For many people, their hair is part of the identity and treating themselves to a hair cut or color serves as a form of self-care. Unfortunately, if you aren’t careful and well-informed about how you’re treating your hair, you could be doing more harm than care. In this blog, we address some of the causes of damaged hair and the damaged hair treatment you can use to counteract it.
How you’re ruining your color treated hair
Water and hydration are key to keeping your hair healthy, especially if it is color treated. Below, find a few of the ways you’re sabotaging your best look and damaging your hair, as they relate to your best hydration intentions.
Washing your hair too often
The chemicals in hair dye actually make increase your hair’s vulnerability to water's effects. By tweaking your routine, you can avoid excessive rinsing and save your hair’s color for a bit longer. One way to do so is to avoid washing your hair every time you shower. Instead, use a dry shampoo to refresh your hair between washings.
Washing your hair with hot water
Hot water actually lifts the outer cuticle layer of your hair, which is one of the most common reasons colored hair fades. The hotter the water you rinse your hair with, the quicker the color fades. To avoid this, switch to rinsing your hair with cool or lukewarm water.
Chemicals in shampoos
Your best moisturizing efforts to protect the health and look of your hair even extends to the shampoo you use when washing your hair. Most are designed contain hydrating ingredients, but in many cases, they are also abrasive and can irritate your scalp, leading to weaker hair.
The reason? Shampoo contains “detergent” which acts as a surfactant, lowering the surface tension of water, making your hair less likely to stick to itself or to bind with oils or particles that make your hair appear dirty. Many of the chemicals commonly found in shampoos designed to achieve this goal can strip the color from your hair and, worse yet, can actually be harmful to your overall health. You can read more about that in our recent blog..
The best shampoo for colored hair
As luck would have it, the best shampoo for color treated hair contains an ingredients that can also be used as damaged hair treatment. By now, you’ve likely guessed what that ingredient is… Pure coconut oil!
Washing your hair with a natural shampoo made from saponified coconut oil ensures that you aren’t introducing harmful chemicals to your hair, whether it’s color treated or not. But, because it is completely natural, you can be certain that this natural shampoo is not negatively impacting your lovely colored locks. (Just make sure not to wash your colored hair with hot water, as explained mentioned above!)
If you find that regardless of your best hydration efforts and using a natural shampoo isn’t enough to prevent your color treated hair from becoming dry and brittle (especially during summer months), you can always consider a hydrating oil treatment for an extra boost of moisture.
We recommend using Pure Beauty as a hydrating oil treatment on your processed hair to restore it and keep it strong. To do so, apply it to your hair scalp and allow it to sit for at least 30 minutes (up to overnight) whenever you feel like your hair has become especially dry. This will help maintain the overall quality of your hair.
Final thoughts
Remember that it’s always best to use shampoos that contain natural formulas, as they are less abrasive to your hair and scalp while still providing a healthy clean. To ensure the best care for your hair, it’s also recommended to limit your use of hair dryers, straighteners, and curlers that can damage your hair with excessive heat.