Funky Hair Color Care

[cruisehopeful]

Lots of people at Disneyland have funky colored hair, so I thought I'd ask here. I went pink about 3 weeks ago and I use the shampoo/conditioner I was sold at the salon for color treated hair and I wash in lukewarm/cool water, but whenever I wash my hair, I see a lot of the color going down the drain. It seems to be the shampoo as I don't notice it when wetting my hair or using the conditioner. What do people normally use to wash their hair? How often do you need to color?

I was told the color wouldn't take on my gray hair and I was fine with that, but it seems like pretty much all my hair (gray/blonde/brown) is back to natural from the roots to about 3 inches down. There is some sporatic pink, but it seems odd that I see the blonde and brown so much now.

Also, people say only wash once per week, but I can't do that as I have oily hair. I will use the dry shampoo which does very little to help to extend between shampoos, but I need to wash at least twice per week and know I will look dirty a couple days per week if I don't wash every other day.

 

[Tattylou]

Wash your hair in cold water...as cold as you can stand. I only used actual shampoo every few days. The other days I wet it in the shower as usual, but just used conditioner to "wash" it. Dry shampoo doesnt worj for me either. Conditioner only in the shower worked perfect though.
I had pink for a while. Think I got it touched up every 4-5 weeks. After a few times, it definitely held better.

 

[cruisehopeful]

After a few times, it definitely held better.

I actually wondered if my color didn't hold on the first few inches of new growth because it was so chemical/sun damage free. It makes sense the continuing to color would make it hold better. I also didn't bleach first, which is something I might do later. I'm not really sure since I swim often during the summer. The sun and the pool water will begin to bleach it without me trying.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

Make sure the pool chlorine doesn't bleach your color the wrong way. I have friends whose color was adversely affected by pool water. My stylist friends say that a professional bleaching the first time will achieve the bright, true color people want. Depending on how dark the original color is/was, it may take a dual process. But if your hair already had blonde in it, that shouldn't be necessary.

 

[AuntieMe3]

I have purple in my hair, the first time I did it, it come out really fast, like you described. It has lasted longer each time I've done it. I have to wash every other day or I'm a big grease ball! lol

 

[Califia]

There is a hair color conditioner brand called Overtone https://overtone.co/ you can use to maintain or even dye your hair. The fantasy shades are notoriously difficult to maintain because they just rinse right out, but a lot of people swear by that stuff. I can't personally vouch for it as I unfortunately didn't discover Overtone until I had given up on my own black to purple ombre (with pink and purple highlights) and went for the 'slightly mussed pile of Autumn leaves' look instead simply because it was much easier to maintain (and therefore much, much cheaper).

Good luck and let us know how it turns out for you if you try it, please! I plan to do a "garden galaxy goddess" kinda thing using Overtone before my DLR/DCA trip this October, so if you want me to go first you'll have a *bit* of a wait. ;-)

 

[cruisehopeful]

Good luck and let us know how it turns out for you if you try it, please!

I just ordered it. I'll let you know how it goes. Looks like a better alternative to going back to the salon already. I got 2 different levels of pink so I can play around with it.

I am also going to try Wen for shampooing. They claim it keeps your color from fading, but they are talking about normal chemical color and not necessarily the funky bright colors.

 

[Califia]

I just ordered it. I'll let you know how it goes. Looks like a better alternative to going back to the salon already. I got 2 different levels of pink so I can play around with it.

Oh, fun! I'm going for green/teal shades with a black no. 4 and white base - which means a visit to the salon for the heavy bleaching. I'm naturally auburn, so it is not the easiest thing to get my hair white. I am hoping the Overtone conditions the parts we'll have to heavily process in addition to coloring it as my hair is over processed right now and I'm in 'wait mode'. I hope to avoid that this next go-round, because over processed hair is no fun.

I am also going to try Wen for shampooing. They claim it keeps your color from fading, but they are talking about normal chemical color and not necessarily the funky bright colors.

Please let me know how that works out, too! I've heard mixed reviews, and I'm aware everyone's hair and skin are different, but I've been kind of edging away from the stuff. Right now I use Matrix Total Results Color Obsessed, but it failed miserably when it came to protecting my purples. My black no. 4 held up wonderfully. My current cinnamon/auburn/gold/black no 4/scarlet held up pretty well - for about a month, then the reds started fading and getting a touch brassy. I kind of suspect something with a sunscreen in it would work better, as I've dyed my naturally auburn hair fire engine red (and black, of course!) in the past and it would start fading and getting an 'off' tone to it just from the sun. I'll be trying a sunscreen made for hair this summer so I can test that theory.

