Why Your Salon Color Is Fading (And What Your Stylist Wants You to Do About It)

Last Tuesday, my client Jess showed up for her six-week touch-up looking defeated. "I don't even know why I bother anymore, Danielle." She pulled up the photo I'd posted of her balayage from February with these beautiful cool blonde ribbons throughout her brown base. Then she lifted a section of her actual hair. The blonde had gone warm and brassy, almost orange in some spots.

"What am I doing wrong?" she asked.

And honestly? She was doing everything most people do. Which is exactly the problem.

Jess' been coming to me for about three years now, and this was the first time I'd seen her color fade this badly this fast. Something had changed. Turns out, she'd moved from her apartment in Eastvale to a house in Rancho Cucamonga in January. New house, different water supply, and our water out here is brutal.

This was actually my own learning curve too. When I first started doing color back in 2016, I'd send clients home with good shampoo and conditioner and figure that was enough. Then I'd see them six weeks later and their color would be completely different from what I'd done. I kept thinking I was doing something wrong with the formulation and maybe I needed to tone differently, or deposit more pigment, or...

It wasn't me. It was everything happening to their hair the second they left my chair.

So let me tell you what I've figured out over the past eight years, because protecting color is actually more about what happens at home than what happens in my salon.

What's Actually Happening to Your Hair

Your hair has this outer layer called the cuticle which are the overlapping cells that protect the inside of each strand. When I apply color, I use chemicals to lift that cuticle layer so the color can get inside the hair shaft. Once the color is deposited, the goal is to keep that cuticle sealed back down.

Here's what I didn't understand early in my career: sealed cuticle equals shiny, protected color. Lifted cuticle equals dull, fading color. It's that simple.

And the main things lifting that cuticle? Hot water, harsh sulfates in cheap shampoo, and heat styling. I've watched it happen over and over.

But the thing that was destroying Jess's color specifically was our hard water. When I ran my fingers through her hair that Tuesday, I could feel this weird coating on it which is slightly rough, sticky almost. That's mineral buildup from hard water, and it was sitting on top of her hair creating this film that made her color look muddy and brassy.

The sun is the other major culprit. My client Jennifer learned this the hard way last summer. She'd gotten this gorgeous rich auburn color in June, then spent two weeks at the beach in San Diego without protecting her hair. By the time she came back, that auburn had turned coppery-orange with these strange light patches. UV radiation literally breaks down the color molecules. It's the same reason your outdoor furniture fades.

And heat styling, look, I used to be terrible about this with my own hair. I'd flat iron every single day at 450 degrees (which is way too hot, by the way). My color would fade within three weeks. Now I keep my flat iron at 350 maximum, I always use heat protectant, and I let my hair air dry at least twice a week. My color lasts twice as long.

So What Actually Works (And What Doesn't)

Back to Jess and her brassy balayage. The first thing I told her was get a showerhead filter. She ordered one on Amazon that night for $35. When she came back six weeks later, the difference was dramatic. Her color had faded some which is normal  but no more orange tones. The minerals weren't coating her hair anymore.

I now recommend filters to every color client, especially in Chino, Eastvale, or Rancho Cucamonga. Our water is loaded with calcium and magnesium. A filter removes most of that plus chlorine. It's the single best thing you can do.

Water temperature matters too. My client Maria was obsessed with scalding hot showers. Her color faded in two weeks. I convinced her to try lukewarm water and finish with a 15-second cold rinse. Just cold enough to make you gasp. That cold water snaps the cuticle shut. Maria's color now lasts five weeks instead of two.

Drugstore shampoos with sulfates will strip color fast. I used to recommend whatever was on sale because I didn't think it mattered. Then I noticed clients with the best color retention all used sulfate-free professional shampoo.

Now I tell everyone: use Amika's The Kure Bond Repair Shampoo if your hair is damaged, or the Normcore line if it's healthier. Jess uses The Kure because her hair was fried from years of box dye.

And wash less. My client Linda went from daily washing to every three days using dry shampoo, and her highlights stayed bright for an extra three weeks. Every wash is an opportunity for color to escape.

Heat styling is where I see the biggest mistakes. People spend $200 on color then fry it with a 450-degree flat iron the next day. I did this for years.

Now here's what I do and recommend: use heat protectant every single time. I like Living Proof Perfect Hair Day Heat Styling Spray. And lower your heat at 350 degrees is plenty for most hair. You don't need 450 unless you have extremely coarse hair.

Jennifer, whose auburn went orange at the beach? She now keeps UV spray in her beach bag and a hat in her car. When she went to Santa Barbara last month and protected her hair, her color looked almost identical when she got back.

If you're spending time outside, at Prado Park, the air shows at Planes of Fame, or walking downtown Chino, you need sun protection. Either a hat or UV spray. The sun fades color faster than almost anything.

One more thing: Brazilian Blowouts. This treatment seals the cuticle for about three months, creating a protective coating that locks color in. Jess got one in March, and her color stayed vibrant for eight weeks. She's now a convert.

What to Keep in Your Shower

I'm not going to give you some long complicated product list because honestly, you don't need that many things. You need four products that work, and you need to use them consistently.

Start with a sulfate-free shampoo and conditioner. We carry Amika and Aluram at Rock Paper Scissors, and both lines are specifically designed to protect color. Jess uses The Kure line because her hair needs the extra repair. Maria uses the Normcore line because her hair is healthier and she just needs color protection without heavy conditioning.

Get a deep conditioning mask and use it once a week. Color-treated hair loses moisture faster than untreated hair, and dry hair looks dull even if the color is technically still there. I use a mask every Sunday night while I'm watching TV. Takes ten minutes.

And get a leave-in conditioner with heat protection. This is your daily armor. I use one every single morning before I style my hair, even if I'm just air drying. It protects from heat and UV, and it keeps hair from getting tangled and breaking (which also makes color look patchy and damaged).

That's it. Four products. Not fifteen. Not some complicated routine you'll never stick with.

If You're Frustrated with Fading Color

Look, I get it. You spend money and time in my chair getting your color perfect, and then it fades faster than you'd like. It's frustrating. But most of the time, it's not the color itself, it's what's happening at home.

Jess's balayage is still going strong now. She's been using her shower filter for seven months, washing with sulfate-free shampoo, and protecting her hair from heat and sun. Her color consistently lasts six to seven weeks now instead of three. She actually texted me last week: "I can't believe I waited so long to fix this."

If your color is fading fast and you're not sure why, come talk to me. We can figure out what's going on, whether it's your water, your products, your heat styling, or something else and build a plan that actually works for your hair and your life.

You can find us at Rock Paper Scissors Hair Studio, 5222 D St., Chino, CA 91710. We're in historic downtown, right across from City Hall. Call us at (909) 707-9553 or book a complimentary consultation online. Let's get your color lasting as long as it should.