Red and Red Again!

As a redhead, keeping my color from fading is always a challenge. My hair was a natural strawberry blonde when I was younger, and when those grays started creeping in (ugh) I started highlighting, going blonder, and then eventually going a darker red.

Now I am at the point in my life of HAVING to color every three weeks without fail. I can't afford a 100-plus dollar salon visit every month, which means I do my own touch ups. Which means damage to my hair and I hate that! I am constantly fighting dryness, split ends and brassiness. And on top of everything else, my hair grows incredibly fast!

So I started looking around for some ways to keep my color strong and maybe not have to color quite so often. Long ago, I used a product by Redken that was a color-depositing shampoo. I loved it and started researching to see what might be available to us quick-fading redheads today. I found these:

Watercolors Color Maintenance Shampoo by Tressa and Riveting Reds Color Replacement Shampoo by Quantum (available at SallyBeauty )

These shampoos both provide color boost to red hair. The Tressa shampoo, which I got in Warm Spice, is a bit more subtle. I noticed a brightness to my hair after using it but not a big color change. The Quantum is a little darker and I think it deposits a bit more color. I leave them on for a good five minutes while shampooing in order to get a stronger deposit. These are not daily shampoos (I don't shampoo daily anyway) but can be used at least a couple times a week for intensifying and maintaining color.

If red isn't your thing, Tressa also comes in a variety of other shades! So take heart, all of us who color our hair out of necessity-Because I don't know about you, but I am not going down without a fight when it comes to looking good!