1. If you have porous hair, meaning really damaged, dry feeling, it makes it tough for your hair to keep color underneath the cuticle because the cuticle is raised up, and therefore, it cannot retain color as long as we would like.
So what do we need to do to take your hair from a porous state to a healthy state? You need to invest in a good shampoo, sulfate free, and conditioner. Also, you need to make sure you are deep conditioning once a week. This is extremely important for porous hair. Make sure you are not washing your hair everyday and do every other instead. If you are worried about stinky, greasy hair, then get a dry shampoo to help with the in between days. And lastly, try not to use heat every day either. Using heat is a HUGE contributor to porous hair.
Porous Hair Healthy Hair
2. Trim your ends consistently. If you are waiting every 6 months "guilty as charged!" to get your hair trimmed you will have porous hair. Hair ages and the ends need to be trimmed to keep them looking healthy and new!
3. Before you go in to get your hair colored put on a deep conditioner and rinse out the night before. This will help the hair retain moisture which will also help your hair pull in the color deeper toward the cortex which means longer lasting color.
4. Use a color shampoo. They have blondes, brunettes and reds shampoos that you can use a couple times a week to refresh your color keeping its depth. One thing for blondes is you can clarify your hair once a month and that will take out a lot of chemicals and products that are dulling the color of your blonds.
5. For those of you that have red hair and you have a hard time with keeping your color on your hair there are a few things you can try. One thing is you could ask your stylist to "double dip" which means when you go to get your color done they will color your hair normally wait the amount of time required and rinse it out. Then at the wash bowl they can add another layer of red onto your hair "make sure it is a demi-permanent" and concentrate more on the midshaft and ends. Let it sit on your hair for about 5 to 10 minutes and rinse, shampoo and style. This kind of gives a second coat. If you think about it, when we polish our nails we almost never just have one coat. We always add two. Some clients will need this if their hair is porous and not holding the reds, coppers, browns. You can also do this double dip with someone that went from a blonde to a brunette. That will help their color stay longer as well.
A trick with reds also is you can buy a red color from a place like Sally's Beauty Supply and put a little bit of that color in your shampoo. Make sure you mix it. If it looks like it didn't help, put a little bit more in until you get the desired reds you want to stay refreshed.
6. There are all kinds of products out there that help protect your color. My favorite line is Pureology.
7. If you color your hair often there are a few tips to keep your hair healthy. Only use permanent color if you are covering gray. That means exactly that, covering gray. If you are redoing your roots use the permanent color on your roots and a demi permanent color on your midshaft and ends. A demi permanent color is conditioning and permanent is a little harsh on the hair. So ask your stylist if they could just use permanent on the areas they are covering gray and refresh the midshaft and ends with a demi permanent color.
These are just a few ideas I had for giving your hair some longevity. If anyone else has comments on what works for them please do!
