How to Fix Faded Red Highlights

Use foil to separate your red highlights from the rest of your hair.

Red hair color is among the most difficult to maintain, and red highlights are no exception. Red highlights fade fast, and professional touch-ups at the salon are expensive. Save money by touching up red highlights at home with do-it-yourself hair color kits. Make in-home coloring foolproof with a strand test and score further savings with simple maintenance methods that lengthen the lifespan of reddish hues.

Things You'll Need

• Old towels
• Clothespins
• Hair color kit
• Plastic spoon
• Plastic bowl
• Rubber gloves
• Rat-tailed comb
• Hair clips
• Hair foil
• Timer
• Petroleum jelly

Instructions

Preliminary Strand Test

1. Separate a quarter-inch highlighted strand from the rest of your hair with the handle of a rat-tailed comb and clip it up.

2. Mix approximately a teaspoon of hair color in a plastic bowl with a plastic spoon, following the instructions on the package.

3. Unfasten the strand and place hair foil underneath it to protect the rest of your hair. Paint color on until the strand is saturated and fold the foil over until the strand is completely covered. Clip the strand in place.

4. Set a timer and leave the color on for half the time specified on the box; then rinse. If you are satisfied with the color, this is how long you should leave the dye on your red highlights.

5. Reapply the dye and rewrap hair in foil for more intense color. Leave on for the remainder of the time specified on the instructions.

6. Rinse the color out of your hair until the water runs clear, towel dry with an old towel and apply deep conditioning treatment to the colored strand.

Fixing Faded Red Highlights

1. Apply petroleum jelly around your hairline and on your ears to protect your skin from being colored with your hair.

2. Mix up your hair color in a plastic bowl with a plastic spoon as instructed on the package.

3. Use a clothespin to clip an old towel around your shoulders to protect your clothes and skin.

4. Separate out the red-highlighted sections of your hair with the pointy handle of the rat-tailed com and clip them into place. Put on your rubber gloves.

5. Place a sheet of hair foil underneath each strand. Unclip the strand on the foil.

6. Brush on color until the hair is fully saturated. Wrap it in foil until covered and clip it up.

7. Repeat the process from the front of your hair around your face to the back of your head, until all strands are coated with dye, wrapped in foil and clipped in place.

8. Leave the color on the amount of time you decided on during your strand test.

9. Unclip the hair and unwrap and discard the foil. Rinse your hair thoroughly until the water runs clear.

10. Use an old towel to dry your hair and face. Rub a deep conditioning treatment into your hair. Rinse it out.

Tips & Warnings

• Wash your hair with sulfate-free shampoos designed for color-treated hair to prevent fading.

• Apply a color-depositing product formulated for red hair to your hair once a week.

• Darker reds with brown and auburn tones mixed in tend to last longer than lighter reds.

• Apply hair color to dirty hair for best results.

• Apply hair color in natural light when possible.

• Pay special attention to red highlights in the area around your face.

• Use a semipermanent hair color to refresh highlights if you only want the highlights for six to eight washes.

• Do not reapply permanent hair color to highlights more often than every four to six weeks to avoid damaging your hair.

• Deep condition your hair weekly to maintain color and shine.

• Wear old clothes to touch up your highlights; hair color stains.

• Don't wash your hair every day with shampoo. Use dry shampoo on greasy roots and a leave-in color-safe conditioner on dry ends in between washings.

• Wear a head-covering or UVA protective hair products to protect your color from extended sun exposure.

• Wear a bathing cap to protect your hair from saltwater and chlorine when swimming.

• Don't use henna or natural coloring products over chemical highlights, or the reverse; results aren't consistent. Refresh red henna highlights with henna products and red chemical highlights with chemical products for best results.

• Retouch red highlights in a well-ventilated space. The chemicals in hair color are toxic.

References

• Oprah.com: How to Dye Your Hair at Home and Revitalize Haircolor; Jenny Bailly; November 2009
• Cosmopolitan Magazine: Tips for Highlighting Hair
• Real Beauty: Keep Red Hair Color Bright
• Sophisticated Edge: Red Hair Highlight Ideas; August 2011
• Oprah.com: How to Dye Your Hair at Home; November 2009
• Mail Online: Home Hair Colours to; Liz Stout