How to Care for Colour-Treated Hair Between Appointments

The colour leaves the salon in good condition. What happens to it over the following weeks depends largely on what you do at home. Oliver gives every colour client a brief rundown at the end of the appointment, but the detail gets lost in the general excitement of a new colour. This is the longer version.

Washing: Frequency and Water Temperature ¶

Colour fades primarily through washing. Hot water opens the hair cuticle and allows colour molecules to escape. Cold water does the opposite. The practical recommendation is to wash with warm water and finish with a cool rinse. It is not a dramatic change but it makes a measurable difference to how long the colour holds.

Frequency matters too. Washing every day strips colour faster than washing every two or three days. If you find your scalp gets oily quickly, a dry shampoo applied at the root between washes is a reasonable compromise. Oliver recommends applying it the night before rather than the morning of, which gives it time to absorb properly.

Products: What to Use and What to Avoid ¶

Sulphate-free shampoo is the standard recommendation for colour-treated hair, and it is a reasonable one. Sulphates are effective cleansers but they strip colour along with the dirt. A sulphate-free formula cleans adequately for most hair types without the same level of colour loss.

Purple or blue shampoo is useful for blondes and highlighted hair that tends to go brassy between appointments. Use it once a week rather than every wash. Used too frequently, it can deposit too much pigment and leave the hair looking dull or slightly grey. Leave it on for three to five minutes rather than washing it out immediately.

Heat Styling and UV Exposure ¶

Heat styling without a protectant is one of the fastest ways to degrade colour-treated hair. The heat opens the cuticle and accelerates colour loss, and repeated heat damage makes the hair more porous, which means subsequent colour appointments produce less predictable results.

UV exposure fades colour in a similar way to how it fades fabric. In summer, a UV-protective hair product applied before time in the sun makes a genuine difference. It is not a product Oliver stocks at the Vault, but any pharmacy or supermarket carries a reasonable option.

None of this is complicated. The clients whose colour lasts longest between appointments are usually the ones who wash less frequently and use cooler water. Everything else is secondary.