Shades of red can be deep and rich, or soft and understated, but they can wash out quickly.

While the picky pigments in reds require a little extra upkeep, these top tips from our colour pros will keep reds vibrant between applications.

1 INGREDIENTS MATTER

We have a better understanding of ingredients now than we did twenty years ago. There’s also been a lot of R & D in the colour sector resulting in new generation ingredients which can deliver permanent, salon grade colour without unnecessary harsh chemicals.

Key ingredients to avoid are ammonia and PPD. Ammonia can irritate your eyes and nose with its harsh smell and is otherwise used in industrial cleaning products, so lets do better than that. Leading breast cancer researchers advise reducing or avoiding PPD exposure, so lets take their word for it.

The Shade’s colour range is completely free from ammonia, PPD, parabens and phthalates, titanium dioxide and gluten.

2 DEEP CONDITION

Get ahead of wear and tear with an intensive conditioning treatment, such as our favourite thermal Tsubaki oil treatment. This will infuse your hair with the moisture it needs to strengthen your hair, minimize breakage and dullness, repair damage and leave your hair beautifully soft and shiny.

3 CHILL OUT

Give just-conditioned hair a cold rinse in the shower to seal the cuticle and preserve your color.

4 COLOUR-SAFE SWIMMING

Protect your hair from the colour fading impacts of chlorine and salt water. Avoid over-chlorination by wetting hair with tap water and adding some conditioner before you take a dip.

5 STICK TO YOUR ROOTS

Applying hair color over previously colored hair can cause over-processing, over-darkening, or uneven results. Follow the application instructions and reduce the colour processing time on your lengths for touch-ups. If your hair is porous, apply permanent colour to your roots only and boost colour and shine in your lengths with our gentle semi-permanent colour or a toner.

6 THERMAL CONDITIONING

Applying gentle heat by using a thermal cap with your conditioning oil treatment will lift the outer cuticle layer of the hair, allowing the beneficial properties of your treatment to enter within the hair, boosting the benefits of your treatment. Our preferred treatment is thermal Tsubaki oil, which is 100% pure Camellia flower oil, very high in oleic acids, glycerides and proteins and is intensely nourishing and hydrating.

7 REFRESH REGULARLY

Red pigments may fade faster than brunette or blonde colours. To stay on top of colour-fade, redheads need an all-over colour boost more often than their blonde or brunette counterparts. To maintain a bright, glossy, rich colour result boost your colour by running a semi-permanent colour through your hair in between your root touch-up colouring intervals.

8 STAY TRIMMED

Great colour needs healthy hair with great condition to look truly great. It is very difficult to maintain great colour results on over-processed locks. Damaged and split ends can leave strands looking drab, dull, or thin and they will leak colour, leading to rapid colour fade. Regular trims to snip off the unwanted damaged ends will help keep your hair healthy.

9 HANDLE WITH CARE

Try to reduce or avoid using heated styling tools as much as possible. Heat applied directly to your hair will make hair more porous, and that means it’s more difficult for the strands to retain colour. Use a heat protecting product before using heated tools to keep your locks safe from colour degrading hot tools.

10 LESS IS MORE

Some people wash their hair every day. The colouring process opens the hair follicle to deposit colour pigments, making your hair a little thicker and also prone to a little more dryness. It can be best to stretch out your hair washes and skip a few wash days. This allows your natural oils to counter-act dryness, keeping your hair looking bright, healthy and reducing the colour-fade the can happen with daily washing.

The good news – some of these tips involve doing less, not more!

Remember great colour these days is about avoiding the over-processed, ‘fried’ look. You need great condition for your colour to look and feel its best.

I have red hair so have always found it hard to get the perfect at home colour, with the shade I have found my perfect colour and I don’t have to remember the brand and shade it is just sent to me exactly when I need it. It’s awesome!!

R. Seddon

Absolutely love this! Was looking for a way to maintain my long red hair without paying salon prices. Very impressed with the quality and the colour itself. Holds up to washing SO much better than my salon’s colour.

E. Hughes

Perfect solution! I am not one to spend hours at the Salon or for that matter spend an exhorbitant amount of money. So The Shade is my perfect solution and surprisingly easy to find out what shade suits. I have received many many compliments since commencing over a year ago. My shade is Palermo- Copper Golden Blonde.

L. Pienaar

So unbelievably happy with my colour! I have been obsessed with the idea of warm copper locks for a while and after paying $$ at a salon and still not quite getting the look I was after, I decided to take a leap of faith and subscribe to The Shade. I am so happy with how it turned out ❤️

N. King

Love, Love Love it! Fantastic shipping time, quality product and great results. Especially loved the neat packaging, personal touches and salon kit. The shampoo & conditioner are also fabulous and left my hair feeling thick and healthy. Portofino- Copper Golden Brown is a beautiful rich colour too.

M. Culcasi

I just wanted to message you and let you know how much I loved using your hair dye for the first time …. I have received so many compliments and it looks better than the $300 salon job… not to mention all the free time at home I’m going to have now I won’t have to spend hours in the salon… ! I used the Copper Golden Blonde shade and it came out amazing !!

C. Twilley