The Beauty Edit: Protect Your Hair Color with an $8 Shampoo
Mar 21, 2018
I still remember the day 5 years ago when I looked in the mirror, and there it was…a grey hair. Flashing in the sun like a neon light saying, “Hey, you’re getting older.” Such fun. Since that moment, I’ve been religious about coloring my hair every six weeks. But hair color isn’t cheap, so how do you protect it?
E at District of Chic is woman whose opinion I trust. If she says something works, it works. So when she said her new color-care shampoo was keeping her hair color looking fresher, longer, I rushed to Amazon to pick it up.
Juice Organics Color Protect Shampoo + Conditioner ($8 each at Target; $9 on Amazon) is one of the best drugstore products that I have ever used. The products are sulfate-free, petroleum-free, cruelty-free, and organic-certified. They also make a fairly wide range of products for different hair concerns.
I love the shampoo. Unlike most eco-friendly shampoos, the products have a rich texture and give an excellent lather. It also smells amazing, like a basket of fresh figs. And weeks after my last hair color, once I started using the Juice products my hair looked shinier and less brassy. The only shampoo/conditioner that works as well as this for color costs almost 4x more.
However, I’m iffy about the conditioner. For a regular conditioner, it doesn’t do a bad job. But I put a lot of heat on my hair, and it’s not as moisturizing as I would like (or need). I’m thinking about switching to their Repairing Conditioner instead.
When you’re spending $200+ on your hair color to keep the grey at bay or just switch up your look, you don’t want to wash it down the drain. If an $8 shampoo can keep my hair color looking great longer, I am on board. And did I mention it smells amazing?
Here’s the question I have, what do you do when you decide you don’t want to color anymore? I’m only 36 but have a few gray hairs, and actually have one of those fun sections where there’s a decent chunk of them and it looks like a fun streak, but I’ve been dying my hair for the last year red. What do I do when I just want to rock the gray? Cut it all off and start fresh? Dye gray streaks in?
First: everyone should do what makes them comfortable and happy in their own body. That being said, my perspective on this changed after a conversation with my dad of all people. He gently suggested that we all age–and perhaps I should embrace the beauty of aging, rather than trying to resist it. I haven’t colored my hair since (34 and a few grays at this point!).
I started finding gray hair when I was 15 years and colored it religiously until I was 37. By then, I had at least 50% gray, so it is very definitely gray, not little spots of gray. I got a pixie cut and went cold turkey with the color. Three years later, I still have a pixie cut, and I get compliments on my hair at least once a week – from both random strangers and family and close friends.
That’s a question for a professional.
I went cold-turkey, but boy did I sweat the decision. I was about 15-20% grey at the time. I have medium brown color, and got my hair colored consistently for about a year, but then white roots were showing after only 2 weeks. (Who has time or money to color every 2 weeks?!) The colored sprays and powders to hide the roots made my scalp itch something fierce. I spent hours researching options, but decided grey highlights would just be more of the same. So, I thanked my colorist with a huge tip, and told her I wasn’t coming back.
I wear my hair shoulder-length, and -as the interweb promised – it took a year to grow in (not completely but well enough). The worst (most obvious) was the first 3-4 mos. When I had client meetings and wanted to hide the line of demarcation, I used the colored sprays and touch-up powders that I had been using to hide my roots. It wasn’t perfect, but at least it wasn’t the first thing someone new would notice about me. Two years later, I am so glad I did it. YVMV, but for my $0.02, if you think you want to quit – do it now. Two years on and I am ~50% grey – it would be so much harder/uncomfortable to grow it out now!
+1 for aging beauty 🙂 I’m 6 months into letting my grey come in and have no regrets! I’ve had a few greys since my mid-20s (I’m 41 now) but the grey kicked it into high gear about a year ago. I figure it will be easier to grow in now than in 5 years when I’m 50% grey. Talk to your hair dresser: I have dark brown hair with some serious balayage. I had low-lights put in a few weeks ago to blend darker roots with lighter ends. Low lights (i.e. red highlights) could help blend between your new growth and the existing color. But it also depends on what your natural color is. Your hair stylist should have some good suggestions to help transition. I’ve now got a serious streak at my temple (which I’m loving). To hide the growth line and show off my white, I pin a bit of hair up with a bobby pin. Final thought: if you’re letting the grey grow in, it helps use a shampoo for grey hair occasionally. I use Shiny Silver once a week and it keeps it from looking dull.
I am so so flattered by the shout out and glad that you’ve been seeing the same great results that I have. As another point of comparison, I switched to another shampoo I’m trying for hair growth and, even with using the cold water trick, my hair color doesn’t look nearly as good as it did. The days I switch back to Juice, it immediately looks better – I wonder if they might have some sort of color or shine enhancing ingredient? Either way, for $9, I’ll take it!
So are you dumping Living Proof? Do this give you the volume you need? I’ve been using the Living Proof volumizing routine for a while now, but I would love to be able to be able to switch to something less costly!
I don’t use living proof shampoo. Just their leave in conditioner.
Well, this is a helluva lot cheaper than the Biolage I’ve been using. Worth a shot, thank you!