4 Ways To Get Vibrant Hair Colors To Last 6 Weeks

How To Maintain Brightness With Semi-Permanent Colors

As much of a slay as vibrant hair colors can be, maintaining them is a daunting task. Semi-permanent colors are designed to last up to “six” weeks, but we know bright tones can fade much sooner. We’ve rounded up four important steps to try and at-home care to share with your vivid-loving clients to extend their color into that six week threshold.

Watch the step-by-step for the must-try color locking & smoothing treatment add-on above!

1. Maximize color absorption with these 3 tricks:

1. Open the cuticle. Depending on your client’s desired result, open the cuticle with either a lightener or clarifying shampoo. This will allow for maximum absorption of any color to deposit evenly for long-lasting results.
2. Apply color to dry hair. Once the cuticle is open, fully dry the hair before applying any vivids—opting for hair color that contains nourishing oils will help color last longer.
3. Apply heat while color is processing. This can be done by blowdrying the hair on low heat or using a plastic cap over the hair with a warm towel over top. Doing so will further open the cuticle, ensuring the color penetrates as deeply as possible.

2. Rinse with cool water.

After allowing the color to process for the maximum time, use cool water instead of hot water. Cool water helps seal the hair cuticles, locking in the color and making it more resistant to fading.

Pro Tip: You MUST be instructing your clients to do this at home!

3. Lock in with a no-rinse treatment.

Once the vivids are processed and rinsed, use a no-rinse treatment that will lock your client’s color into their hair. (Best part? This can easily be charged as an add-on!)

Keratin Complex‘s Director of Education Paul Dobbert (@pauldobbert) explains how he used the new KCEXPRESS Express Blow Out Smoothing Treatment on his client’s freshly-colored pink hair to extend color, eliminate frizz and add gleaming shine for the next six weeks.  

How to apply KCEXPRESS:

• After rinsing your client’s color, shampoo once with a color-safe shampoo. Then, shampoo a second time with Keratin Complex KC PRIMER Keratin Pre-Treatment Shampoo. Do not condition.
• Towel dry the hair and divide into six sections. 
• Grab your gloves and starting at the nape, apply the treatment using a color brush in 1-inch sections beginning 1/4 of an inch away from the scalp.
• Comb through each section to evenly distribute the product and avoid over-saturation. 
• Don’t rinse! Instead, rough dry the hair until it is 80 percent dry, section the hair again and lock in with two passes of a flat iron over each section. The flat iron should not exceed 380 to 400 degrees.

Pro tip: KCEXPRESS can be added on to any color or highlighting service for an additional $75 of income.

4. Avoid overwashing.

After applying KCEXPRESS your client can not wash their hair for at least eight hours (but most will obviously wait much longer than that to keep their style intact). After that, recommend only washing once or twice a week with a color-safe shampoo to maintain the strands’ vibrancy.