Coloring Your Hair at Home
EDS Skin Care Forums Forum Index » Skin Care and Makeup Forum

free skin care · Fri Nov 18, 2011 6:47 am

Do you color your hair at home? What products/brands have given you the best results?

I am a strawberry blonde with lighter blonde highlights...I am leaning towards coloring my base color at home - all over the head, then heading into a salon for the actual foils for lighter highlights.

I would appreciate all feedback/suggestions, etc.

Thanks! BFG

free skin care · Fri Nov 18, 2011 7:09 am

I don't dye my hair but many friends like Henna for its natural ingredients and results.

free skin care · Fri Nov 18, 2011 7:19 am

Henna is nice if you like red hair. If not, better not try because you cannot remove it from your hair.

free skin care · Fri Nov 18, 2011 8:47 am

I have light neutral/natural blonde tones with a hint of ash, very hard to do at home!
I have my hair higlighted and lowlighted every 8-12 weeks, depending how bust I am. In between I use John Frieda foam haircolor to touch up the roots/gray hair along the hairline. It is the best I have found for not causing orange/yellow/brass tones when I use the 9A. Hard to find as a lot of my local stores don't always keep it in stock in this tone as it sells out fast!

free skin care · Fri Nov 18, 2011 9:21 am

I use henna but it takes 3 hours.

free skin care · Fri Nov 18, 2011 1:45 pm

I have been home dying for twenty years!! Have used various brands, never had a iffy result that was not down to me making a poor colour choice. If you have never home dyed before, get a trusted friend to help as it can take a while to part and apply to the roots and the back is awkward. You quickly get your technique, I only ever had a hairdresser tell me once that I had 'missed a bit'. Laughing

I was blonde for many years and found many big name brands allowed my sunbleached 'highlights' to show through; my mother is grey/ ash blonde now and hers shows her salon highlights through somewhat - she uses Garnier Nutrisse or Clairol Nice'n'Easy IIRC. For strand tests take some shed hair from your brush or plughole. If your hair is longer or thicker purchase two boxes, you don't want to run out.

Coconut oil heat treatments can help protect your hair from the peroxide providing you don't have silicones coating your hair. Some even oil right before they dye and apparently the colour shows up fine, but I have not been brave enough! Basically coconut oil need the heat, shampoo or chemicals in the dye to open the cuticle so it can penetrate the hair then helps hold the proteins molecules in.

HTH!

free skin care · Sat Nov 19, 2011 4:06 am

I usually colour my hair at home, but go to the salon if I want highlights.

Usually at home I use Walla Colour Charm?
Also Goldwell

My mother uses Shawatzkopf? and she says that brand is good for a natural coverage of grey.

I don't really use drugstore colour as for me it is cheaper to buy the salon colour-I'm lucky there is a store near me that sells all the professional brands.
-it is cheaper as I can use the same tube of colour for 2 uses as my hair is med length.

My only problem with drugstore hair colour, is I used to like a golden brown hair dye and all I could find was reddish brown and red shades here.
Wella has a nice golden brown I really like with no red.
I think the tube of colour is around $12, but you need to get deleloper seperately (that adds around $2.

free skin care · Sun Nov 20, 2011 1:16 am

L'oreal which can be found at drug store or supermarkets works well for my hair, they have different range available. Not too sure if the lines are carried all over the world.

Henna is natural dye, once used on your hair you cant use other color products to change it. Of coz unless u chop them off... Confused

free skin care · Sun Nov 20, 2011 6:28 am

I do my own highlights. I use 30 vol bleach and a streaking cap. After I've applied the bleach I cover hair and cap with aluminum foil. But I do have short hair, so that makes things easier.

free skin care · Mon Nov 21, 2011 5:42 am

I've always done my own colouring at home. One of the best secrets I could give you though was what a hairdresser told me. Prior to colouring your hair, wash it with Dr Bonner's soap. It literally takes out all the gunk from your hair, but it also makes the hair thirsty, so that when you apply the dye, the hair literally drinks it up and it keeps the colour for so much longer. I don't wash daily with Dr Bonners - and wouldn't advise you to, but prior to colouring this rocks!

free skin care · Mon Nov 21, 2011 5:53 am

TheresaMary wrote:

I've always done my own colouring at home. One of the best secrets I could give you though was what a hairdresser told me. Prior to colouring your hair, wash it with Dr Bonner's soap. It literally takes out all the gunk from your hair, but it also makes the hair thirsty, so that when you apply the dye, the hair literally drinks it up and it keeps the colour for so much longer. I don't wash daily with Dr Bonners - and wouldn't advise you to, but prior to colouring this rocks!

