The Top 9 Bad Habits That Fade Your Hair Color

Isn’t it frustrating when you pay to get your hair done just to have it fade out super quickly? Is it the hair stylist’s fault when this happens or is there another reason? In reality there actually are a number of bad habits you may have that are responsible for your hair color fading.

Once you break these bad habits not only will your hair color last longer, but you hair will also be much healthier as well! Keep reading to find out what steps you can take to get the most bang for your buck out of your hair color.

Watch my Youtube video on this topic below:

How long does hair color take to fade?

As I have mentioned before in previous posts, hair color is not a one-size-fits-all type of thing. Everyone’s hair is different, therefore everyone’s hair holds onto color differently.

If you have healthy hair, your color will last much longer than if you have porous or damaged hair. This is because the cuticle (outer layer) is opened or even missing when the hair is damaged, leaving nothing to stop the color from washing out of the cortex (middle layer).

Something to keep in mind is that hair color fades a tiny bit EVERY single time you wet your hair. The amount that it fades is dependent on a number of factors:

• The condition of your hair
• The quality of the hair color line
• The products you use
• How often you wash your hair
• How you care for it

Color will fade even without washing it. Oil from your scalp can pull hair color out, or it can even rub off on your pillowcase! It’s good to keep in mind that there are many many reasons that can cause hair color to fade.

Some color will fade completely in the first wash, while other color may take weeks to show any signs of fading. On average, color will usually need to be refreshed in some form in as little as 4 weeks. To learn how often you should visit the salon based on your hair situation, see my post here.

Will permanent hair color fade out eventually?

Permanent hair color does not mean that it will stay the same exact color until it’s grown out or colored again. It means that it is permanently altering the chemical composition of your hair. The color WILL fade from what it is the day you get it done. And there’s no way around that.

But since permanent hair color has permanently altered your hair, it will not go back to your natural color until that hair has grown out and is cut off. It just fades from the color you applied to it, exposing some of the underlining pigment.

To learn more about the differences between permanent, demi permanent, and semi permanent hair color see my post here.

What causes hair color to fade?

There are a number of different reasons why your hair color is fading, and there are several habits that need to be broken in order to get the most out of each and every hair color service.

The top 9 reasons hair color fades are:

1. Frequent shampooing
2. Exposure to the sun & tanning beds
3. Hot water & steam in the shower
4. Exposure to chlorine & salt water
5. Low quality & non-color safe products
6. Medicated shampoos
7. Frequent use of heat styling tools
8. High temps on styling tools
9. Damaged hair

***Since I’m sharing the products that I love to use with you guys, this page includes affiliate links to these products. If you take action and purchase a product through clicking one of my links, I’ll make some commission money from it at no extra cost to you. This enables me to be able to continue giving you awesome hair tips, so thanks! ***

1. Frequent shampooing fades hair color

Every time you shampoo your hair, it fades a little bit. The water slightly opens the cuticle, and the shampoo enters into the cortex attaching to some of those color molecules. The color molecules are removed when the shampoo is rinsed out, thus causing some fading of your color.

Unless you are using a coloring shampoo that deposits more color while you shampoo, it will fade. Even with a high quality color safe shampoo, a little fading is always expected.

2. The sun and tanning beds fade hair color

We all know that UV rays are bad for our skin, but not as many of us realize that our skin is very similar to our hair. The only difference is that when your hair gets sunburned, it doesn’t peel off and grow back in a few days.

Have you ever left a black shirt or hat in the sun for too long and it fades to a purplish or brown color? That is the sun fading the dye in the shirt. So you guessed it, the same thing happens to your hair color when exposed to the sun and UV rays. Be aware of this next time you hop in a tanning bed or are at the beach all day.

I always recommend covering your hair with a towel in a tanning bed and wrapping it up in a hat when outside for long periods of time. You can also get a UV protectant, but just as your skin still can tan and get burned with sunscreen, your hair can still fade too.

This is my favorite UV protectant and leave-in conditioner, and check out this post if you’d like to learn more about how to protect your hair during the summer months!

