Staying CG after coloring hair
 

Hi folks, I'm new to this board and I have a question thats been bugging me. I've been on the CG routine for a few months. I do use shampoo though, Burt's Bees More Moisture, my hair really likes that stuff. But three days ago I had my hair colored using a demi-premenate color. The new color isn't that different from my natural color, it's a "warm chestnut with red undertones".

The hairstlist told me not to shampoo the day after the coloring, though I could wet it or put conditioner in it. Afterwards I bought the Radient Red shampoo and conditioner and they both have all these gross non cg ingredients. But I used the conditioner yesterday. When I rinsed it out the run off was this brown-red color. I don't know if that was the dye or the conditioner or both.

Anyway, I don't want to damage my hair too much or reverse all those months of cg. So my question is, can I still use my cg conditioner even if it's not "color safe"? I only shampoo about once a week anyway.

Hey, I'm no expert but I have been colouring my hair for years. I would say you can use your non-colour-safe conditioner but it might just strip your colour a little faster than would a colour-safe one; sometimes the colour-safe ones actually deposit a little bit of colour onto the hair to help maintain it. Reds tend to fade really quickly unless you have been dying your hair red for a long time. Also, you could have seen the colour run out because you used a demi; demis fade out gradually faster than a permanent would. Maybe a colourist could chip in?

I think cowashing will actually help preserve your color because you're washing with conditioner instead of shampoo with sulfates that strip your color faster.

Agreed.

+1

I think you can still remain CG
 

I color my hair red too, and sometimes red/brown. What I have personally found is that many of the "color-safe" shampoos in stores and salons work only marginally better than regular shampoo. Most of them contain sulfates and silicones.

If you CG and cowash, I don't think you'll have a problem, and the color should remain longer, although with red, it'll still fade quicker, unfortunately. If you low-poo, your color will also remain longer. I can attest to that myself. I don't cowash, I just wash less often with a non sulfate shampoo. Since I have been doing that, the red tones in my hair will last about a month.

I agree with the others about the demi-permanent. It doesn't last as long as permanent. A salon I used to go to always used demi-permanent and I didn't realize it; they never told me. It would bleed out within a matter of days. So frustrating! Red is so nice and is such a pain at the same time. :sunny: