First and foremost, there are rules to being a cool blonde.  I know.  It’s a drag.  I”m not enthusiastic about rules either, but trust me when i say, breaking these rules is almost never worth it.  

Rules

• Stay clear of shampoos with sodium chloride – not to be confused with the commonly mistakenly feared ingredient, “sulfate”.

  – Note: sodium chloride is the scientific name for salt.  – so stay out of salt water pools and the ocean too!

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   While we’re on the topic of swimming….just stay out of the pool.  Chlorine won’t do you any good either.   It’s worth mentioning that ANY full submerging of your hair in water is not advised.
  ‘Tip:  if you MUST submerge your hair, get it wet with clean water BEFORE entering any lake, pool, ocean or any other body of water that is not your shower.  Your hair is like a sponge.  It can only soak up so much water.  If you fill it full of good water, it can’t absorb as much of the bad.
• Wash your hair less often.  Historically, our hair has NEVER been washed everyday. In fact, liquid shampoo, as we know it today, wasn’t invented until 1927, so yeah..I’d say washing your hair everyday is considered overkill.  Historically, humans scalp had not been stripped of its natural oils almost ever, let a lone daily.  Our species  started removing its natural oils in the past 100 years.  That being said, stripping your scalp of this oil DAILY sends our scalp into a dry panic, convincing it that everything it produced the day before had already been used and dried up.  To compensate, the scalp goes into a hyper oil production mode.   If daily washing is part of our regime, this amount of oil production will also become second nature to our scalp, and can be quite difficult to get out of.  The extra oil typically leads to a vicious cycle of the need to wash the hair sooner and sooner.
  – Yes, washing the oil from your hair actually gives you oily hair, while washing your beautiful color (and money) right down the drain.

Okay…so we’ve got the rules.  Now, what about steps you can take to preserve beyond preventative measures?  

1.  have a color depositing shampoo.have a color depositing shampoo.   The color of the shampoo depends on the shade of your ash, but typically, it’s somewhere in the world between purple and blue.  Some are stronger than others, so finding one that’s strong enough to make a difference, but not so strong that it actually turns your hair purple or blue.  This process can be a bit personal and may take some trial and error.  Colored conditioners can be beneficial too, but typically the conditioner is not meant for so close to your roots, so it isn’t always ideal.
2. Get in salon treatments and keep your hair as strong and healthy as possible.  Strong hair, holds color longer.  Weak damaged dry hair fades rapidly.  Keep that in mind next time your stylist offers you a moisturizing or reparative treatment. Ideally, you would alternate between the two to keep your hair in top shape.
3. Get a shower head filter.  Ever wonder where the term “brassy” comes from?  Yeah.  minerals in your water.  I know….. i know.  But your house has soft water… I’m going to be the bearer of bad news today.  The reality is, unless you bought your house brand new and replaced your filter before it started to fail, your filtered water must travel through your mineral filled pipes to get to your shower head.  Search online, or better yet, test your water to figure out what minerals you have in your water at your house, so you can buy the appropriate shower head you need to properly filter the minerals in your water.  Different filtering technologies offer different types of mineral filtration, so knowing what’s in your water is essential.
4. Wear a hat!  not a visor.  not a bandana.  a hat…. if you want an extra star, wear a hat with UV protection properties.  I once had an assistant that wore a bandana everyday while rocking the dark Ash blonde/lavender look.  One day she took it off, and her hair had faded in the pattern of a yamaka! The top of her head was exposed to the sun, and the ring around that section of her head was protected by her bandana!   It was an excellent visual of the true importance of using UV protection to preserve your color.
5. If your color starts to warm up before you are ready to do your roots, roll into your salon for a toner.   Toning appointments are quick, easy, and affordable.