If you're dipping your toes -- or your roots -- into the world of hair color for the first time, you've likely already heard that preserving the color, even on permanent dye jobs, is going to be somewhat tough, if not outright difficult. But the fading is normal for semi-permanent (the dye that lasts a few weeks) and not always that noticeable for permanent jobs. Still, the longer you can keep the color and the brighter you can keep it, the better it will look. Check out these tips for preserving color not only on your hair, but on the items that touch that hair as well.

Post-Coloring Wash

If you're using a home-dye system, especially one that's meant to fade out after a couple of months, wash your hair a few times once the color is in. After you've dyed your hair and done the initial rinsing, there will still be loose dye particles stuck in your hair. Washing repeatedly with shampoo removes most of the particles that have not adhered to hair strands.

If you've gotten your hair dyed at a salon, though, follow instructions regarding washing that you got there. What you do depends on whether you had a full, permanent, peroxide-based color or just a stain (more on that in a bit).

Dyeing More Than Your Hair

One problem people notice after dyeing their hair is that items that touch the hair, such as pillow cases, shirt collars, and towels, often pick up some of the dye even weeks after the initial color was added. This is more of an issue with semi-permanent dyes but can happen a tiny bit with any color. Switch pillow cases to darker colors, and tie up your hair on days when you want to wear light-colored shirts. Luckily, the dye that lands on the cases and clothing will wash out very easily.

Pre-Dyeing Bleaching

As mentioned, there are two main types of dye jobs -- actual color and then stain. Stain is also called pure pigment dye. It's literally a color that sits on top of your hair strand, staining it another color. It's very common in home dyes. If you want a more stable color, go for a full color job that involves bleaching your hair first. The color will be more vibrant and fade less quickly, especially if you were planning to use the dye on top of darker hair. However, be aware that the hair color really will appear brighter if you bleach your hair first.

Home dyeing and salon work can both produce good results, but you need a quality dye in both cases. Talk to beauty supply stores and salons about the types they use and recommend.

For more information, you will want to contact a company such as Five60 Salon.