Hair tips on how to treat your highlighted hair.
Highlights look absolutely gorgeous, but, sadly, they can also be damaging to the overall condition of your hair. The process involves stripping pigment from the shafts of your hair and sometimes even a second chemical process may be used to make strands of hair gold or copper in place of platinum.
How can you look after your beautiful new highlights to prevent your hair from getting damaged?
Wash your hair only when necessary. Fragile hair needs less washing and styling to prevent breakages and splitting. But who wants to have healthy, greasy looking locks? Why not try a dry shampoo for in between washes. I recently got sent a bottle of Batiste dry shampoo by Beauty Bulletin and was totally impressed with the results! Just two or three squirts on the root area, then wait a minute or two and brush out the white powder. Hair looks full of volume and smells totally divine (I tried “Boho” which reminds me of Chappies bubblegum). It doesn’t leave blonde hair looking dull or grey like some of the other dry shampoos. For girls who blew their budget on the highlights and are feeling the pinch, try a few sprinkles of talcum powder on your path. Just remember to brush out well!
After you wash your hair, always condition it. Apply a deep conditioning mask to help restore some hydration to your parched locks the first time you wash after having your hair highlighted. Use the mask as a weekly treatment thereafter to keep your hair looking lush. Try Aussie’s 3 Minute Miracle or Dove’s Damage Therapy Intensive Repair Repairing Mask. For those beauties on a tight budget, transform your regular conditioner into a deep treat by keeping it on for ten minutes and covering your hair with a shower cap. Dove also makes a Daily Treatment Conditioner, which I use regularly and absolutely love!
Always try to use products specifically designed for colour-treated hair if possible. Most store bought brands have a variant specifically designed to guard against colour-fading. Try John Frieda’s Sheer Blonde range, which contains gentle cleaning agents to prevent your new highlights from turning brassy and won’t alter your colour. If you can afford a salon shampoo, go for a sulphate-free range like Pureology hair care products. Pureology’s Hydrate shampoo is a personal favourite of mine. It is sulphate-free and contains 100% vegan ingredients. It’s quite pricey at R220 for 250ml, but it lasts me for about three months. You need only need a tiny blob and it keeps hair soft and moisturised without weighing it down.
Give hair a cool rinse after washing and conditioning. Warm water can dry hair out, while cold water will act to seal in the protective ingredients of your conditioner and will smooth down the follicle for extra shine.
As tempting as it is, try NOT to heat style your hair too often. Blow-drying and flat ironing all contribute to hair damage. If you simply must blow-dry or use your beloved GHD, make use of a good heat protection serum or spray. I love Lee Stafford’s Poker Straight Flat Iron Protection Mist. This product is simply amazeballs! Beauty Bulletin sent this to me to try and I was really impressed with the results. This protection spray protects and cares for hair and leaves it beautifully straight and frizz-free. It contains green tea, which is an antioxidant that will assist in eliminating free radicals produced by the sun’s rays and heat-styling. Panthenol provides extra moisturisers to leave hair shiny and straight. This product leaves no sticky residue and my hair remains soft with no tell-tale hardness that some other protection sprays leave behind.
Try and wear a hat in the sun or use hair products with an SPF, as the sun also fades colour.
Use a decent hairbrush. Brushes with natural boar bristles are absolutely ideal as they distribute your hair’s natural oils from root to tip.
Only touch up when you absolutely need to, as repeated chemical processes will damage your hair. Roots can be touched up every 6-8 weeks, but if your natural shade is only a few shades lighter than your highlights, you can possibly go even longer between touch-ups.
Article by: Maryanne Young http://www.beautybulletin.com/blog-directory/our-bloggers/maryanne-young