3. Hot water fades hair color

Have you ever steamed your face to give yourself a facial? Heat and steam open the pores on your skin so that you can scrub the dirt and excess oils out. They then close up when exposed to cold.

Well, the same is true when heat and steam are exposed to our hair. Along with the dirt and oil, hair color molecules are also removed. The hotter the temperature, the wider the cuticle expands. This makes it much easier for hair color to slip out of the hair whether we use shampoo or not.

Keep in mind that even if we aren’t using shampoo at all, just rinsing your hair in hot water can fade the color, and so can exposure to steam from a hot shower. Even if you rinse your hair in cool water, if the rest of the shower is steamy your color is still more likely to fade. Cool water is always best for our hair and skin.

To combat this, I recommend using a color depositing shampoo or conditioner. The conditioners are my favorite because they act as a conditioning treatment as well. So even though the initial color is fading, you’re replenishing it with color each time you wash it.

You can find my favorite color depositing conditioners here.

4. Chlorine fades hair color

Chlorine is technically bleach. So that being said, it’s pretty obvious why going in the pool would fade your hair color. Aside from the fact that it’s slowly bleaching our hair, there are all kinds of other harsh chemicals that are extremely drying and damaging to not only your hair, but also your skin.

Salt water pools are a better option, but they still contain some chlorine. They don’t have quite as much as a chlorine pool, but don’t think that just because the pool is a salt water pool that it doesn’t contain any chlorine. It can definitely still fade your hair color.

I do recommend avoiding getting your hair wet if possible, but I also have a tip for if you do plan on dipping your hair in the pool.

If you know that you’re going to go into the pool, douse your hair in conditioner beforehand. Do not rinse the conditioner out before going into the pool. In this case your hair has absorbed the conditioner, and it won’t absorb quite as much of the chlorine.

I like to soak my hair in conditioner, then put it into 2 braids before going into the pool. The braids will stop as much of the conditioner from rinsing out into the water.

See this post to learn more about how to care for your hair during the summer months.

5. Low quality & non-color safe products will fade your hair color

I can’t tell you how often clients tell me that they’re using a good quality color safe shampoo, for me to then find out that they’re using something from Sally’s or Target.

PSA! Sally’s does NOT sell high quality products. Always take a recommendation for a product from your hair stylist, not something you see an ad for. Stylist’s aren’t just trying to make money off of you, we want our work protected and actually care about your hair.

To preserve your hair color you need to use a color safe and sulfate free shampoo. These shampoos don’t suds up as much as a regular shampoo will. So it may not feel like it is cleaning your hair, but trust me it is.

Add more water if you need to. Just know that the sudsy part of shampoo is what pulls out the hair color. It’s not supposed to suds up like a bubble bath!

You can find one of my favorite color protect shampoos here and the conditioner here.

6. Medicated shampoos will fade your hair color

Medicated shampoos can be anything from head and shoulders or even a prescription dandruff shampoo, to Nioxin or something for thinning hair.

Keep in mind that the purpose of these shampoos is not to preserve your hair color. Color safe shampoos are very gentle and typically are free of harsher chemicals that are often found in medicated shampoos.

Even if a medicated shampoo is advertised to be color safe, chances are it is still going to fade your color more than a salon grade color safe sulfate free shampoo.

If you are using something prescribed by your doctor or dermatologist, ask them if they have any other type of topical products such as a rinse or mousse. I have seen plenty of these types of products offered from dermatologists and they tend to preserve the hair color a lot better than a medicated shampoo will.

You can find my favorite topical over the counter mediated product for the scalp here and you can learn more about dandruff and dry scalp on my post here.

7. Heat tools fade your hair color

As I mentioned earlier, heat opens up the outer layer of the hair. So when you use heat tools, you are also fading your color.

I have even seen some flat irons accumulate buildup on them that is brown or whatever color the hair is. That is the color molecules being pulled from the hair and sticking to the iron. So it’s important to avoid using your heat tools as much as possible to avoid the unnecessary fading.

To avoid this, I do recommend trying out new ways to wear your hair so that you don’t have to iron it. Learn braids and half up styles. It’s also better to blow dry your hair over ironing, because the heat is indirect hot air vs. a direct hot plate. But if you must iron, always use a protectant.

