Hair Color Fades

by Nicole
(West Virginia, US)

My hair has been bottle blond for so long and I am trying to go back to my natural brown color because I am tired of all of the damage that the bleaching does to my hair. I have been gradually going darker, from light to medium to dark blond and now light brown. I used Loreal Feria hair color in light brown this last time. The main problem that I have is that my roots and top half of my hair are always darker than the rest of my hair and the dark color always fades or washes out of my hair.

I would like to be able to just do root touch up once a month instead of all over color and know that it would be healthier for my hair as well. Please help!

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Sweetheart, you need to correct your hair porosity. Even though you've been coloring your hair brown, you haven't addressed the damage that was done to your hair when it was being bleached.

Blonde hair is very porous and the ends of your hair (old hair in any hair color) are the most porous. If you've been bleaching your hair a long time, you need to correct the porosity before you can expect your hair to hold color.

Your roots and new growth are holding the hair color well so its mainly the lower parts of your hair that need help.

You can do a few things to correct your porosity problems. Your hair needs added strength, which it will get from doing protein treatments. However, it also needs moisture. I would suggest that you use a protein treatment with moisture a few times before you color again. You can also buy porosity correctors that have very similar ingredients. (They just tacked on a fancier name!)


Follow these next steps to help your hair color hold!

After you've done a few protein treatments, only mix 1/2 the bottle of color with your peroxide, then color your roots only. (If they need it only...)

Now, get out another color bottle. This time, you'll be mixing the rest of your color with 10 volume peroxide but you need to make it first, assuming that you're using 20 volume peroxide!

Measure out the correct amount of peroxide for the rest of your color in a separate bottle.

Add an equal amount of water to the 20 volume peroxide. This makes a 10 volume peroxide.

Then add the color and shake well.

Apply the color mixture to the rest of your hair, starting with the most faded areas first.

Allow your hair to process the correct amount of time and your hair should be the same color all over.

Do not wash your hair again for at least 3 days after you take out the color, shampoo, and condition.

Dark hair color molecules are larger so it takes longer for colors to adhere to your hair in the first place.

Learn more about how to safely color your hair at home!