As you’ve probably seen in all of my recent posts, I decided to go lighter for the summer. Going lighter for brunettes (and for everyone else, really) means damage to their hair since it usually involves bleach. My hair is already super dry thanks to being curly so I knew I had to be strategic about my post-balayage hair care in order to not end up having to chop extremely damaged locks off. So today, I’m going to talk about my hair care routine since dying my hair.

Damage Repair

I am pretty much a hair mask fanatic. If you don’t believe me, read my Top 5 Favorite Hair Masks posts. I’ve tried a lot of masks out there. A lot. I pretty much substitute conditioner with hair masks in the shower. I’ve recently been using the John Masters Organics Rose and Apricot Mask which has done wonders for the softness of my hair. Usually, after bleach, your hair feels straw-like and this mask has been keeping my hair nice and soft. I also absolutely cannot live without this Siberica mask (also mentioned in my Top 5 Masks post) as I believe that is truly the most damage-reversing hair mask out there.

About every 3 weeks I do the Olaplex 3 treatment although you can do it as often as every week. It’s a protein complex that helps restore hair to health and used to be pretty much only sold at salons and now is available at Sephora which is pretty great.

Getting Rid of Sulfate

I’ve already been slowly replacing all my shampoos with ones that are sulfate free but I especially put the emphasis on that after I dyed my hair. Sulfates in shampoo can strip your hair of essential oils and do some damage to the color of your hair, so it’s better to avoid them if possible. Shampoos with ingredients like argan oil are especially great post hair dye and help keep your hair in good shape.

Toning

If your hair still has a hint of yellow post bleach, I recommend getting a toning aka purple shampoo to help get rid of the brassiness and make the color a little nicer. I tone my hair with shampoo about once a week and it’s really made me like the color of my balayage a lot better. I recently picked up this toning shampoo from Amazon and it seems to be doing a great job.

Reducing Heat

I always try to heat style a little less after I dye my hair to give it a bit of a break but if I do use heat (and I still do my weekly blow out), I always, always, use a heat protecting spray. My personal favorite is this one by Tresemme.

I do think I’ll keep the light hair for a few more months but I do think I’ll do something different for the fall and winter. I didn’t dye my hair for 2 years in anticipation of my wedding in order to get it as healthy as possible and now that the wedding is over, time to get some color in this hair 😊

As always, thanks for reading!

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