Should I Cut or Color my Hair First? Follow this order for fantastic results

Do you want to know if you should cut your hair first and then dye it second?

 

No more guessing games. Instead, pay close attention.

 

Of course, you have to make these decisions based on a ton of factors, like:

 

I’m going to give you two clear examples.

Sally came to my salon with the idea of getting a balayage. Her hair was generally very healthy because she took good care of it.

But, good gracious, her ends! They were completely split. And honestly, the only thing you can do with split ends is cut them off.

There’s no way to save them. And by cutting them, you also strengthen the middle of your hair.

 

Sally was on board with cutting off her split ends and she even asked me to cut off a few more centimeters.

What do you think I did first with Sally?

 

 That’s right, I cut her hair first and then I did her balayage. And there’s a reason why I did it in that order, which I’ll tell you about soon. 

 

But, in Piper’s case, who wanted to take her hair from dark brown to blonde, we bleached her hair first, then dyed it and lastly, we cut her hair.

I decided to dye her hair first then cut it because the chemical processes damaged her ends.

And that happens most often with the hair colors that require bleach in order to get to blonde.

 

Stick around if you want the full story so you don’t have any more questions, because I’m going to tell you:

 

After reading this, the only thing that you’ll have left to decide is how much you want to cut your hair.

 

 

When it’s a good idea to dye your hair first, then cut it

When it comes to dyeing your hair, it’s best to go to a professional.

Do you know why?

 

Because oftentimes women use one dye thinking it’s the same as their base tone, but when their hair dries, they end up with results that are truly horrid because parts of their hair are darker than others and different shades.

And that’s when they go running to the salon looking for a solution. And the only possible solution is to bleach their hair.

 

In those cases, the hair colorist will bleach their hair with a light hand, just to even out the tones and make their hair look perfect.

That will fix uneven tones in your hair. But, it will result in some collateral damage, like split ends.

Because as easy as the bleach was, the ends will be damaged. And that’s when they need to be cut.

 

Oftentimes women come to my salon tired of their hair color and wanting a complete change.

 

In order to do that, I need to do a complete bleach of their entire head of hair to then apply the new color. And that is a very aggressive process for your hair fibers, which can result in a lot of damage.

So, once you’ve finished with the bleach and you already have your new color, I always recommend cutting your hair to get rid of the areas that were damaged.

 

Are you one of those girls that loves to change the shade of their blonde hair all the time?

 

If so, then you probably already know that blonde hair is beautiful, but it requires a lot of upkeep, and in most cases, it requires bleach to touch up your color.

That’s why every time you change your color, lightening it any shades, then you need to cut your hair because the ends will dry out and split.

And you’ll never guess: You need to cut your hair after you lighten your hair to a new blonde color.

 

Now, do you remember how I promised you that I was tell you why I cut Sally’s hair first and then dyed it second?

Good, then the time has come for me to keep my promise.

 

When it’s better to cut your hair before you dye it

Up to this point, we’ve seen that as a general rule, it’s a good idea to cut your hair after you dye it.

But, there are always exceptions to the rule.

 

If you’re totally set on cutting your hair and completely changing your hair style, then you should cut your hair first.

Well, if you’re already set on cutting your hair, then it would be a waste of time, money and hair products to dye hair that you’re just going to cut off, right?

On the other hand, recently-cut hair will suffer less damage from the dye you’re going to use on it.

Want to know why?

 

The answer lies in the way your hair grows.

Your hair grows about half an inch a month. If your hair is 15 inches from root to end, then that means that your ends are 30 months old. And they’ll have gone through many, many chemical processes.

But, if you cut your hair before you dye it, then you won’t damage the ends and your hair will be strong enough to survive the dye process.

 

Now what’s up with balayage? You should always cut your hair before you get a balayage.

That’s because balayage is an effect that fades from the middle of your hair to the ends.

What would happen to the balayage if you cut your hair after you get it done?

 

The balayage would disappear!

 You should always cut your hair before you color it for any kind of technique that has that fading effect (balayage, ombre, and even highlights).  

Imagine being there in the salon for four hours getting a balayage and losing it in 10 minutes because of a haircut.

 

Now you shouldn’t have any more questions about what you need to do first, cut your hair or color it.

What will you do to your hair first?