- If you wash your hair after a balayage, some of the toner may fade and the unwanted colors may reappear. I’ll tell you why later.
- Also, your hair could be straw-like dry if you wash it after a balayage.
- Therefore, I recommend you wait two or three days to wash your hair after a balayage.
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What to do right after balayage? What to do the days after?
Now you know what can happen if you wash your hair after a balayage.
But now I have a question for you.
Why do you want to wash your hair after a balayage?
Remember that after removing the bleach, the hairdresser washed your hair with shampoo and conditioner. They applied toner to remove the strident colors that always pop up in bleached hair.
And after applying the toner, your colorist probably moisturized your hair with serum.
So, your hair isn’t dirty.
But there’s an even more important reason not to wash your hair after a balayage. That’s what I’ll talk about next.
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Why you should wait two or three days to wash your hair after a balayage
With the balayage technique, you can imitate the natural fading process of hair exposed to the sun after several weeks on the beach.
That’s why balayage is associated with long, lighter hair up to three levels in length and ends, which is often worn by surfer girls.
Althought it’s not the same as bleaching all your hair, certain strands are bleached. And those locksgo through several chemical processes.
First, they applied the bleach to some strands. They were wrapped in aluminum foil to speed up the lightening process.
So far, I can assure you that those strands lost a lot of moisture and nutrients. First, because of the chemical reaction generated by the bleaching process. Also, the chemical reaction increased at even higher temperatures due to the foil.
After rinsing the bleach, your colorist applied a toner to eliminate the strident colors in your balayage. And toning is also a chemical process because it’s applied with a 20-volume developer.
So, to wear a balayage, certain sections of your hair went through two chemical processes in a matter of hours. And that dries out the hair.
If you wash your hair after a balayage, you won’t give your mane time to rest from the processes because you’ll get rid of all its natural moisture.
Also, after your colorist has applied the toner and rinsed it out, it takes two days for the hair to finish absorbing the pigments. That’s called color settling.
If you wash your hair after a balayage, you’ll interrupt the color-settling process.
Of course, I’m not telling you that your balayage will disappear. It can’t disappear because the strands are bleached. And that process is irreversible and permanent.
But most likely some strident colors will appear , because the toner pigments didn’t finish settling.
Therefore, as a colorist, I advise you to always wait two or three days to wash your hair after a balayage.
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How to wash hair after a balayage for the first time
For the first hair wash after a balayage at home, you’ll need:
- Shampoo and conditioner. If you use sulfate-free products, all the better. Otherwise, you can use your regular shampoo and conditioner.
- Wide-tooth comb
- Anti-frizz serum
Ready to wash your balayage?
- Wet your hair with water at the coldest temperature you can tolerate so as not to open the hair cuticles.
- Apply shampoo to lengths and ends. Massage gently into a lather.
- Distribute the lather on the scalp and massage for five minutes.
- Rinse with warm water to remove all the shampoo. In this case, the warm water will also open the cuticles so your hair can better absorb the conditioner.
- Apply conditioner to lengths and ends for five minutes.
- Rinse your hair again with cold water to close the cuticles.
- Remove excess water and wrap your hair with a towel.
- You can let your hair air dry or use a blow dryer on low heat. Apply a few drops of anti-frizz serum.
Remember that it’s important to wash your hair a maximum of three times a week to preserve your balayage.
Conclusions
You should always wait for three or four days to wash your hair after a balayage. This way, you give your hair time to recover from the chemical process and protect the color achieved with the balayage technique.
