There is no single correct interval, and anyone who gives you one without looking at your hair is guessing. What actually sets it is how fast your hair grows and how much contrast there is between your natural colour and your colour. And those two things vary enormously between people.
As a general industry guide, root maintenance tends to sit somewhere around every four to six weeks where full grey coverage is involved, and six to eight weeks or longer where the colour is closer to natural. But those are starting points, not rules. Here is what moves them.
What actually drives your interval
Your growth rate. Hair grows roughly one to one and a half centimetres a month for most people, but that is an average with real variation. Faster growth means a shorter cycle, and there is nothing you can do to change that.
Contrast. This is the big one. If your colour sits close to your natural base, regrowth is barely visible and you can go a long time. If there is a significant gap, dark natural hair with light colour, or grey coming through a rich shade, the line shows up quickly regardless of how well it was applied.
How much grey you have. A little grey blended into a shade behaves very differently from a head that is substantially grey. More grey means less room for the regrowth to hide.
Where your hair parts. Regrowth shows first and most at the parting and hairline. Someone with a strong side part will see it before someone who wears their hair back.
What service you are actually maintaining. A root colour, a full head of foils and a balayage are three different cycles. Balayage is designed to grow out softly because the colour starts away from the root. That is the point of it.
Two different clocks
This trips people up constantly, so it is worth naming.
The regrowth clock is about the line at your scalp. It is driven by growth and contrast.
The tone clock is about the colour through your lengths. Fading, warmth creeping in, brassiness, or just going flat. It is driven by washing, sun, water and heat, and it runs on its own schedule entirely.
They rarely line up. That is why a gloss or toner between full appointments is often the useful answer. It resets tone without touching the regrowth cycle. If you are blonde specifically, that cycle works differently again, and it is worth reading our blonding and highlights information rather than applying general colour intervals to it.
What happens if you stretch it too far
Nothing catastrophic. But it does get harder, and it can cost more.
A long stretch means a wider band of new growth to blend, and wide bands are more technically difficult to make invisible than narrow ones. There is a point at which it stops being a maintenance appointment and becomes a longer, more expensive corrective one. Stretching also increases the temptation to reach for a box to tide yourself over, which is where genuinely difficult problems start.
If money or time is the reason for stretching, say so. There are usually sensible options. A parting-and-hairline application, moving to a lower-contrast colour, or shifting to a technique that grows out more gracefully. Those conversations save far more than they cost.
What happens if you go too often
This is the less obvious risk. Colouring more often than you need does not make colour last longer. It just means more overlap onto hair that has already been coloured.
Overlap is what causes build-up through the ends, banding, and the dull flatness that creeps in over years of colouring. More frequent is not gentler.
What you can do to stretch it honestly
- Wash less often, and use colour-safe, sulphate-free products when you do.
- Wash in cooler water. Hot water opens the cuticle and colour leaves faster.
- Keep heat styling moderate, and use heat protection.
- Protect your hair from sun and chlorine. Brisbane sun fades colour faster than most people expect.
- Consider a lower-contrast shade, or a technique designed to grow out softly, if a long interval matters to you.
None of these change how fast your hair grows. They all change how good it looks while it does.
One thing worth asking about before you book
Colour allergy is real, and it sits with the dye precursors in permanent colour rather than with ammonia or with how “gentle” a range is marketed as being. Whether a patch test is needed before your appointment depends on the product’s own instructions and your own history. So if you have never had colour with us, or you have had any kind of reaction before, mention it when you book rather than on the day.
Get a number that fits your hair
The useful version of this answer is the one worked out for your growth rate, your contrast, your grey and the service you are actually having. And it is something we will give you a realistic figure for at your appointment rather than a number from a page.
If you are anywhere in Brisbane’s eastern suburbs, we are in Murarrie. You can read more about our regrowth and global colour services or book in to work out your own interval.