Color Protect Shampoo and Conditioner

      So you've decided to start coloring your hair.  You know that you want to have it done by a professional so you make an appointment at your favorite salon.  You spend $75 to have a beautiful, rich chocolate brown color applied and you look JUST like Kim Kardashian.  Your stylist says, "How are you on shampoo and conditioner?"  You reply, "I JUST bought some TRESemmé‎. (TRESemmé‎ sounds so fancy, you think.)"  You're snapping selfies left and right; posting to Instagram; you got 60 likes on your new profile pic on Facebook.  Life is good.

Fast forward to a couple days (and a couple showers) from now.  You look in the mirror and your hair color is now dull and you can see your natural hair color peeking through.

"What in the world just happened?!  My stylist messed up my hair!  

I'm calling the salon and demanding my money back!"

This is a very common problem.  Your stylist did not fail when they colored your hair; they failed when they did not explain the importance of color protect shampoo and conditioner.  Shampoo is designed to strip the hair of dirt and oil, but it can also strip the hair of the color you've just had applied and spent big money on.  You need a color protect shampoo and conditioner that has ingredients that help seal that color in.  If you aren't using these products you can quite literally watch your color circle down the drain.  

Something to look for is a sulfate-free color protect shampoo and conditioner.  There is a sulfate-free craze sweeping the nation, but most people don't really know why sulfates are bad.  Besides the fact that sulfates could possibly cause cancer, they make your hair color fade quickly.  It is more expensive to buy a sulfate-free product, and a lot of brands don't even offer them yet simply because the cost of their product will increase.  In my salon we've opted to carry the sulfate-free version of Redken's color shampoo and conditioner line because we believe 

that it's worth the extra $2 per bottle.

Something to know about sulfate-free shampoos:  They don't lather and bubble.  A lot of people think if your shampoo isn't lathering that it's not working.  That's not true.  It's really working, 

and it's a lot healthier for both your hair and body.

My choice:

Redken's Color Extend Magnetics Sulfate-Free Hair Color Shampoo and Conditioner

Interesting side note about this specific topic.  This is the exact subject that got my business partner, Missy, and I interested in starting a blog.  She had been pressured into buying products in the past and it was clear the reason was so the stylist could make more money off of her.  We believe in making informed decisions about your hair products, services and treatments, instead of choosing things based on a high-pressure sales pitch.