It is the same for me. I am fairly new to hair dyeing. I just wish to share with you what I did so far to prolong my hair color. Maintaining your red/purple/bright hair color is actually not as difficult as I thought it will be.

Tips to protect your hair color

You probably have heard about the 8 tips I am going to share with you. They are nothing new and there is most likely a lot more well-written articles out there for your reference. However, I will include how I do it as well as what products I am using for you to have a better idea as this is the two biggest questions I have in many posts I have come across. Hence, I hope I can address them all at once. 

Please note that everything mentioned here is solely done to prevent your hair color from fading so quickly, not to treat chemically-damaged hair. I will talk about treating damaged hair next time. 

1. Don't wash your hair for 48(2days) hours after your dye

The longer you leave the fresh dye on your hair, the more lasting the color will be. I left it for a day before washing because I really cannot stand how dirty my hair feels. If you are not able to follow the stylist's recommendation (i.e. 48h), I think you should at least try to go a day without shampooing. The salon probably did a good job cleaning your hair so don't worry~

2. Temperature is important

Hot/warm water will open up the cuticles of your hair strands. Thus, you can lose your color pigments more easily. To reduce the amount of colored particles washing off, use cold water when you are rinsing, both before and after shampoo/conditioner. Plus, cold water can close the cuticles and this will make your hair appear more shiny and smooth.

3. Less washes = More color 

This is rather commonsensical right? The more frequent you wash your hair, the faster the colour molecules wash out. I do it minimally, around once every two days. 

4. Less water = More color

Here is yet another less-more formulae. Number of washes are easily tracked but amount of water used? Not so easy to take note. How I do it is I will fill a normal plastic container to wet my hair and scalp. Then I will apply my conditioner, massage it into my hair for a bit before using some shampoo to get rid of the junk or oil on my scalp.

I will use another 3/4 - full container of water to rinse out the hair products. Start from the top of your head and rub the back of your scalp/rest of your hair when the water flow through. This is how I wash my hair with ONE container of water. Seems impossible but it is actually quite alright. Just make sure you remove everything!

Can't find a more accurate representation but it is just a normal plastic container many people have in their bathroom. Mine is around the size of the darkest blue portion.

5. Shampoo only your scalp

Shampoo with less product

You do not need a palmful of shampoo for your hair. Shampoos usually have better cleansing power than conditioners/treatments. Thus, using it on your hair ends will strip the color off more quickly than expected.

Squeeze around 20-cent coin size of product in the centre of your palm, add water and lather it up. This will reduce the amount of shampoo you need. Plus, foams are less harsh to your scalp and hair. The additional air incorporated will help to clean more efficiently.

Remember, try to limit the cleaning to your scalp area (the only alive part) only. The stock photo is a bad demonstration lol.

6. Go easy on treatment products

Color protecting treatments/conditioners are 'anti-color loss'; that means they prevent, not stop. They will inevitably strip away some coloured pigments as they wash out. I am not asking you to skip treating your hair completely (because hair dyeing is a very damaging process) but use less of it. 

I will use a pea-size color care conditioner and mix in a tiny amount of any deep treatment to nourish my hair. I typically leave them on for around 1-2 mins before rinsing. 

7. Use color care products

L'oreal Sulfate-free Color Care System

Any brands that work for you is fine. Colour care products are tailored for chemically dyed hair so it will help slow down the fading process. I am using L'oreal sulfate-free color care shampoo and conditioner. Mentioned both of them in my favourites before so click their respective links to find out more if you are keen. 

8. Dry shampoo is your new best friend

To be honest I am not a fan of dry shampoos at all. However, since I only wash my hair once every two days, I have to freshen up before I sleep/head out.

Batiste Dry Shampoo

I am using the one from Batiste (Fresh). This is my first bottle so I don't think I have tried enough to comment much. The smell is pretty good though. One important thing when using dry shampoo is that you have to rub the product out if not it will look like you have disgusting dandruff (big pieces of them!). Speaking from experience :o

These are what I did for my purple hair.

It lasted me for a week or so before fading to a really nice purple red > bright red > red > brown red. 

Selfies in chronological order!

Chemigalzzzz :3

@ SPKEN GALA NIGHT

One more!

Reddish Brown

Brownish red

It has been a while since I spammed so many selfies on this space. Even my Instagram now is flooded with food pics hahaa.

I thought the result is not too bad (correct me if I am wrong) thus this post. I literally went from bright red > brown red in 3-4 days for my previous hair color because I was too lazy to care. My purple didn't last very long but it's a good experience. 

Should you have any tips or tricks, please share them here with me!!

Anyway hope you find this helpful :)

PS, the points mentioned should work for bleached hair/granny hair color (the trend now yo~) but don't hold me responsible if they don't ok :p