The expert guide to changing your hair colour

Sabrina Hill, who owns Cork’s award-winning Kopper salon, renowned for exceptional and natural-looking hair, is also Instagram’s Irish girl next door. She blends an approachable, kindly demeanour with hair education. Her attention to detail and bespoke colour techniques bring clients to the salon not just from all over Ireland, but around the world.

Given that we are entering the season of hair transformations (spring just makes us want to get the bleach out), I asked Hill for advice on making the right change for your budget and lifestyle while prioritising the health of your hair. Our hair “changes dramatically every seven years or so”, Hill says, “and many women find that the colour service they’ve had for years is suddenly not suiting them financially, or in terms of the time they get out of it. Maybe they once got eight or 10 weeks out of their colour, and now find that two or three weeks later they no longer look like it’s been recently done”.

Hill advises that it’s all about figuring out how much change you really need. Often it isn’t as much as you may think. Hill sits down with new clients who want something different and asks one important question: “What don’t you like about the hair you have now?” Often, she suggests, it comes down to frustration with the colour they have, or how it wears, or increased grey, or the cost of upkeep. Those issues can usually be addressed without drastic change (unless that’s what you’re after).

It’s critical to have a colourist you really trust, Hill advises, and to “make a plan together. Your colourist should be thinking long term”. If they’re not, find someone else. You’ll need to discuss how the change will be achieved, how it will impact your hair, and a realistic plan for upkeep. “For example,” says Hill “if you’re lightening the hair, you may need regular toners in salon to maintain the shade of blonde you want. Your hair’s porosity level is unique. You also need a prescriptive plan for how much prep your particular hair needs for that change, for your texture, and for the finished result you’re aiming for.”

Hill takes a refreshing approach to colour transformations involving lightening the hair. “Sometimes, you’ll find a lot of stylists will say ‘if we’re lightening, we’ll do it gradually’ but that’s not always the best way.” Since this involves bleaching the same strands hair over and over again, it can be more damaging, she suggests. “Sometimes it’s better to prep the hair for two to three weeks in advance and then do one big lightening service.” This can have you in the chair for five or six hours, but the hair is ultimately less damaged by the process.

The homecare

Whether you’re trying to preserve colour or prepare your hair for a colour service, Hill recommends shampoos that prioritise the scalp. “Spend a month before you go for your colour change using that kind of shampoo for a great canvas. Use something like Joico Luster Lock Treatment (€30 at lookfantastic.ie) as your conditioner for that month.” In-salon treatments are also hugely important if your hair is truly compromised, Hill suggests. Your stylist can advise on this.

Joico Luster Lock Treatment (€30 at lookfantastic.ie)

Water can change your hair post-colour – hard water will often turn blonde hair greenish or brassy. Copper, iron sulphate, and other nitrates and chemicals are deposited into the hair through water, Hill explains, and that these will also impact the way that colour interacts with your hair, so it is best to remove them with a clarifying shampoo. A great way of detoxing your hair at home, says Hill, is to mix a tablespoon of baking powder into your shampoo as a mask – it raises the PH to pull impurities out of the hair. It can slightly brighten your hair, but won’t remove chemical pigment molecules (unless you do it in the first week after having colour done). This is not a step to include in your routine more than once a month, but it makes a visible difference and helps combat hard water.