How I Keep My Highlighted And Colour Treated Hair Healthy And Vibrant

If you're like me and spend a good amount of time and money on highlighting and/or colouring your hair to get the colour you want and love (even if you do it at home on a budget), you'll want to take care of it to keep it healthy and vibrant. If you're not using the right hair products, you can strip the colour and literally watch your time and money go down the drain.

When I'm not experimenting with new products, these are my tried-and-true, go-to products that I always repurchase to help keep my colour fresh and vibrant.

Live Clean Pink Fire Colour Protect Shampoo & Conditioner

The first step is the right shampoo and conditioner, otherwise, you risk stripping your hair colour. I'm sure you've used certain products and watched your hair colour change, whether it became dull, faded or even changed its tone.

As the name implies, Live Clean's Pink Fire Colour Protect shampoo and conditioner are designed to protect your hair colour- whether you're blonde, dark or a ginger. They are my go-to shampoo and conditioner for keeping my colour and highlights vibrant and healthy. They are gentle on my hair, keep it hydrated, and protect my colour from fading. I have raved about them before in an empties post linked here.  They are 98% plant derived, made with organic botanicals, cruelty-free, eco-friendly, and free of all the nasty chemicals. They are also SLS-free (an ingredient that is well known for stripping hair colour).

Clairol Shimmer Lights Shampoo

About once a week I also use a purple shampoo to tone my hair and help keep its vibrancy. I have been using Clairol's Shimmer Lights for years. It helps to remove any brassy tones in blonde or silver hair. The longer you leave it in, the more it tones your hair. But, I don't recommend using it too often or leaving it on too long as it can be drying. I am hoping that my favourite cruelty-free drugstore line- Live Clean, will come out with a purple shampoo as I would prefer an affordable, cruelty-free, and natural product.

Live Clean Apple Cider Clarifying Shampoo

This is the only product that is new to my routine. I hauled this product a while back and posted it on my Instagram page. I purchased Live Clean's Apple Cider Clarifying shampoo after hearing a stylist say how important it is to use a clarifying shampoo every once in a while if you colour treat or bleach your hair. This removes the gunk and buildup out of the open hair cuticle that can dull-down your hair colour.

This shampoo uses Bragg apple cider vinegar and is Sulphate free. It helps to remove the dulling residue to bring back the vibrancy to your colour treated hair. True to the Live Clean line, it's also 98% plant derived, eco-friendly, cruelty-free, free of the nasty chemicals, and affordable.

How to "Bump the Base"

I professionally highlight and colour my hair about every 4 months. Another thing that allows me to go so long between professional colourings is that I learned how to "bump the base" (aka. slightly lighten my roots) in between professional colourings. I have a whole blog post on how to "bump the base" linked here. (It's actually quite easy and fast).

Paul Mitchell Super Charged Moisturizer

I also believe in doing weekly deep conditioning treatments. Colour treated and/or bleached hair is more fragile than virgin hair so it needs extra TLC. Although I am guilty of not always finding the time to do this, it' really important to hair health, especially for those of us with colour treated hair. One of my favourites which I am currently out of is Paul Mitchell's Super-Charged. I am currently trying out several other deep conditioning treatments trying to find more affordable favourites.

100% Silk Pillowcase

As I mentioned, colour treated and/or bleached hair is much more fragile than virgin hair and therefore more prone to breakage. I like to sleep with silk pillowcases which are very gentle on the hair and can help prevent breakage. Bonus- it will help keep your style longer!

I also like and recommend the Tangle Teezer for helping to prevent breakage on fragile, coloured hair- it really works! *Warning- keep it away from your cat(s) or they will steal it!

These are the things that are currently working for me to maintain and protect my highlighted and colour treated hair. If I find anything else that works or I change my routine, I'll do an updated post.

I hope you found my tips and tricks for maintaining healthy, coloured hair helpful.

What do you do to help maintain your hair colour?

Amy

xoxo

*This post is not sponsored. No affiliate links. Some products have been purchased by me and some were graciously gifted as PR with no obligation to mention them. All opinions are honest and my own.