When it comes to hair care, one of the most important things to understand is the hair cuticle. It’s the outermost layer of the hair shaft, made up of overlapping cells that resemble fish scales. These scales protect the inner layers of your hair follicle, helping prevent damage. A healthy cuticle leads to smooth, shiny hair that feels and looks healthy. It helps your hair maintain a healthy shine, making it more manageable.
After coloring, it’s essential to care for this protective layer to ensure your hair stays strong and vibrant. After a color treatment, the hair cuticle may be slightly lifted. To restore its smoothness, you need to close it properly. So today, here I will discuss some important fool-proof techniques to keep your cuticles closed after hair dye. So stay tuned!
How to Close Hair Cuticle After Coloring? The Answer
Why Closing the Hair Cuticle Matters After Coloring?
The outer layer of the cuticle is made up of tiny scales that overlap, creating a chain link armor protecting the inner hair. These scales, after hair coloring, can lift when exposed to hot water, wind, or cold weather, making the hair more vulnerable to damage.
If left open, your hair will have a harder time retaining moisture, leading to dry, unhealthy hair with a rough texture. By locking the cuticle tightly, you help maintain the health of your hair and prevent it from becoming dry and unmanageable.
After coloring, it’s important to close the hair cuticle because it acts as the protective coat of your hair. When the cuticle is open, caused by the chemicals in hair dye or ammonia, it allows color molecules to escape, leading to faded color and vulnerable hair.
This damage can make the hair more prone to dryness, breakage, frizz, and becoming hard to manage. Closing the cuticle locks the pigment in, ensuring that the color lasts longer and your hair stays healthy.
What are The Signs Indicate Your Hair Cuticle Is Still Open?
- Rough or frizzy texture.
- Dull appearance.
- The color is fading quickly.
- Hair feels dry and porous.
- Extremely dry.
- Rapid color oxidation.
- Ends look more lifeless.
How to Close the Hair Cuticle After Coloring?
Cold Water Rinse
After washing your hair, a cold water rinse is the key to locking in your color and maintaining its vibrancy. While hot water can open the cuticle and cause the pigment to slip, a cold water rinse helps to seal the cuticle, ensuring the color stays locked in.
This step also helps close the cuticle, preventing further fading and locking in moisture. The result? Shiny, vibrant hair that holds its color longer. A shower filter can further help by removing sediments, making the water softer and gentler on your hair.
Use a pH-Balancing Shampoo and Conditioner.
To effectively close the hair cuticle after coloring, start with a pH-balancing shampoo. Use a Sulfate-Free Glossing Shampoo or an argan oil-infused shampoo to gently cleanse while maintaining the ideal pH level. This helps prevent further damage and keeps your color-treated strands shiny and glossy.
After washing, follow up with a Low pH Conditioner, which is slightly on the acidic side and helps to seal the cuticle layer and keep your hair smooth. A pH level between 4 and 5.5 is ideal to keep the hair shaft tightly shut, helping maintain the healthy, glossy look of your hair.
For damaged hair, consider a sealing routine to ensure that the cuticle stays closed. Avoid excessive combing or using styling products that could cause further opening of the cuticle. By using products with a low pH, you can help maintain the integrity of your hair cuticle and protect your color-treated hair from looking dull or damaged.
Give a Try to Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) Rinse
After coloring your hair, try an ACV hair rinse to help lower the pH and improve hair health. Apple cider vinegar is naturally acidic, with a low pH and acetic acid, which helps bring balance to dull, brittle, or frizzy hair. The alkaline nature of most dye products opens up the hair cuticle, allowing the color to penetrate the inner cortex.
Using an ACV rinse after rinsing the dye may help reseal the hair cuticle, making your twisty treasure shinier, smoother, and easier to comb. This also helps to extend the life of your hair color, giving your hair a more reflective and healthy appearance.
Incorporate a Suitable Leave-In Conditioner or Hair Serum
To help seal the hair cuticle after coloring, using a leave-in conditioner or hair serum is a great option. These products can add extra moisture, shine, and gloss, making your hair look healthy and shiny.
