Celebrity colorist Tracey Cunningham shares her top holiday hair tips

Everyone wants to look and feel their best during the holiday season, radiant hair included. Unfortunately with our social calendars filled to the brim from Thanksgiving into the New Year, it can be challenging to find the time to care for and maintain your haircolor. To help guide your haircare regimen this season, Redken Celebrity Colorist Tracey Cunningham shares her top tips for making the most of your time at the salon during the holidays.

1. Forward thinking: I typically advise my clients to wait six to eight weeks for gray touch-ups and eight to 12 weeks for highlights. With this in mind and knowing that salons get incredibly busy around the holidays, schedule your holiday color appointment with as much advance notice as possible. If you are going in for “corrective color”, to correct color results you are unhappy with from a prior coloring experience,  be prepared for a longer visit as your colorist may need to remove old color and then recolor your hair.

2. Show, don’t tell: If you plan to try out a new look for the holidays, whether bold or subtle, bringing photographs and examples of haircolor you love will help you and your colorist explore your color options and ensure that you both mean the same thing when you say “honey blonde” or “scarlet red.” One technique I’ve been using a lot recently is a Metallic Blur haircolor – a combination of luxe bronze and gold tones that are softened together using Redken’s new Blur technique. The end result is a natural shimmering finish that is perfect for those holiday pictures and parties!

3. When in doubt, refresh: If the holidays don’t fall in-between your scheduled color appointments or you do not have the time for a full color appointment this December, ask your colorist for a Redken Shades EQ gloss treatment to enhance shine. Healthy hair is a staple regardless of the occasion or the outfit and Shades EQ is a quick service that works wonders on hair to tone color, refresh highlights, and correct uneven tone. Another great alternative is a Redken Chemistry System in-salon treatment in-between or just before a color service for noticeable long-lasting color results and improved condition. Redken Chemistry rebuilds the hair from the inside out and allows your colorist to mix and match the systems based on your specific hair type. You can simultaneously address your hair’s frizziness while locking in your color treatment with two targeted treatments in one!

• Maintenance is key! Between your many holiday updo’s, curling irons and flatiron run-throughs, the holidays can do serious damage to your locks! That is why at-home maintenance can be just as important as salon treatments. For blondes, it is important to balance out the brass which is where Blonde Idol Custom-Tone Conditioner Violet for Cool Blondes comes in. The adjustable color-depositing daily conditioner is perfect for preserving tonality between salon visits. I recommend that my clients use it the day after they get their hair colored and increase the amount they use as time passes.

To make your brunette shade last longer than your New Year’s resolution, I recommend sulfate-free shampoos and conditioners such as Redken Color Extend Shampoo and Conditioner or Color Extend Magnetics to help shield, stabilize and secure color intensity.