Lifting the color is much trickier. To lift the color, your own natural hair needs to be stripped away first. After your hair is stripped, the pigment lightens, and color like red or yellow can then be deposited.

When naturals seek to color the hair, many will lift the color, or lighten the hair. And that’s where the damage comes in.

When the hair is stripped, it has lost some of its integrity. Read below to see symptoms of color damage and how it can be fixed. 

Do You Have Color Damage?

If your hair feels dry and you’ve recently had a color job, it’s probably stripped. Here are some signs of color damage:

• Hair is Dry. This is the most obvious sign. Your hair is dry and it’s hard to get it to hold moisture. Lightening your hair can strip away the cuticles, leaving the cortex permanently open. This means moisture can easily enter and exit the shaft. In fact, most color-treated hair can be automatically classified as high porosity hair.

• Hair is Dull. Stripping away portions of the hair strand will result in less shiny hair because the hair has holes. The numerous holes and open cuticles reflect light less and give your hair fewer opportunities to shine.

• Lots of Breakage. Coloring the hair means that you’ll have to break the integrity of it, and this results in a weakened state. You’ll see lots of split ends, and it will be difficult to comb your hair without it breaking.

• Hard to Manage. When the cuticles are open, they tend to stick out and snag the other hairs more. You’ll see increased friction, tangles, and breakage when you lift the color of your hair.

Protein Repairs Color-Treated Hair

Dryness, damage, and breakage sound daunting, right? The good news is that you don’t have to completely abandon coloring your hair. You only need to be extra diligent about caring for it afterwards.

Applying protein to your color-treated hair is one of the best things you can do to recover from the damage. Protein patches up the holes and strengthens the strands, resulting in healthier and more vibrant hair that doesn’t break as easily.

Note that protein doesn’t provide a permanent fix to color-treated hair. Once your hair has been lightened, there’s no way to return the hair components that have been lost.

However, protein does help to temporarily patch with amino acids, and this will be the next best thing to a complete reversal of the damage.

Protein should always be followed by deep conditioning unless it is a brand which already contains deep moisture added in.

You’ll need to repair your hair with protein every 4-6 weeks, depending on the extent of the damage and how long you intend to keep coloring your hair.

If you only color-treat your hair once in a blue moon, expect less damage than repetitive coloring. 

Steam Your Hair to Hydrate

Steaming is gaining popularity among naturals, probably because it’s an easy and effective way to hydrate, without having to hop in the shower.

You can either buy a handheld steamer or you can purchase an overhead steamer that you can sit under. Buying a steamer can be a bit pricey, but you have options. If you don’t want to buy a steamer at all, try creating steam in the shower and allowing your hair to soak up the hydration.

Steaming gives quick hydration and it’s excellent to do in between wash days. You can steam your hair as often as you’d like because there are no drawbacks. Curly hair needs moisture, and steam provides pure hydration.

Remember, it’s not the end if you have color-treated hair.

You can make a comeback from color-treated damage if you incorporate protein, water-based products, deep conditioning, and steam treatments into your natural hair routine.

If you want more info about retaining moisture in color-treated hair damaged hair, check out my masterclass! I show you exactly how to get more moisture so your hair can look gorgeous every day.

The class is on-demand, so you can watch any time, from the comfort of home. Sign up here: Keziah's Moisture Masterclass.