After washing and gently towel-drying your hair, apply a few drops of hair oil like argan oil or almond oil to your damp hair, especially focusing on the ends. These oils are rich in antioxidants and vitamin E, which help to protect your hair from breakage and protein loss while keeping it nourished and smooth.
Avoid Heat Styling Immediately
When you color your hair, heat from styling tools can cause the cuticle to stay open, allowing hair dyes and ammonia to affect your hair’s health. Applying heat to hair after coloring can make the outer cuticle layer more vulnerable to damage, leaving your hair dry and more prone to breakage.
To prevent this, it is recommended to avoid heat styling right after coloring. If you must style your hair, make sure to use a heat protectant spray to minimize damage from blow-drying, curling, or straightening with hot tools.
Incorporate Deep Conditioning & Hair Masks
When it comes to closing the hair cuticle after coloring, deep conditioning and hair masks are essential. These treatments smooth the hair and help in improving curl definition while reducing frizz. Coloring and other chemical processes like bleaching or relaxing can sometimes weaken the hair structure, leading to damage.
But don’t worry, a deep repair mask with ingredients like Argon oil, Aloe Vera, and jojoba ester oil will help repair and strengthen chemically treated hair. These masks are designed to hydrate, seal the cuticle, and effectively penetrate the shaft with unsaturated fats, filling in any gaps in the cuticle and restoring your hair’s natural shine.
Avoid Over-Washing & Harsh Shampoos
Over-washing your hair can lead to dehydrated cuticles, causing them to raise and allowing color pigments to escape. Harsh chemicals, especially sulfates like sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), strip moisture and can cause split ends, brittleness, and breakage.
Using a sulfate-free shampoo designed for color-treated hair helps to cleanse without damaging the hair, keeping your cuticles smooth and closed. Products with hydrolyzed keratin help seal the hair shaft, improving texture and minimizing frizziness, while locking in moisture, proteins, and color.
Limit heat styling and excessive brushing.
Regular trims to prevent split ends.
Conclusion
To effectively close the hair cuticle after coloring, it’s essential to maintain a gentle hair care routine. Avoid over-washing your hair and refrain from using harsh shampoos, as they can strip away the necessary moisture.
Instead, opt for nourishing conditioners and treatments that seal the cuticle, ensuring the color lasts longer and the hair stays smooth and shiny. Regular care will protect the hair from damage, preserving its health and vibrancy. Don’t forget to share your key tip for cuticle-sealing in the comment section.
FAQs
How to seal the hair cuticle after dying?
After coloring, use warm water to allow the shampoo and conditioner to penetrate and cleanse the hair. Then, switch to cold water to seal in the moisture from the conditioner, which helps prevent color fading and ensures the cuticle is properly sealed.
How do you cut the cuticles of your hair?
Start by using pH-balancing shampoo. Follow this with an in-shower glossing treatment to apply and seal the cuticle. Then, apply pH-balancingg conditioner to protect your hair and strands, completing the sealing routine.
How long does it take for the hair cuticle to close after dying?
After a colour treatment, the hair cuticle needs at least a minimum of 48 hours to close fully. For bleaching, the cuticle closes a bit more after 72 hours.
How to seal hair after coloring?
To seal the cuticle after coloring, avoid extremely hot water as it can strip the hair of its color. Warm water helps during shampooing, while cooler water used during conditioning will help hold the color longer and decrease fading by ensuring the cuticle stays sealed.
Dive into the world of curls with Farah, a celebrated curly hair expert whose passion and expertise have transformed her into a beacon for those seeking to embrace their natural hair texture. With a vibrant career spanning over a decade, Farah has dedicated herself to the science and art of curly hair, making her an authoritative voice in this niche. Her deep understanding of curly hair’s unique needs and challenges allows her to craft personalized care routines and styles that not only enhance the natural beauty of curls but also promote hair health.