4 Low Maintenance Hair Colour Ideas
Easy maintenance hair colour is everyone’s dream once they start venturing into the cycle of coloured hair. If you’ve grown tired of the sheer hassle involved with ongoing trips to the salon to touch up your hair colour, we’ve curated a guide to extremely low maintenance hair, and how to extend its life. We’re stepping you through low maintenance hair colour for dark hair, blonde hair and grey hair, and detailing the top-up products you can implement in your hair routine to extend that ‘stepped out of a salon’ freshness. But first, let’s dive into some of the most reliable hair colour choices to suit your natural hair tone, and why they’re frontrunning options to choose from.
Why choose an easy maintenance hair colour?
There are numerous benefits of choosing a low maintenance hair colour, from better hair colour appearance when your locks start to grow out and maintaining optimal hair health. A low maintenance hair colour – i.e. a shade that doesn’t require regular touch ups and won’t wash out easily – gives you good hair day confidence without the fuss. With fewer salon trips required throughout the year, it’s easier on your wallet, hair health, and the earth. Garnier’s range of products are also dedicated to maintaining your richest hair colour and as we move closer to our 2025 Green Beauty commitments, Garnier are making it easier to look after your hair and make more sustainable choices.
Our recommended low maintenance hair colours
What are the best low maintenance hair colour options for dark hair, colour treated hair, blonde hair and grey hair? Luckily, new-age hair colouring techniques like balayage and babylights mean hair colour refreshing is accessible and relatively easy to upkeep. We’ve compiled our top four easy maintenance hair colours below, so you can prepare to postpone your upcoming salon appointments.
Dark hair
A general rule of thumb here is striving to stay close to your natural, dark hair colour, while ramping up the colour and vibrancy. Another wonderful weapon to change up your brunette stands is lowlighting- where sections are 2-3 shades darker than the rest of your hair and woven throughout to add dimension. This gorgeous, subtle effect can be achieved at home by applying a darker shade to thin sections, sticking to the top layer of your hair unless you’re a seasoned at-home hair colourist. If you’re determined to go lighter than your deep locks, the shadow root technique could be the ultimate low maintenance method. This leaves your roots semi-natural while the rest of your hair is more noticeably dyed, similar to a grown-in roots look. This clever tactic will allow your roots to grow in a more natural, intentional way, and spare you from repeated touch-up trips to your hairdresser.
Blonde hair
Low maintenance hair colour for the blondes among us may feel like an impossibility, after dealing with unwanted brassy hues and ongoing upkeep. Balayage might be your dream option, thanks to its subtly in tone and its ability to give hair colour depth without the damage. If it’s a departure from your normal hue that you’re looking for, there are a lot of warm shades that work well for the natural blondes. A charming strawberry blonde is the go-to for a beautiful low maintenance solution, with naturally blonde hair providing the perfect base for rosy tones without needing to lighten or bleach the hair.
Grey hair
Whether you’ve embraced grey hair and feel like a change of tone, or desire to hide the grey, recolouring is easy if you stick to some simple guidelines. So, what’s a low maintenance colour to camouflage grey hair? It’s known that shades like butterscotch, light auburn and golden brown (or ash brown for those with cool skin tones) are versatile brunette shades that aren’t too dark and therefore serve as ideal low maintenance options to transform grey or greying hair.
Colour-treated hair
How about some low maintenance hair colour changes for bold, already-dyed hair. This could be lilac, blue, pink — any colour of the rainbow you’ve opted for and would like to revert back from. For a colour resurrection, departing from a bright green or blue means your best bet at healthy looking hair is turning to a brunette hue. Going lighter than brunette to a shade of blonde is usually trickier, given the amount of bleaching and lightening required to diminish the colour.
How to support low maintenance hair colour
Now that you’ve decided what low maintenance hair colour to trial, let’s revisit the important role at-home haircare plays. Luckily, Garnier’s colour care products are expertly designed to help protect shade vibrancy and optimal hair health, while we’ve developed a refined list of practical tips to help your desired colour last longer.
- Don't shampoo with hot water: a cool or lukewarm rinse keeps colour rich and shiny for longer.
- Condition more than you shampoo: conditioners help to infuse colour treated strands with critical moisture, so hair stays hydrated and healthy looking. Colour vibrancy is harnessed and protected for longer thanks to the fortifying powers of our Fructis Colour Last Conditioner, combining nutrient-rich Acai Berry extracts. For when it is time to shampoo, reach for our Fructis Colour Last Shampoo in the shower, to give your coloured hair the TLC it deserves.
- Treat hair to moisture-rich masks: Defend against dull, dry hair colour with a weekly regimen of moisturising masks enriched with nourishing oil extracts. Your low maintenance hair colour will crave some ‘hair food’, and our Fructis Hair Food Protecting Goji Hair Mask is an excellent source of nutrition.
- Touch up your roots: For all-over colour, touch up roots every 3-6 weeks. But if you’ve opted for highlights, touch up roots anywhere between 4-12 weeks depending on the effect you’re going for.
- Protect your coloured hair: It’s easy to neglect the all-important ritual of heat protecting your coloured hair. Our Fructis Style Flat Iron Perfector with Heat Protection is enriched with argan oil and anti-frizz properties to protect your polished hair from the heat and seal in shine.
Enjoyed this guide on easy maintenance hair colours? Discover how to grow out your hair colour next, or experience our Virtual Try On tool to find your perfect shade.
