Tips to keep your home hair colour looking better for longer

We talked to some people in the natural hair colour industry, along with some of our customer experiences and asked for their best tips for keeping hair colour looking beautiful for longer.

1 tip – use the correct shampoo and conditioner that doesn’t strip the hair colour.

Many shampoos & conditioners contain harsh chemicals that strip the natural oils from the hair, and with it the colour. Natural ranges of hair colours generally come with their own shampoo & conditioner sachets in the colour pack, and some also have their own range of shampoos & conditioner (which we have in store). Rachel from our store is a great advocate for the shampoo in the Herbatint range, and it keeps her colour lasting for longer.

Some other important tips are:

• Don’t wash your hair for 24 hours before colouring your hair, but you also need to ensure it is free from styling products
• If you have never used a particular brand of hair colour before, do a strand/scalp test it for allergic reactions at least 48 hours before use. This gives time for any reaction to take place. Although we infrequently see this with the (predominantly) natural products in store, we often see it from people who have purchased the chemical heavy brands. Apart from the discomfort, this also becomes a problem because of the next point.
• If you have had a reaction to a hair colour of any type, you should not use another brand of hair colour, whether natural or not. This includes the natural hair colours because they are not 100% natural, but are ‘best in class’. They contain less chemicals than regular hair colours.
• Always brush/comb hair thoroughly before applying product to DRY hair.
• If covering grey hair, use an N based colour. If you want more depth to the colour, mix it with another from the range, within 1-2 shades. If mixing, MEASURE the colour and the developer to maintain 1:1 mix. This is crucial. Don’t ‘wing it’. Mix in a plastic bowl, not metal or glass.
• Choose your shade from the colour chart, not the box. Customer feedback is that colours tend to start a little darker/richer and lighten over time. But they will hold better if you use the appropriate shampoo/conditioner.
• If using the Herbatint brand and not using the full bottles, recap immediately for reuse. They won’t expire if you do this. They are then really helpful for touch ups but again must be measured precisely.
• Use a timer for processing. If you go under time, the colour won’t set properly.
• Because the natural hair dyes don’t contain bleaches, it is difficult to lighten hair. At best, you will only be able to go around 1-2 shades lighter than your natural hair colour.
• This list is intended as tips for dyeing your hair only. Every hair dye and colour are different & follow the instructions in the packet for best results.

Photo by Luke Pennystan on Unsplash