How to Maintain Your Coloured Black Hair

Black Hair Coloured.

The darker you go with your colour the shinier it becomes. This is because light bounces off the hair and reflect it back making the hair look shiny. When it comes to blonde hair and lighter tones the light is lost; going through the hair rather than reflecting the light. Black hair is special; being the darkest colour it fills the pigment of the hair so there are no gaps along the hair shaft to achieve full colour coverage and shiny, smooth hair. When colouring your hair black make sure you have thought it through and want to keep it for a while as black doesn’t fade out as quick as other colours, meaning it will be very hard to get your hair back to a blonde tone.

There are two things you need to do before you colour your hair black. The first one is to book a consultation with your stylist so they can look at your hair and skin tone to decide which shade of black would suit you best, either blue-black, black-brown or black-ebony. Then you need to have a skin test; as black is the strongest colour and has more para-dyes in than other colours, in general people are more prone to react to black. If your hair is porous then black colour can change towards the ends of the hair, maintain it by topping up with semi permanent colours rather than permanent as they are a bit kinder to the hair providing more gloss and shine. Using the right hair care products and looking for correct ingredients, your black hair can last for longer, looking healthy. Most hair products in supermarkets claim that they can keep coloured hair in great condition, however these products are quite misconceived. Salon professional products have ingredients in that penetrate into the inner cortex of the hair (this is where the colour takes place), these ingredients work to strengthen the inner layers of the hair, smooth out the cuticle and help lock in the colour to stop it from fading so quick. Products that are not salon professional mostly work on the surface of the hair, coating the cuticle to make it feel smooth; these products are not helping with the inner structure of the hair.

Always make sure that you always look for a colour saving shampoo as these will really help prolong your colour. Look for ingredients like polyquaternium, 7-panthenol and beeswax to help lock in the colour pigments inside the hair. UV filters deliver additional colour protection against UV light and olive leaf extract has the added benefit of retaining colour against bleaching. Citric acid and Lactic acid are great components to gain more shine in the hair with the help of panthenol to moisturise the hair, having a high affinity to keratin. Make sure you give the hair two shampoos to remove any product build up and properly cleanse the hair. In addition you could use two shampoos; one to help restore the colour and one to moisturise and increase shine.

Condition your hair with colour saving products as well. The conditioners will seal the ends of the hair and close the cuticle leaving the special ingredients in the cortex to work in the hair even when it is dry. Hydro-Resist double-locking technology seals the hair fibre to help keep colour in and water out. We would recommend investing in a weekly deep conditioning hair mask to add extra strength for your colour with the help of argan oil, avocado oil and linseed oil, these specialised ingredients are extremely lightweight and will be locked in the hair to protect and strengthen. Use leave in conditioners on the hair when it is wet to help when styling, UV protectors are great ingredients especially when you are on holiday as the sun and sea salt can fade out the colour, UV filters help prevent this. Leave in hair oils and conditioners with vitamin E, argan oil, xylose and linseed oil can also help keep your black hair in top condition.