t confuse Sodium Chloride with sulfate. Sodium Chloride is the scientific name for salt.
Stay Out Of The Pool
Melissa also explains that chlorine can cause your hair to fade and lose color. Chlorine is a chemical added to pools that helps to sanitize the water and make it safe to swim in. Fully submerging your hair in water is also not advised.
If you must submerge your hair in water, get it wet with clean water BEFORE entering any lake, pool, ocean, or any other body of water that is not your shower. Your hair is like a sponge. It can only soak up so much water. If you fill it full of good water, it can’t absorb as much of the bad.
Wash Your Hair Less Often
Historically, our hair has NEVER been washed every day. In fact, liquid shampoo wasn’t invented until 1927. Our scalps don’t actually create enough oil to maintain the stripping of its natural oils that often. When you strip the oil out, your scalp actually goes into panic mode and overproduce oil in order to compensate.
Therefore, washing the oil from your hair is in fact giving you oily hair while washing your beautiful color (and money) down the drain.
Get a Shower Head Filter
Ever wonder where the term brassy comes from? Yeah. minerals in your water. The reality is that unless you bought your house brand new and have always replaced your filter, you have mineral-filled pipes that the water must travel through to reach your showerhead.
Test your water to figure out what you have so you can buy the filter you need to properly filter the minerals in your water. Different filter technologies filter different types of minerals, so knowing what’s in your water is very important.
Get Salon Treatments
Get in-salon treatments and keep your hair as strong and healthy as possible. Strong hair, holds color. Weak damaged dry hair fades fast. Keep that in mind next time your stylist offers you a moisturizing or reparative treatment. Ideally, you would alternate between the two to keep your hair in top shape.
Try Bottled Water
Kryz Uy, a beauty expert from the Philippines suggests wetting your hair using filtered water instead of water directly from the shower. She suggests using water from your sink’s filter so all the minerals in the water that may cause your hair to lose its color are removed. Alternatively, you may use bottled water, but this may not be as cost-efficient as using filtered water. An additional tip, use cold water when wetting or rinsing your hair.
Use a Conditioner
Kryz also suggests that whenever you wash your hair, keep your strands nourished and healthy by using a conditioner. Dry hair loses color much faster than healthy hair. To preserve your hair color better, try using a tinted hair conditioner.
Use a Low-Heat Hair Dryer
Dry your hair gently using a towel or a hair blower in a low-heat setting. It is essential to dry your hair gently and not rub your hair using a towel to avoid color fading. Too much heat causes damage to the hair and deprives the hair of proper nourishment that otherwise helps in showing your hair color better.
Try Hair Sun Screen
Apply hair sunscreen before going out to avoid hair damage and faded hair color. You can purchase hair sunscreen products that can be applied directly onto dry hair to prevent sun exposure.