Elaina’s “Holla Holla!” on… Colour Fading!
Holla Holla fellow Zazouians! Elaina here with some helpful tips to one of the most common battles I hear our guests experiencing… “Why does my hair colour fade so fast?!”
The most common reasons are the following;
PROBLEM: Shampooing too often!! A lot of people feel if they don’t wash their hair daily, it’s either dirty or greasy. Unless you work as a Chimney Sweeper, Sewer Inspector or Cow-hoof Trimmer, then there is no reason you have dirty hair daily. Greasy you say? This is your scalp telling you “HEY! Pssst…You’re drying me out hot stuff… now I have to work overtime to nourish your noggin’!”
FACTOID: In the 1920s, mass production of bottled shampoo began in Britain and the United States. As consumers noticed the difference in their hair, it became quite popular and most used it at least once a week. This led to the formulation of surfactant, a substance that strips sebum from the hair. When added to shampoo, surfactants break down oils, allowing water to simply wash them away and leaving hair dull and lifeless. Today, many people shampoo their hair daily, this can lead to overly dry hair and scalp from the stripping of its natural oils, and colour fading.
SOLUTION: As for the folks with dirty hair, if you find your hair dirty or smelly, most professional products are water soluble and do not require shampooing to dissolve. Rinsing and re-conditioning the ends should take care of any unwanted odour and remove any surface “dirt” such as ice cream from your 3 year old or from the person who sneezed latte foam in your hair at the Starbucks lineup – and will not jeopardize your colour. As for the Greasers… that “grease” is actually the food that your body produces naturally that fuels your hair to grow strong and healthy. It is abundant because your washing routine is starving your hair and scalp so its mass producing “back-up” nutrients in preparation for the fasting.
To avoid this you must reprogram those glands and this is how… it’s going to take 3 months tops.
1) Stop shampooing daily. Rinse, re-condition from root to ends if you need to re-style bed head. Rinse thoroughly, the cooler the better to contract and lock that moisture and colour in!
2) Towel dry and start with a heat protecting product or treatment if you are going to heat style (see recommendations below) then go ahead with a styling product at the roots to midshaft such as Aveda Phomolient or Davines Wizard Mousse. These products are water soluble and formulated to absorb any unwanted oils from the scalp using naturally derived products (instead of chemicals found in most drugstore brands), PH balanced, and natural UV protectors like cinnamon bark, to help protect your colour and your health.
3) Blowdry and Style as usual!
*It’s going to be difficult in the beginning to get the hang of it but be patient!! This formula works every time!
PROBLEM: Heat styling such as blow-drying and flat ironing are also large contributors to colour fading.
SOLUTION: Heat expands things, yes? So the outer layer of hair shaft has cuticles similar to scales of a fish and protects like bark does on a tree. When these “scales” expand from heat, your hair becomes very vunerable and exposed – like Marilyns legs when her dress gets blown up from her classic picture…The solution? Pantyhose! Naaaw, protective heat-styling aids are the pantyhose here! Or don’t blow-dry or style… pffft ya right! Possible for some, not for most in our humid climate!
Product Recommendations…
Before I tell you my fav’s, just a little “heads up” on drug store brands. Drugstore brands are produced to make money; they use harsh detergents and strong, non-breathable silicones and waxes to make your hair “appear” healthy. When in reality these products are literally sucking out whatever colour, moisture and protein in your hair AND harming you and our planet with chemicals and fillers. So, they make’m cheap and marketable to attract (and distract!) the masses. Boo!!
Zazou has chosen product lines who have You, Zazou, and Our Planet in mind. Aveda, who is 97 – 99% naturally derived, uses Fair-trade resources, educational support and their funding for renewable energy ensures that they have NET-ZERO impact on the earths climate… pretty cool stuff! Not to mention Davines, who’s commitment to minimizing the impact their activity has on the environment, not compromising the quality or quantity of the Earths natural resources, expansive education AND their packaging is made from a minimal of 60% recycled material. Awesome!
So here’s the line up of my recommendations to restore, protect and make your colour last longer:
