how to maintain pastel hair

Ever since Stefanie magically transform my hair to a dreamy pastel peachy-pink from a red ombre I have been experimenting with a few different products that have helped prolong the color. I figured I’d be gracious and share some of these tips and tricks I discovered for making fun new color last longer! I gathered this knowledge from reading countless hair blogs and from Stefanie (duh, she’s my hair guru!) and then put them to the test on my own hair. Of course these things aren’t going to work for everyone out there but feel free to ask any questions and I can have Stef respond 😉

1. Have a professional get you to a light enough blonde for the pastel color to show. 

• I would never suggest bleaching your hair yourself and for my really long hair I would not trust anyone but a professional. Stef used Olaplex while bleaching my hair to ensure the strength of my hair. When she did my hair she did two rounds of bleaching my hair with Olaplex to get rid of all the stubborn red left behind before coloring my hair peachy-pink. What is Olaplex you may ask?? Well we have a post here explaining it, but basically it protects you hair during a color or bleaching process.
• To keep any dryness from the bleaching of all my hair at bay I have been using the take home Olaplex treatment.

2. Wash your hair less and when washing use cold water

• I have been loving the Bumble and Bumble Pret-a-powder dry shampoo- I can add it to my hair at night and in the morning I awake to fresh hair with some serious Texas volume. I also have been liking the Kardashian Beauty Take 2 Dry Shampoo.  It works in a pinch to absorb oil, give texture and also acts as a sort of hair perfume.
• Cold water keeps the hair cuticle sealed which means your color is less likely just to rinse out.

3. Use color depositing conditioners and color safe shampoos

• I create a custom concoction of Davines red conditioner and copper conditioner mixed even parts with my Davines Oi Oil conditioner that is a regular white conditioner so that way I have a soft pink/peach pastel conditioner that I leave on towel dried hair for up to 30 minutes. If your hair is more of a true bubble gum pastel pink you could just use the straight red conditioner mixed with a regular white conditioner. If you have a more lavender/purple pastel hair I would use the Davines silver conditioner mixed with a tiny bit of the red Davines conditioner.

4. Try Temporary hair color

• If you are ever in London, like I was in Jan/Feb, pick up several bottles of the BLEACH London ‘Super Cool Colour‘ to give your light hair a tint that washes out in up to 10 washes. I picked up the Rose and Awkward Peach colors and have been loving them. Sadly they don’t ship to Canada as of yet.
• Use blush (as in your blush you used on your face this morning) as a wash out hair chalk. I found that my mineralize blush from MAC in Dainty works great as it has a domed shape and is easy to run over my hair for days when my color has faded a bit but I don’t have the time to do fix number 3 or 5 in my list.

5. Use a semi-permanent color

• I have tried the Crazy Color in Candy Floss in and I found that it was a bit too bright to be considered pastel so the next time I try it I think I will dilute it with some regular conditioner. I found it lasted more washes than the color depositing conditioners but you have to be a tad bit more careful with the application and wear gloves to put in on your towel dried hair.
• I also like Manic Panic mixed with conditioner to make it a pastel tone. I personally use the Pretty Flamingo color for my peachy-pink hair.

**A tip I found for grey/white hair that has taken on a green ting is to do a rinse with ketchup or tomato sauce. Apparently you hair can take on a green ting from hard metals in water, especially swimming pools with chlorine. The vinegar in the ketchup helps to stop the chemical reaction and then red is the opposite of green so it counteracts the green ting.

Here are some of the fun pastel colors that Stefanie has done. You can email her at Stefanie@behindtheblush.ca to book in a hair appointment or to purchase pastel hair product (Olaplex, Davines, Kardashian Beauty and Crazy Colours were all bought from Stef).

Hope those tips helped and let me know if you have any tips or tricks for keeping your hair in pastel heaven!