Why I Always Recommend Adding a Treatment to Your Colour

Whenever you're in my chair for colour, there's a good chance I'll suggest adding a treatment. It's not an upsell for the sake of it. A treatment does real work for your hair, and it's one of the simplest ways to protect the money and time you're putting into your colour. Let me walk you through what's actually happening to your hair, and why the right treatment makes such a difference.

A little bit of hair science (I'll keep it simple)

Your hair is mostly a protein called keratin, and those proteins are held together by different types of bonds. The strongest of them are called disulfide bonds, and they're what give your hair its strength and its elasticity, the stretch that lets it bend instead of snap. Here's the catch: lightening and colouring break some of those bonds. That's not a scare tactic, it's just chemistry. It's also why colour-treated hair can start to feel weaker, drier, or more fragile over time if we don't look after it. A treatment is how we put strength and moisture back.

If you're lightening

A lightening service, whether that's highlights, balayage, or going lighter all over, naturally pulls some moisture and elasticity out of your hair along the way. This is where a bond-building treatment earns its place. I can add one right into the colour formula so it protects and helps rebuild those bonds while we lighten, which lowers the risk of your hair losing its stretch. Then, right after the service, I'll often follow up with a strengthening, moisturizing treatment to replenish everything we've just worked through. Damage control and repair, in the same appointment.

If your colour fades fast

Some hair holds colour beautifully. Other hair lets it wash straight down the drain. If yours tends to fade quickly, a treatment can help seal the cuticle, the outer layer of the hair, so your colour is locked in instead of leaking out every time you shampoo. That means your colour stays truer, richer, and shinier for longer between appointments. A good in-salon gloss is a perfect example: it boosts shine, smooths the hair, and helps your colour last.

My recommendation Chroma Gloss Conditioning Treatment ✨

If you fight frizz

Frizz usually means the cuticle is raised and rough instead of lying flat. Moisture treatments work by smoothing and sealing that outer layer, so the surface of your hair is softer and more supple. Less frizz, more shine, and hair that actually behaves.

The bottom line

Next time you're booked in for colour, ask me whether a treatment makes sense for your hair. Sometimes it's a bond-builder, sometimes it's moisture, sometimes it's a gloss to lock everything in, it depends on your hair and what we're doing that day. But nine times out of ten, it's the step that takes your colour from good to gorgeous, and keeps it that way.

See you in the chair. — Lisa, Between Us.