Maintaining balayage and colored hair [easy guide]

Maintaining a balayage or highlights can be a bit confusing.

Depending on the type of color you have, you will have to maintain it in different ways. A sloppy color looks dull and brassy, which is not flattering at all!

Maintaining balayage at home is very easy, you will only need to have the right products so that the color lasts longer, since you will only need to touch up your hair at the salon a couple of times a year.

Other color techniques will need more frequent maintenance. As a general rule, the more you modify the natural color of your roots, the more maintenance you will need.

In this article I will teach you how to maintain different coloring techniques such as balayage, highlight dye or global blonde.

Maintaining Balayage And Colored Hair

Maintaining balayage hair or other types of coloration is easier than it seems.

The fundamental thing is that after a coloring service you have the basic care to make the color seal in your hair as much as possible, and also take into account a routine of touch-ups at the hairdresser so that your hair always looks in good condition.

The retouching routine in the salon will depend a lot on the type of color technique that you use in your hair. However, all colors need some basic care right after dyeing your hair:

• After your color service you should not wash your hair for a minimum of 3 days to seal the color. The longer you wait, the better.
• Avoid washing your hair with water that is too hot the first few times, as this can wash out the color.
• Wash your hair no more than twice a week so your color lasts longer.
• Always use a color-sealing shampoo and conditioner like Redken Color Extend Magnetics.

I recommend that you always have these precautions for maintaining balayage or any other coloring technique.

Now I will teach you how to maintain each of the coloring techniques individually:

SUGGESTIONS FOR YOU: Should I wash my hair before dyeing it?

Mantaining permanent colour

If you have a permanent dye (any color), you should normally visit the salon every 4-6 weeks.

If you dye your hair to hide your grays, it is very likely that you will have to touch up every 4 weeks.

But if the color you wear is similar to your natural tone, you can extend it to up to 8 weeks.

Brilliant!

But remember to always alternate between applying only to roots and applying it all over your hair to give your ends a break.

If you dye your hair frecuently, avoid box dyes because they are bad for your hair, and can cause you scalp issues. I would strongly suggest you to either go to the hairsalon, or to buy a professional dye that you can apply at home.

Maintaining a full blonde

If you have a full head blonde color, and you want to keep it perfect, you should go to the salon on average every four to six weeks. The after care of bleaching your hair is more intense compared to normal highlights, but it’s very worth it.

It’s very important that you don’t let your roots grow longer than six weeks, because it could make your next color look patchy.

And a very important tip!

When you go to the hairdresser to refresh your color, try not apply it in the middle and ends of your hair, so you don’t over-process it.

Remember, a healthy blonde is the goal.

SUGGESTIONS FOR YOU: From blonde to brunette in 3 easy steps

Maintaining Highlights

If you have highlights in your hair, you should go to the salon every eight to ten weeks on average.

This is assuming you have the highlights apply from roots.

You should try not to come before that date because it could be risky for your previous bleached hair to be saturated with product again.

Pro-tip: Tell your hairdresser to put the highlights in the darker strands of your hair to avoid repeating the bleaching in the same strands.

It would make your hair so much healthier! Make sure you don’t do your touch ups more often than every 8 weeks because in that case the highlights could damage your hair.

Maintaining Balayage

Maintaining a balayage is easier than it sounds. Balayage can take time to apply, but it’s very worth it becasue of its low mainteneance.

One of the biggest benefits of the balayage technique is that it requires very little maintenance.

When your roots grow, it will be blended.

And this will save you a lot of money on the hairdresser!

Normally you should touch up the balayage every 12 – 16 weeks (although you can even wait 24 weeks, and it will still look good!).

And the best part is that you won’t always have to bleach your hair again!

You can alternate bleaching sessions and glossing sessions (toner).

So your hair will stay healthy for longer.

SUGESSTIONS FOR YOU: Does permanent dye wash out?

Let’s get better hair!

I hope this article has been helpful to you.

Remember that each person is different and not all of us need to visit the hairdresser with the same frequency.

The most important thing is that you find a color routine that you feel comfortable with.

If you have any questions, leave them in the comments.

Until next time!