You can find my favorite thermal protectant here, and if you’d like to learn more about heat tools and what temperature is best for your hair type, check out my post here.

8. Hot temps on styling tools

As I mentioned above, styling tools WILL fade your hair color. Espeically when used with a temperature hotter than necessary.

I have seen hair color fade directly out of the hair in one hot swipe with a flat iron. There really is no reason to turn the temperature on your iron all the way up.

If you are having a hard time getting your hair to either curl or straighten with a normal ranged temperature, then it’s likely time for a new iron!

You can find my favorite thermal protectant here, and if you’d like to learn more about irons and what temperature is best for your hair type, check out my post here.

Watch my youtube demonstration of what can happen to your hair with a hot flat iron:

9. Damaged hair doesn’t hold onto hair color

The most important factor to long lasting hair color is healthy hair. If your hair is already damaged whether it be from over-processing, lack of cutting, or being too rough on it; it will not hold on to hair color like it should.

When hair is damaged, the outer layer that resembles fish scales does not stay closed as it should, and makes it incredibly easy for those color molecules to slip right out.

If you find yourself in this category, then it’s time to take control of your hair and start making better choices to keep it healthy and beautiful ALL the time, not just after you get your color done.

If the hair is already damaged, the damaged parts will likely need to be cut off. While you can use bond builders to help strengthen it, you cannot replace hair that has broken.

You can find my favorite bond builder here. See my post here for how to get your hair in better condition.

Product recommendations

One of the best ways to halt your hair color from fading is by using quality products regularly.

***Since I’m sharing the products that I love to use with you guys, this page includes affiliate links to these products. If you take action and purchase a product through clicking one of my links, I’ll make some commission money from it at no extra cost to you. This enables me to be able to continue giving you awesome hair tips, so thanks! ***

Olaplex

• Olaplex no. 3 – Bond building and strengthening treatment
• Olaplex no. 4 – Bond building and strengthening shampoo
• Olaplex no. 5 – Bond building and strengthening conditioner
• Olaplex no. 6 – Bond building and strengthening leave-in conditioner
• Olaplex no. 8 – Moisturizing mask treatment
• Olaplex no. 9 – Bond building leave-in serum
• Olaplex no. 4D – Dry shampoo to extend time between washes

Aquage

• Silkening Oil Treatment – Hair serum used to protect the hair from the heat of the blow dryer as well as smooth unruly and frizzy hairs.
• Beyond Shine – Thermal spray that adds shine as well as protects hair from heat styling tools.

Pravana

• ** Intense Therapy Leave In – Leave-in conditioner, detangler, UV protectant, thermal protectant, chlorine blocker, and cuticle sealer. This Product does it all.
• Intense Therapy Treat Masque – Once a week conditioning treatment to repair damaged hair and replenish lost moisture.

Celeb Luxury

• Viral Colorwash – Fantasy color toning shampoo
• Viral Colorditioner – Fantasy color toning conditioner
• Gem Lites Colorwash – Natural color toning shampoo
• Gem Lites Colorditioner – Natural color toning conditioner

Conclusion

Hair color fades each and every time you wash it, unfortunately there is no way around that. On average, you’ll need to have your hair color refreshed within 4 weeks. Just because a hair color is considered permanent, does not mean that the color will not fade. The amount of fadage that you experience is dependent on several factors:

• The condition of your hair
• The quality of the hair color line
• The products you use
• How often you wash your hair
• How you care for it

That being said, there are ways that you can slow down the fading process. The 9 bad habits that fade your hair color are:

1. Frequent shampooing
2. Exposure to the sun & tanning beds
3. Hot water & steam in the shower
4. Exposure to chlorine & salt water
5. Low quality & non-color safe products
6. Medicated shampoos
7. Frequent use of heat styling tools
8. High temps on styling tools
9. Damaged hair

If you have any further questions for me, leave them in the comment section. And be sure to subscribe below if you want to make everyday a good hair day!

Last edited 04/01/2024