If you color your hair, you’ll know the feeling: two to three shampoos in, and the color you spent so long in the salon having applied has already started to fade and lose its brightness. Depending on the quality of your hair, this can happen more quickly each time you color it. As a result of washing, heat styling, and sun exposure, color gradually becomes less intense. Sometimes, other pigments can come through–warm or cool highlights that make up the original color, but start to look off as it fades.
Enter: the tinted hair mask. An underrated solution that can help to extend the freshness of your color, it can also work wonders for luminosity, depth, and richness. Even for those who don’t dye their hair, a semi-permanent color-depositing mask can add depth or subtle highlights to the hair.
Vogue’s Favorite Hair Color Depositing Masks Work
How Color Depositing Hair Masks Work
Unlike actual dye, which contains ammonia and works by removing the hair’s natural pigment, colored hair masks are ammonia-free and don’t affect the internal structure of the hair; or, alter your nature shade. Instead, color pigments are deposited on the surface, creating delicate highlights, or restoring luster to hair that has faded between washes.
The effect of a colored hair mask is temporary and will fade, but can be easily topped up when you next wash your hair. Plus, the mask element of the formula helps to nourish and moisturize the hair at the same time.
A pigment-depositing hair mask should help to refresh hair for anywhere between four and five washes. The effect will be much more natural than after a color appointment, as these masks add a veil of color, rather than transforming it as dye does.
How to Use a Color Depositing Hair Mask
After shampooing, gently pat dry your hair with a towel or T-shirt and then spread the mask evenly over the lengths and ends. A gentle comb through will ensure it’s spread thoroughly through the hair. As with dye, it’s recommended to use gloves during application–especially if you’re using a particularly dark or pigmented color.
Application time will vary depending on the product, but you can typically expect to leave it on for between three and 10 minutes. Once the appropriate time has elapsed, rinse the mask out thoroughly. The longer the mask is left on, the more intense the final result will be.
How to Choose the Right Color Depositing Hair Mask
Surprisingly, it’s not so much about the individual shade as it is about the undertone: warm or cool. The best rule to follow is to pick a mask that has the same undertone as your starting base. If that’s warm, you pick a warm color mask. If it’s cool, you choose one with cool highlights.
