The secret to healthy, strong, long-lasting blonde hair
Today, I’m sharing my top tips for how to keep your blonde hair healthy and strong, whilst minimising the number of visits to the salon. Here are my top 3 tips.
When it comes to colouring, less it more
The main problem I see when new clients hunt me out to fix their hair tends to be a blocky, brassy blonde that grows out really bad. This tends to be the result of over colouring. Too many foils being packed in. Not leaving much of the natural hair in between. This causes a big contrasting line when the natural hair starts to grow back through. Another bonus from leaving more natural in the hair is that it actually makes the lighter bits look even lighter. Against the natural hair the lighter bits pop from the contrast, adding more dimension and texture.
I tend to go lighter with the colour but incorporate more of the natural. Going lighter in the hairline is like cheating the regrowth because you get the brightness but it can be much more natural through the rest of the hair without sacrificing that bright feeling. This also means you can skip doing the full head which is super time consuming not to mention expensive and results in over colouring the hair and unnecessary damage.
Changing the sections you have coloured is also helpful. For instance if you need to have your colour done sooner than usual then just pop in a little T Section. A half head tends to be enough most of the time. For my natural girlies one full head a year going into summer is great. Others who have a brighter blonde can have two but you certainly don't want to be doing a full head every time. Again this creates unnecessary over colouring and breakage along with making it blocky. Hair should be lighter at the line then slowly getting darker as it reaches the back to then the darkest bit being down by the nape. Where the sun barely hits.
What products are best for maintaining blonde hair?
What you use on your hair plays a vital part. When colouring your hair it tends to become dry and brittle. Using a bonding agent during the colouring process is very important. Olaplex, K18 and B12 are all really good at repairing the bonds which are the foundations of the hair. The scaffolding if you like… holding the hair main structures in place, home hair care is like the nuts and bolts keeping the scaffolding together. This is another reason why it's so important to use these products when having the colour service done. Otherwise the “nuts and bolts” won't have much of an effect and they are pretty pricey to be wasted like that. Most of these plex/bonding agents have their own home care products. I have an incredible plex protein called Crodabond in wiig. This will be a top up for the salon service. Along with moisture and smoothing properties, wiig has it all. Reconstructing the hair from within.
Avoid overuse of heat when bleaching
Heat and bleach: My clients will all say the same thing… I always avoid using straighteners as much as possible. One reason being it takes all of the natural shape out and makes it flat/less interesting a lot of the time.
The other reason is when the hair has been lightened it's already in a weakened state. Add heat to this and you almost always get breakage. Over time this can increase and become really problematic. I see it all the time in the salon and you can tell by looking for the little whitish light bits right on the end of the hair where it has broken. Also the bits at the front which are the most coloured tend to get the most heat and are exposed to the elements more. And… they tend to snap off. Please use heat with caution. And if you're not going somewhere special then give your hair a break. But wiig will always help to undo some of the damage inflicted.
For more tips on blonde hair care, check out some of our other blogs.