That's interesting. I actually do wash my hair with Dr. Bonner's everyday - I make my own shampoo with it by combining it with water, apple cider vinegar and aloe vera.

free skin care · Mon Nov 21, 2011 6:33 am

I am asian,57. I have very dark hair with lot of flecks of grey.I go to the salon every 2 months and get my hair gently lightened with tiny highlights all over...looks very natural.However of course the roots need to be touched up once or twice a week so I use revlon colorsilk 43 just for the roots.Touch up the roots, let sit for 20 minutes....then I take a cloth and press down to absorb most of the color. Then I shampoo. The reason I try to remove the color first by patting with towels is that if I just showered immediately it would possibily compromise my highlights. I only use out 2 tablespoons of hair dye, so one box($3) givesme 3 or 4 hair dyes at least.This way I can still look presentable in between my salon trips.

free skin care · Mon Nov 21, 2011 8:36 am

Barefootgirl wrote:

Do you color your hair at home? What products/brands have given you the best results?

I am a strawberry blonde with lighter blonde highlights...I am leaning towards coloring my base color at home - all over the head, then heading into a salon for the actual foils for lighter highlights.

I would appreciate all feedback/suggestions, etc.

Thanks! BFG

I use Perfect 10 by Clairol for my base color. It's a little less damaging/drying than Feria.

Definitely have the highlights done at a salon, they're impossible to do at home.

free skin care · Mon Nov 28, 2011 6:39 pm

I use Henna at home. I don't use the commercial brands because it will just make your hair grey or white the longer you use it. I am talking through my sister's experience. She dyed her hair for a very long time and now she does not. She only use Henna. Yes, it takes 2-3hours for it to get absorbed but this is basically natural and no chemicals. Also, after Henna, I put some hair oil on my hair, go to the sauna for further absorption of the hair oil. After that, shampoo it. After that, my hair is silky and smooth....
Henna does not dry your hair. Coloring does more harm than good..

Barefootgirl wrote:

Do you color your hair at home? What products/brands have given you the best results?

I am a strawberry blonde with lighter blonde highlights...I am leaning towards coloring my base color at home - all over the head, then heading into a salon for the actual foils for lighter highlights.

I would appreciate all feedback/suggestions, etc.

Thanks! BFG

free skin care · Tue Nov 29, 2011 9:24 am

You are right, henna make your hair more healthy. After henna, just wash your hair without shampoo, it can keep the colour more long time.

jade-1234 wrote:

I use Henna at home. I don't use the commercial brands because it will just make your hair grey or white the longer you use it. I am talking through my sister's experience. She dyed her hair for a very long time and now she does not. She only use Henna. Yes, it takes 2-3hours for it to get absorbed but this is basically natural and no chemicals. Also, after Henna, I put some hair oil on my hair, go to the sauna for further absorption of the hair oil. After that, shampoo it. After that, my hair is silky and smooth....
Henna does not dry your hair. Coloring does more harm than good..

Barefootgirl wrote:

Do you color your hair at home? What products/brands have given you the best results?

I am a strawberry blonde with lighter blonde highlights...I am leaning towards coloring my base color at home - all over the head, then heading into a salon for the actual foils for lighter highlights.

I would appreciate all feedback/suggestions, etc.

Thanks! BFG

Tue Nov 29, 2011 1:41 pm

I would pay 145 every 2-3 months... for 5 years.. lol but I was making the big bucks and didnt have to pay rent or anything..now that I am out on my own..

