Care · 6 minute read
Why does my colour fade so fast?
Utah hard water, chlorine, altitude sun and lake days. Why colour fades faster here than the bottle says, and what actually slows it down.
If your colour looks different two weeks after the salon, it is usually not the colour. It is the water, the sun and the lake.
Along the Wasatch Front we have hard water, high altitude sun and a summer built around the water. Every one of those pulls tone out of hair, and nobody local seems to want to say it.
The sequence
The sequence is the whole problem
Fade is not one event. It is a queue of small ones, and they happen in a reliable order between your appointment and the day you notice.
- 01
Days 1 to 3
The cuticle is still settling. Hot water and strong shampoo now cost you the most tone.
- 02
Weeks 1 to 3
Hard water minerals build on the surface. Blondes go dull and slightly warm, brunettes go flat.
- 03
Sun exposure
Altitude means stronger UV. It oxidises pigment, and reds go first.
- 04
Chlorine and lake days
Chlorine strips and can push blonde green. Lake water leaves minerals behind.
Potential solutions
What actually works.
A shower filter
The highest impact and lowest effort fix for hard water. It changes how week three looks more than any shampoo will.
Wet your hair before you swim
Hair saturated with clean water absorbs far less pool or lake water. Rinse again straight after.
A clarifying or mineral treatment in the salon
Removes existing build up so your gloss lands on clean hair instead of a mineral film.
A gloss halfway through the interval
Twenty minutes, $50 to $95, and it resets tone and shine without any lift.
What to avoid
The things that make it worse.
- Very hot water, especially in the first three days.
- Washing daily with a strong clarifying shampoo. Save clarifying for once every few weeks.
- Sun without cover on fresh red or copper. Red is the fastest fading pigment there is.
- Getting a fresh blonde wet in a chlorinated pool in the first week.
How we recreate it
Step by step, in the salon.
- 01
48 hours quiet
No wash, no heat, no swimming.
- 02
Filter the water
A shower head filter, changed on schedule.
- 03
Colour safe wash routine
Cool water, two to three washes a week, tone support once a week.
- 04
Pre swim protection
Wet hair, a little conditioner through it, rinse straight after.
- 05
Mid interval gloss
Booked at the same time as your colour appointment.
Laila's pro tip
If you spend your summer on the water, tell us in March rather than in August. We formulate a slightly deeper, slightly warmer version of your colour for lake season, and it looks better in week six than the perfect version would have.
Laila Grigley, Creative Director
Book with the Creative Colour teamCommon questions
Straight answers.
- Does hard water really fade colour?
- Yes. Minerals deposit on the hair and change how light reflects off it, which reads as dull and brassy long before the pigment has actually gone.
- How often should I wash coloured hair?
- Two to three times a week in cool water for most people, with a gloss mid interval to reset the tone.