Good luck (again) and most importantly - have fun! :-D

 

[oakleycat]

My boys dye theirs bright colors every school break and my method is similar to PPs - bleach before color, then wash in cold water with minimal shampoo, mostly conditioner. Theirs never lasts long because they do swim team and I haven't found anything that keeps pool water from taking out the color. Applying a leave in conditioner before swimming helps. Just recently for our April trip to Aulani we did bright blue and bright red permanent color a few days before leaving and after a week of pool and beach it was really light (not sure if you can see in my avatar, that was our last day!).

 

[cruisehopeful]

Please let me know how that works out, too!

I have now tried a few things. The first couple times I used WEN, my hair was already pretty faded and I didn't see any color wash out from using it. It also kept my hair looking healthier and cleaner than the Paul Mitchell Color Protector shampoo and Conditioner the salon sold me. I can go 3 days without washing when I use WEN.

My Overtone came a few days ago. I used the once per week deep conditioner the first day because my hair seemed really faded. It brought the color back to very close to the original dye color, however, it was a much better shade. I rinsed it out until the water was clear, but my scalp was dyed pink, too.

Today was the first day I washed since the Overtone deep conditioner. I used the WEN and this time, I saw plenty of pink washing down the drain. Overtone has a daily conditioner that they say to use whenever you wash your hair. I used it after the WEN, even though WEN normally need conditioner. My color is really good right now. I do believe that if I use the Overtone Deep once per week and the daily stuff whenever I wash my hair, the color will last a very long time. I am at 4 1/2 weeks right now since my hair was dyed and it looks fresh - possibly better than the first week it was dyed. It looks like it would be expensive to keep it up as recommended if someone was going to use it for their whole head on a regular basis, but less expensive than dying every few weeks.

Theirs never lasts long because they do swim team and I haven't found anything that keeps pool water from taking out the color

I've only been swimming once so far. I ordered a swim cap today, but the reviews had a lot of people complaining that their hair was wet. It may be possible that I'll just let the color for the summer or only do the Overtone when I want to have a pink hair for a few days.

I was thinking of going Cruella DeVille in October anyway. So, I would need to bleached out on one half and black on the other.

 

[dosekies]

I dyed my hair a bunch of funky colors (pink, blue, purple) in high school and recently started going red from my natural dirty blonde. The high end, salon shampoo definitely makes a difference. I agree with the cold water as well.

Unfortunately colors like that just dont seem to hold too well. Blue is what definitely lasted the longest for me. What I suggest is to buy some Manic Panic hair dye or something similar in a pink color like you have. 1-2 times a week or whenever you need to, mix a bit of it with your conditioner and let it sit in your hair for 10-15 minutes in the shower and wash it out. I do this with red dye when I need some extra vibrance and it works really well!

 

[EmmersIsTheMommy]

Yeah I had to do my own hair so I could redo it every couple weeks. I finally said enough haha. But yes, cold water, nice shampoo, don't wash often.

 

[Califia]

Today was the first day I washed since the Overtone deep conditioner. I used the WEN and this time, I saw plenty of pink washing down the drain. Overtone has a daily conditioner that they say to use whenever you wash your hair. I used it after the WEN, even though WEN normally need conditioner. My color is really good right now. I do believe that if I use the Overtone Deep once per week and the daily stuff whenever I wash my hair, the color will last a very long time. I am at 4 1/2 weeks right now since my hair was dyed and it looks fresh - possibly better than the first week it was dyed. It looks like it would be expensive to keep it up as recommended if someone was going to use it for their whole head on a regular basis, but less expensive than dying every few weeks.

I'm glad that worked out! I was just thinking of doing a black and purple ombre but decided against it until I had a better care plan that I did for my last funky dye job. Thank you for being the Disney Board Overtone test subject! I think I'll go ahead and order the Overtone and use your method.

 

[Stephanie1138]

Roots usually need to be bleached first. But the most important thing to do is do not wash it for at least 48-72 hours to lock in the colour. Try for 72. It will not stay well if you wash it before then.

 

[cruisehopeful]

I started swimming and that pretty much took most of the color out. I still have slightly pink hair and I get tons of compliments on it now, because people probably think I deliberately got this color. It's been over 3 months since I had my hair dyed pink. I was recently job searching and between that and swimming, decided to just let my hair wash out. I haven't used the Overtone since June. I've been washing with Wen or another non sulphate shampoo.

Since I'll continue to use the pool for a couple months, I don't plan on dying my hair again or using the Overtone for a while. I do suspect, that when I want to go intense pink again, I'll only need to use the Overtone Deep conditioner and I won't need to get my hair dyed at the salon.

My daughter recently went bright red and she just put red color in her normal conditioner and her color is holding.

 

[SaraMc]

Dry shampoo. It will help significantly specially of your hair gets oily. Wash in cold water don’t use green shampoos or dandruff shampoos they will take out the colour. I found salt water pools also pulled the pink/purple out of my hair.