Tue Nov 29, 2011 5:36 pm

shanmarsh1 wrote:

I would pay 145 every 2-3 months... for 5 years.. lol but I was making the big bucks and didnt have to pay rent or anything..now that I am out on my own..

Same here. I used to spend about that amount, but have since switched to doing it myself. I miss the highlights that I was doing before, but other than that I've been pretty happy doing dark brown.

free skin care · Tue Nov 29, 2011 5:59 pm

Before I started cutting and colouring my own hair I was spending around $250.00 every six weeks. The cost of hairdressing has gone through the roof.

Colouring your hair with henna and packaged rinses is very easy. However, lightening the hair can be problematic - especially if you want lowlights and highlights.

I just wish we had a dedicated hair forum to discuss all these issues.

free skin care · Tue Nov 29, 2011 6:18 pm

I am also much in favor of a separate hair care/styling board...

free skin care · Wed Nov 30, 2011 10:26 am

I color at home with Redken Color Fusion and before with their Shades EQ line which is what my salon was using on me and I didn't see the point paying so much when I could order the stuff and do it myself. Of course I made sure I casually found out exactly what shades they were mixing to get the desired color Wink

.Both make hair look great and are gentler by far than drugstore brands. I jut order the colors and developer via Ebay.Since my prime purpose is to enrich as an allover colour and cover the pesky grey I think it's easier to do it myself than pay at a salon every 4-6 weeks (which i need to keep grey covered!)but if one were doing highlights and/or lowlights i imagine that gets a bit trickier!I blow my money on a great cut at the salon as nothing can beat that for me!! Smile

I am always trying to keep the color a 'cooler' mahogany/violet brown though.Doesn't Henna pretty much always bring out the reds and oranges in your hair?? Having naturally dark brown hair that is always an issue for me...:/

free skin care · Wed Nov 30, 2011 1:28 pm

Pollyanna wrote:

I am always trying to keep the color a 'cooler' mahogany/violet brown though.Doesn't Henna pretty much always bring out the reds and oranges in your hair?? Having naturally dark brown hair that is always an issue for me...:/

Pure henna would make your greys copper! Shock

It doesn't bring out your natural red like weak peroxide does, it simply adds them. You can layer henna and over time end up with a cool burgundy but you would still have coppery roots initially. IIRC people who want a darker colour use a blend of henna and indigo, as the henna is needed to fix the indigo somehow. With henna you cannot heat style without changing the colour which is a bit limiting IMO.

free skin care · Sat Dec 03, 2011 10:16 pm

Somewhat true with what you say. But to kinda avoid this, I use 2-3 regular teabags to mix with Henna. Believe me, my hair is not "copper" color!!! In summer, my hair shines as if I had highlights! Not copper at all. I like Henna because not only it is affordable, it does not have chemicals to dry my hair. With hair colors, it does. I am speaking through my sister's experience. For a very long time, she colored her hair. Now she does not at all! And because she drinks natural green tea as well and uses a special indian hair oils that I mixed for her, her hair is "turning back to black" in 1 section where she puts the indian hair oil! Now she religiously put to areas where she has grey hair.... You won't get black hair overnight, but it takes time....

Firefox7275 wrote:

Pollyanna wrote:

I am always trying to keep the color a 'cooler' mahogany/violet brown though.Doesn't Henna pretty much always bring out the reds and oranges in your hair?? Having naturally dark brown hair that is always an issue for me...:/

Pure henna would make your greys copper! Shock

It doesn't bring out your natural red like weak peroxide does, it simply adds them. You can layer henna and over time end up with a cool burgundy but you would still have coppery roots initially. IIRC people who want a darker colour use a blend of henna and indigo, as the henna is needed to fix the indigo somehow. With henna you cannot heat style without changing the colour which is a bit limiting IMO.

Automatic Message

If this is your first visit to the EDS Forums please take the time to register. Registration is required for you to post on the forums. Registration will also give you the ability to track messages of interest, send private messages to other users, participate in Gift Certificates draws and enjoy automatic discounts for shopping at our online store. Registration is free and takes just a few seconds to complete.

Click Here to join our community.

If you are already a registered member on the forums, please login to gain full access to the site.