Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.

Who knew there were so many things to think about when it comes to going darker when coloring the hair?  I didn’t.  I just tend to color and be done with it.  I find these hair tips below very helpful – maybe you will too.

Fall is just around the corner, good things are coming; autumn leaves, crisp refreshing air, pumpkin lattes…  A new rich, deep hue for you!  Here are some tips from Madison Reed for when you are getting ready to go darker.

1. Put Your Pigment Back

When going lighter for summer, pigments are stripped from the hair. This could be done purposely by lightening, highlights, or bleach, or it could be something natural that happens from sun exposure or from taking a dip in the pool. So, if pigments were taken out, we need to put them back in to go darker. This would be a great time to be a red head before eventually settling on a brunette shade to wow!

2. Keep Your Skin Tone in Mind

Adding tones to your locks is a lovely way to make your color rich and vibrant. But are you a cool or a warm skin tone? Generally people with cooler undertone like to wear silver jewelry and look great in cool colors like blue and white. Tones like mahogany, ash, and violet will look awesome on you!  People with warmer undertones find that gold looks best on them and can wear yellows and cream colors with ease. Reds, golds and copper look great on warm tones.

3. Go One Shade Lighter to Start

It is much easier to go darker than it is to go lighter. Choose a shade in the tonal family that you want and go one shade lighter. You just may end up loving the results, if not it’s a quick fix to go a bit darker on the next round.

4. Keep Your Ends in Mind

The summer tends to put a little bit of wear and tear on our hair with all the sun, swimming and fun. This makes our ends more porous, which means it wants to drink that color up. When coloring your hair darker it is important to keep this in mind. Application is key! Start darkening hair at the root and leave in for optimal gray coverage, once this has had time to process start combing color down to your mid-lengths and ends to finish the process. The ends don’t need as much time.

 5. Use Color-Safe Shampoo

It is important to take care of your color even after the process. Don’t wash that beautiful color down the drain. Color-safe shampoo’s are made to be gentle, have extra moisturizer, and keep your color vibrant. Try Madison Reed’s Madison Reed nourishing, color enhancing shampoo and conditioner set–it even has natural UV protection to keep the sun’s rays from dulling down your color.

Right now save 50% off your first purchase at Madison-Reed.com with the code FALLHAIRCOLOR.  Promo code expires 9/30/14maid