How Often Should You Touch Up Roots?
How to deal with regrowth.
Walking out of the salon rocking your fresh new colour is one of the best feelings in the world. And, if you can replicate a blowout at home, you get to hold on to that feeling twice as long! That is until your hair grows out and it’s time to redo your roots a few weeks later. But, how long should you wait before touching up your roots?
On average, most people will need to touch up their roots every 6-8 weeks, however, the level of regrowth we’re comfortable with and how quickly our hair grows varies from person to person. Read on for everything you need to know about regrowth.
1. Hair Growth Patterns
In general, it’s accepted that hair grows about half an inch per month. Also, you’ve probably heard your stylist say to have your touchups done every six to eight weeks. That means if your hair grows at the average speed, in six to eight weeks your hair will be about one inch longer.
2. A Note for Bleached Hair
So why six to eight weeks? It may sound a bit excessive and specific, but it’s actually more scientific than you may think. If you have bleached hair, or permanently dyed hair, try to head back to the salon to touch up roots before your hair grows out one full inch. This is because your roots develop faster than the rest of your hair, all thanks to the heat on your head. But that doesn’t reach much farther, so if you let your roots grow out a few inches, you may open up your hair to some inconsistencies in colour even with a fresh batch of colour.
3. How Your Hair is Coloured
Going to the salon to touch up roots depends a lot on how your hair is coloured. Are you a bleached platinum blonde? Do you have an all-over darker colour? What type of dye is being used makes a difference in how long it stays in hair and how it will look as it grows out. If you tend to go for semi-permanent hair dye, you may need to visit the salon more often as your dye washes out quicker. The good thing about this is that you have an easier time switching out to a new colour.
4. Highlights vs. Balayage
If you have highlights on your natural hair colour, that will affect when you need to go in to touch up your roots as well. Since balayage tends not to go all the way to the roots, you don’t really need to touch up unless you want a brighter colour. If you have regular highlights that start tighter on the scalp, stick to that six-to-eight week general guideline.
5. Keeping Colour Vibrant Between Touchups
One way to spend less time in the salon chair is treating your hair with love. Colour can fade away all too quickly if you are rough on your hair or use products that strip colour from your strands. You should also make sure you’re washing your hair with colour-safe products. These typically have a lower-sulphate or sulphate-free formulation to get your hair clean, leaving your colour intact and vibrant for longer.
TRESemmé Colour Shineplex Shampoo and Conditioner are a great duo for caring for all types of coloured hair between dye jobs. For more intensive nourishment, there’s also the TRESemmé Colour Shineplex Mask, for when your coloured hair needs some extra love and care.
