Some questions aren’t asked, like how much money do you make? Who did you vote for? And if we’re being real, how often do you dye your hair? Although we’ve heard from stylists that every six weeks is the sweet spot, we wanted to know if that was true for all hair colors and types of dye. To find out, we reached out to celebrity hair colorist Chad Kenyon for his take on how often you should dye your hair. We even did some investigating of our own.
Overall, we found that four to eight weeks is the sweet spot between appointments. Your hair needs time to heal, especially after being lifted and lightened with bleach. If you dye hair before the four-week mark you might compromise its integrity, which will lead to breakage. In other words, don’t do it.
How Often Should You Dye Your Hair With Permanent Dye?
If you’re opting for a permanent dye (being decisive looks as good as it feels), it will be present in your mane until regrowth happens. On average, “human hair grows 1/2 an inch per month,” says Chad.
Using this formula you can figure out how long you will tolerate your natural color vs. whatever color it’s been dyed. Fun fact: this is basically how ombré was invented. And boy, did that trend have a good run.
What About If You Use Semi-Permanent Dye?
If you’ve opted for semi-permanent dye, it’s made to wash out and it will fade, not just grow out. This will give you a whole new color (somewhere between your before and after). You may want to keep it or start fresh when the time is right.
How Often Can You Bleach Your Hair?
Although four weeks is technically the go-to to book your next appointment, if you’ve bleached your locks then you’ve broken down the fibers of the hair, leaving holes within the hair structure and leaving it more porous and damage-prone. That being said, it’s better to lay off the dye and prolong salon visits, even if it means embracing your roots or covering them up with a spray or over-the-counter solution. We love Madison Reed’s Root Reboot to stretch out the visit.
How Often Should You Dye Your Hair, Based on Your Hair Color?
Whether your hair is dyed black, brown, blonde, red, or rainbow, there isn’t one timeline for a second salon visit. According to Chad, “regardless of the hair color, how often one touches up their color is very subjective.” This carries over to highlights, lowlights, and everything in between. It’s all about an individual preference and biology—how much your hair grows vs. how much growth you’re willing to tolerate.
How often should you dye your tresses if they’re highlighted or lowlighted is also “subjective,” notes Chad. “There’s no professional or correct number of frequencies.” While we’ve pretty much given up on cracking the universal color time code, Chad says that his “base color clients come in on average once every six weeks.”
So, there you have it. While it is dependent, you can pretty much bet on six weeks.