Happy with the colour at your roots but a bit perturbed by increasingly darker lengths?

We’re here to help you understand why the colour in your lengths may become darker and duller over time, and to help you adjust your colour application so you achieve your colour goals.

Why Does Colour Become Darker In The Lengths?

Colour can become darker in your lengths if you:

• colour frequently and layer colour in your lengths
• have porous hair

Porosity:

Porous hair will over-absorb colour, leading to darker and duller colour results. Hair can be naturally porous due to its texture. In particular hair which is very fine or curly tends to be porous and it can soak up more colour, leading to darker outcomes.

Damaged hair will also be porous. Hair which is healthy will not just look and feel better, it will also perform better when coloured. It will absorb and hold colour better. Hair which is moderately damaged can over-absorb colour, which will directly lead to darker colour results. Hair which is very damaged will not absorb colour at all, and it can literally lose the ability to retain colour pigments.

Your hair should be considered in three sections – the upper roots, and the mid-lengths and ends. The ends and mid-lengths have been exposed to more colouring or lightening processes, and more heated styling and environmental factors which weaken and degrade the hair, and as such they are much more porous than the roots section.

If you have porous, fragile or damaged hair, then it is best to reduce processes in your lengths, so you should colour regrowth only, without adding further colour to your lengths.

If your hair is damaged, we recommend weekly intensive conditioning treatments to rehydrate, deeply nourish and strengthen your hair.

We prefer pure botanically based products, such as our Repair Mask, Repair Spray, Split End Serum and Tsubaki Oil. A weekly or bi-weekly conditioning or oil mask will restore condition and rebuild and repair damaged hair.

Fast-Growing Hair & Frequent Colouring:

If you have fast-growing hair you may find that you are colouring quite often to stay on top of regrowth.

If you are colouring frequently (every 2-3 weeks), then it is best to apply colour to your regrowth only. This will avoid colour layering and build-up, which will occur if you layer colour on top of colour in your lengths every two weeks.

Stick to roots only colour applications if you have fast-growing hair. Apply colour just to your regrowth for the full processing time, without adding any colour to your lengths.

Colour Perfection:

If you tick any of the porous, damaged, or frequent colouring boxes, a simple tweak to your colouring approach will give you beautiful regrowth coverage, while reducing permanent colour processes in your lengths.

We call it Colour Perfection.

With the Colour Perfection approach, you apply permanent colour to your roots only for colour maintenance. Permanent colour (20 or 27 vol developer) will cover greys, giving you complete coverage at your regrowth. Use a toner or semi-permanent (5 vol developer) only to boost colour and tone through your lengths.

This approach reduces the permanent colour processes in your lengths, preventing damage and colour build-up in your lengths and ends. It is particularly helpful for porous or damaged hair.

If your hair over-absorbs colour or is very damaged, reducing processes and colour applications in your lengths will improve your colour results and hair condition.

The Colour Perfection approach can keep your hair healthier and your colour results consistent, preventing the dreaded darker and duller colour outcomes.