How long does hair dye last, and how to make it last longer?

You’re looking for things to do when you’re stuck at home and you’ve found yourself looking at those coloured strands (or showing roots!) wondering ‘how long does hair dye last?’ You’re not alone, and if colour fade’s a worry, keep reading for our top hair hacks to prolong the life of that much-loved hue…

When you’ve just stepped out of the salon, your colour is nothing less than immaculate. Whatever luscious shade you’ve opted for whether that’s a multi-faceted chocolate brown, holiday-inspired beachy highlights or a perfectly pastel pink, chances are that your colour will never look better. Or, so you thought. While there was a time that your colour started to fade the moment you began your at-home regime, nowadays you can maintain that bright, fresh and bold colour for longer with some of our top tips.

Enter colour-protecting hair products; an entire category designed just to protect and perfect your shade for as long as possible. Want to know how they work? Let’s start with the colour process and how long hair dye lasts….

Colour processes 101

First of all, how long hair dye lasts depends what type of colour treatment you’ve had done.

• Permanent colour
If you’re wondering, “How long does permanent hair dye last?” the answer is simple. If you’ve had a permanent hair dye, in a salon or at home, whether a full head, lowlights or highlights, the colour will essentially last until your hair grows out or you decide to re-colour it. As the process opens up the hair shaft it’s able to embed the dye deep within it, completely changing the colour of your hair, permanently, until that hair grows out. This is the only way to change dark hair to light or to make any really drastic change but inevitably, your natural shade will start emerging at the roots anywhere between 6-10 weeks afterwards, depending on how fast your hair grows.

• Semi-permanent
If you’ve opted for a more of a commitment-free semi or demi-permanent colour, your new hue should last up to 24 shampoos as the colour is deposited around the hair shaft rather than deposited within it. Perfect for tonal changes and accenting your natural base shade, a semi-permanent colour is less damaging but that also means it doesn’t last as long. Depending on how often you wash your hair that could be anything from four weeks (if you shampoo every day) to several months if you only do it once a week. However, as the colour is only fused to the outside of the hair cuticle, those colour particles are being washed away with each and every rinse, revealing more of your natural base shade beneath as the weeks go on.

What can cause hair dye to fade?

All types of colour processes are vulnerable to tonal changes the longer they are left on the hair. Whether it’s the minerals in your shower water, UV damage from sun exposure or overuse of heated styling tools, almost all colours will change over time, and some are more susceptible than others. ‘How long does permanent hair colour last?’ and ‘How to limit shade fade?’ are questions that every hair stylist across the world has heard at some point from clients in their salon chair. And it’s no wonder, but how you plan on keeping it is entirely down to how you treat your tresses. But it’s not just what you wash your hair with that can make a difference to colour fade, it’s also how often you do it.

Human hair is incredibly absorbent, think of a dry sponge versus a wet sponge when it comes to soaking your hair and then consider what happens to your colour with each and every soak in the bath or long session in the shower. It’s no wonder then that excessive washing is the number-one cause of premature colour fade, so wherever possible, use a shampoo designed for coloured hair.

What can cause hair dye to fade?

The first essential step in your fight against colour fade’s a super gentle but effective shampoo that’ll help to preserve that beautiful – and hard won – hue. Meet Pantene Pro-V Colour Protect Shampoo: it gently cleanses tresses, while fuelling hair with active Pro-V nutrients, to help protect colour and shine. This specially formulated shampoo for coloured and highlighted hair nurtures strands inside and out, helping to protect against damage caused by styling. Pantene Pro-V Colour Protect Shampoo’s technology protects colour vibrancy while smoothing hair cuticles for touchably smooth strands.

The colour-lock technology adds a protective layer to help seal hair for healthy-looking radiance. Free from mineral oils and colourants, it’s perfect for a longer-lasting colour. Follow up with Pantene Pro-V Colour Protect Conditioner for best results. Protection against colour fading with the help of moisture: if your hair’s well hydrated, your colour’s more likely to hold. So, condition is a must as part of your hair care routine!

If you were to look at the structure of healthy-looking, undamaged hair under a microscope you’d see that – like tiles on a roof – the layers are smoothed down giving hair an even surface to reflect light, making the hair feel soft and look shiny. However, when the hair is dry or damaged, those layers begin to lift, creating a rough, uneven texture, that allows colour to easily fade away. Uniquely designed for coloured and highlighted hair, Pantene Pro-V Colour Protect Mask uses a keratin protection complex that gives hair a protective layer, sealing strands for healthy-looking radiance.

For more colour-saving hair hacks, take a look at our guide on how to stop hair dye fading.