What You Need To Know About Getting Your Hair Colored

What You Need To Know About Getting Your Hair Colored
By Patti Wood
There is something about spring that brings about change in all of us. We want to clean the house, and I mean deep clean, we want new clothes, new hair styles, new makeup, and new hair color. With all of those mentioned, you can handle on your own… except for your hair color.

Hair color is definitely one of those things that you need to leave to a professional; it’s not like dying an Easter egg. You color your hair, you dye an egg, it’s not the same thing. That’s what my Cosmetology teacher, Mrs. Leatherman use to tell me. She said a lot of things I remember like, you pluck chickens you tweeze eyebrows. I loved her for reminding me of these things almost 40 years ago. 

Dying an Easter egg is easy; water, vinegar, and the color tablet that fizzes when you put in the cup. Coloring hair, on the other hand, is a science. You absolutely cannot take a box of color with a beautiful blond on the front cover and put it on dark hair and expect it to look like the picture. If it was that easy, I wouldn't be coloring for 40 years. We all have what we call undertones. If we use a color that won’t correct the unwanted undertones then we get undesirable colors like orange.

The best hair color is a color that is done by a trained professional who knows the color wheel inside and out. We cannot look at a picture and say, “I want that color,” then proceed to use that color. Everyone has a different base color to start and it’s kind of like painting a canvas. You have to go with the color you have now and use the color with the corrective undertone to change. For example, if you have medium-brown hair and you don’t like the warmth you see, the colorist knows how to formulate a yellow green corrective tone to rid unwanted undertones of red or violet.

For best results, stylists will do a few deep conditioning treatments to prepare the cuticle layer prior to your color service. After your color service, use a good shampoo for color treated hair. One of my favorites is the new Redken Sulfate-Free Color Extend Shampoo and Conditioner. The sulfate-free shampoo helps protect your hair color longer. Don’t skip the conditioner, even if your hair is fine or gets oily, it’s all in the application. Take a dime size and put in mid-shaft to the ends and do not put a glob on the top of your head. 

If you follow the colorist’s suggestions, you will get maximum, long lasting, beautiful results every time. If your color isn’t lasting and you have done everything that the colorist asked, go back ask your colorist and ask about your fading color. They should continue to find a solution and should guarantee the best results, contingent on your lifestyle, climate, and water conditions. 

Remember, leave the coloring to a professional colorist and you can keep dying your Easter eggs.

Happy Easter!

-  Patti Wood, WTS

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