What About My Colour?

April 01, 2020

Not many of our clients will be wanting to go back to their natural colour. So here are some options in order of commitment.

We've also posted some helpful tutorials on our YouTube - Michael Van Clarke Channel

1. Colour shampoo
Gentle colour enhancement. This will just sit on the surface of the hair and last you until your next shampoo.

2. Vegetable colour/colour conditioner
This is a single product (no mixing) that you apply directly from the tube/bottle which also sits on the surface, but goes that bit deeper. It will wash off entirely in about 6 to 12 washes.

3. Semi-permanent
If you need to mix two products then that is not a temporary effect. Semi-permanent is a marketing term that’s been abused over the years to lure people in that just want to dabble, thinking that it’s low commitment. In truth, the benefit disappears but not the effects on the hair which last until it’s cut off. Often, semi-permanent is actually closer to permanent. It’s essentially a weak tint, which means it will affect the structure and colour of your hair for the length of the hair, which can be 3-4 years on long hair.

It’s a great way to colour hair with less commitment than a permanent tint or if you want the colour to fade away as it grows so as not to have a hard regrowth line. But if you want a quick in and out of colour and no further maintenance, bear in mind that long after the colour benefit has gone your long hair will still be prone to stronger colour changes in the sun. If you weren’t planning to keep colouring your hair, choose vegetable colour/colour conditioner instead.

Be very careful about buying some of the hair dyes available on the retail market. If we are colour-correcting in the salon, we'll be familiar with the ingredients in a professional product. Retail products can be harder to colour-correct in the salon afterwards. They’re often full of heavy metals and odd elements, which are more aggressive on the hair. So don’t rush to the chemist to buy semi-permanent hair dye straightaway. Try using a touch-up pencil for your roots-- you can get different tones -- and they are very good to tide people over. Otherwise, I’d really recommend a vegetable colour, something you’ll apply direct without mixing. It’s more gentle, but will mostly still do the job. At least for now.

4. Permanent Colour/Tint
If you won’t accept anything less than full coverage of those white or dark hairs then it has to be a tint. When you’ve gone as long as possible, start only with the hairline and parting. This will give you a few weeks more. If you have a centre parting, move it to the side and slant the line back up towards the crown. This can extend the need for a full head tint another few weeks.

5. Highlights
Finally, don’t attempt to highlight your hair at home. It’s probably the most skilled process of a hair technician. And if you’ve had your highlights done recently enough, I’d say you can push it for two to three months with some novel styling techniques. You could also claim it’s a deliberate ombre effect.

And if you want to make your colour last, nothing comes close to LifeSaver Prewash Treatment. LifeSaver will extend your colour and style by keeping the structure of the hair together. No other product we’ve come across gets close to this. Combine it with our Cashmere Protein UV Protective Shampoo and Conditioner to retain colour vibrancy and extend the life between tints. www.vanclarke.com 

 Michael Van Clarke

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