Here’s an annoying beauty oxymoron for you. Permanent hair color doesn’t last forever. In fact, keeping your hair color vibrant and shiny for longer than two weeks after your appointment can be a feat, one we usually attempt to accomplish by significantly cutting back on shampoos.
But even with that and sticking to color-safe formulas, the shade we left the salon with sometimes shifts. The solution isn’t booking even more sessions with your colorist, considering too many sessions with dye can cause damage to your strands, not to mention your bank account. It’s following the genius advice of Beyoncé’s colorist.
Instead of compromising the integrity of your hair with even more bleach or dye, Rita Hazan, a pro who works with stars like Christie Brinkley along with Queen Bey, recommends gloss. In fact, she says it’s one trick most don’t know about when it comes to maintaining the vibrancy of your hair color.
“If you gloss your hair, I can’t say enough, your hair will look good for three months without fading at all,” she says. “I think that’s the step that people aren’t knowledgeble in. You get a gloss in the salon, but you don’t necessarily do it at home. It’s not a step that everybody is willing to do or know about really. I think if they do that step it’s life-changing and money-saving because you don’t have to spend all that money and your hair isn’t getting damaged. Your hair is vibrant and looks good all the time.”
So what does a gloss do, exactly? “A gloss can do anything from refreshing your tone, taking your color darker, to even just sealing the cuticle and adding shine,” says Amelia Trammell, a Senior Colorist and Educator at Bumble and bumble. It’s similar to a top coat of nail polish, protecting and enhancing what’s underneath.
When you’re in the salon, it’s put on your hair at the very end of your hair coloring session while your hair is wet, and you can book appointments for just a gloss, which is much cheaper than the alternative.
“To maintain shine and vibrancy of the hair tone, I recommend glossing every 4-8 weeks—depending on how the client shampoos their hair,” suggests Marcy Cline, a Senior Colorist and Educator at Bumble and bumble. It also depends on what hair color you have—our pros say redheads might need to do it even more. And it can be done at home, reducing the price of upkeep further.
Trammell says you should talk to your colorist about the correct process, but a clear gloss is a no-fail option to add shine. There are also products, one of which was designed by Rita Hazan that make it totally foolproof.
Rita Hazan Ultimate Shine Gloss
Rita Hazan Ultimate Shine Gloss ($26; sephora.com) is an in-shower foam that you apply to wet hair after your shampoo. Available in five colors, you work it through your strands and wait for about three minutes and then rinse it out. The result? Glossier, shinier hair with revitalized, boosted color.
This article originally appeared on InStyle.
