Living With Vivids

Living with Vivids: Your 5-Step Guide to the Best Vivid Color of Your Life!

Ready to transform your hair into a work of art? At Salon Bounce in Des Moines, we love nothing more than helping you achieve the bold, vibrant look you’ve been dreaming of. But vivid hair isn't just a service—it’s a commitment. To ensure your hair stays healthy and your color stays stunning, follow our 5-step guide to mastering the vivid lifestyle.

1. Book a Consultation

Vivid colors are classified as “Custom Color 4” services at Salon Bounce and are charged by the hour. Because every head of hair is different, we require a consultation before your appointment. We offer these in-person or over FaceTime to make it easy for you. Without a consult, we may not be able to book enough time to reach your goal. We need to assess your hair’s health—some colors require significantly more chemical stress than others, and we want to make sure your hair is strong enough for the journey!

2. Plan Your Color Day!

Vivid services are an investment of time, often taking 4–6 hours or more. Make your day comfortable: bring snacks, your earbuds, or even a knitting project! We recommend keeping your schedule clear for the rest of the day in case things run a little late. Before you arrive, please ensure your hair is fully detangled and free from heavy moisturizers, coconut oil, or natural butters. These products can create a barrier that slows down or completely stops the chemical processing, which is the last thing we want.

3. Protect Your Color at Home

Vivid dyes work mechanically, not chemically. This means the pigment sits on the surface of your hair cuticle, making it prone to washing away if you aren't careful. 

*   Wash less: Limit yourself to washing once per week.

*   Go cold: Yes, we mean COLD! Use the coldest water you can tolerate. It’s a game-changer for keeping your color vibrant.

*   Use the right products: Always use color-safe shampoo and conditioner. We highly recommend L'Oréal Professionnel Vitamino Color (https://us.lorealprofessionnel.com/all-products/hair-care/vitamino-color).

*   Watch the heat: Use a heat protection spray like Davines Melu/Heat Shield. Turn your styling tools to the lowest possible setting, or embrace heat-free styling whenever you can.

4. Embrace the Fade

Eventually, all vivid color will lighten, exposing more of the base color underneath. Instead of seeing this as the "end," consider it a new look—a pastel version of where you started! To save on costs, ask your stylist how to enhance or tweak the fading color to get a few more weeks out of it. 

“I love it when my vivid clients come back in about 6 weeks after their services for a little color block in their bangs or face frame," says Liv, Salon Bounce’s vivid expert. "This gives them a chance to try a new version of the same look, and we can play with what nature has already done over time. It saves them time and money, and provides more variety over time.”

5. Commit to the Bit!

Great vivid color is a lifestyle. Remember that some shades are more stressful on your hair than others. Pastel shades (excluding yellow, peach, and lime green) require the most damage because the underlying yellow pigment must be fully removed with bleach. Silver, lilac, pastel blue, and baby pink are the hardest to achieve and may be impossible if you have a history of box dye, black hair color, or red vivids. 

If your hair has been bleached, darkened, and bleached again over the last two years, it may not be healthy enough for lighter shades. In that case, we suggest stunning darker options like violet, emerald, swamp green, midnight blue, or rusty rose. Tell your Salon Bounce stylist “green jellybeans for 10% off your first vivid appointment. Always remember: it is much easier to go darker than lighter. If you’re torn between dark violet and pale violet, go pale first—then transition to dark when you’re ready for a change. It’s much kinder to your hair!

Book now with one of our vivid experts! 

-Viv, Laugh, Love!-