Coloring hair at home... Help needed!

[Grendalynn]

Hello out there! I have searched the threads on the budget boards and didnt find any about coloring hair at home. I apologize for a duplicate thread if there is one...

Anyway - I have been having my hair professionally colored for years. I am naturally a medium brown color with lighter/blond highlight foils. My hairdresser just moved out of town and I am in need of having my roots done... They have grown out about 1.5-2". I have thought about going back to my natural color for some time but never got there, now is a perfect opportunity and a chance to save some money... The top of my hair is darker while the ends and bottom (just below shoulders) is a lot lighter...

I just went to the drug store and picked up 2 boxes:

1 box of Garnier Herbashine - in Dark Natural Brown ((Lasts 28 washes)): All over color, no depth/high lights
-and-
1 box of L'Oreal Couleur Experte Express "2 in 1 multi tonal color" - in 5.1 Truffle Medium Ash Brown: All over color then bronzy red highlights added after

So my question is - Have you gone from having your hair colored to doing it yourself? And if so - what do I need to know or consider before doing this? I plan to have it tripped tomorrow...

 

[ACS228]

Don't put ash tones on bleached/highlighted hair! It will turn green. I am not kidding, it happened to me. You can color with the semi permanant 28 day color but the highlights will come out a few shades darker than on the box and most of it will not wash out. You can try to color it with a 28 day color a few shades lighter than you want and next time use a shade or two darker.
I am not a professional colorist but with 4 sisters, I have had a lot of practice with home coloring.

 

[RitaE]

I got a Groupon for this place awhile back and I've been really happy with the hair color they sent me. It's more expensive than my old Feria but the color lasts way longer on my hair.

http://www.esalon.com/

You put in your haircolor and eye color etc and you can even upload a picture of yourself and then they supposedly mix the color up for you. I know there was a spot on that form for you to describe what kind of color and highlighting is already on your hair. I'm not sure how "individualized" it actually is but as I said it looked good and lasted much longer for me than what I usually buy.

 

[dakcp2001]

I really love Clairol Root Touch Up. It is just to cover the roots and extend the between color time but it covers gray and lasts a long time. Just make sure you put some vaseline on your ears and around your hairline, that helps keep the dye from getting on your skin and staining it.

 

[Mickeyflower]

I've been coloring my own hair for YEARS. While I LOVE having it professionally done, it's simply not in my budget to do so. IMHO, the best at home color is John Frieda. It's about $12 a box, but covers very well, super easy to do, and the color always comes out nice & even.

Sometimes, if you only do your roots on colored and highlighted hair, it can look a bit odd. You'll end up with this solid color line where the touch up, meets the roots. As a PP said, DO NOT USE ASH COLOR on your hair.

If you're nervous about doing it at home, what about asking your old hair stylist for a referral in your area? Or call the salon your stylist was at, tell then who was doing your hair, and they may be able to advise you on a good replacement.

 

[fakereadhed]

It is one thing to color your own hair and another to try to fix already processed hair that is different colors to start with. You can try,
but if it doesn't work you will be paying someone else to fix it anyway and end up with super damaged hair. If it were me, I'd pay to get it back to my natural color and then try coloring it myself next time.

 

[Grendalynn]

Thank you for the great feed back!! Well, I looked on Youtube and did some reading on various websites and forums... I took t he Truffle Medium Ash Brown back and got Medium Brown Caramel glaze... No ash. Its a base color of brown with caramel highlights... I think it will be a good match!???

I think I might attempt it tonight... Hair cut tomorrow. I'll let you know how it came out....

UPDATE: I am done! My hair came out great... 3 hours later and I am still adjusting to being so dark and back to my natural color. Its been years!!! DS5 was not quite sure what to think. The highlights are a nice accent and give my hear some depth... I will go for a trim tomorrow (I have a 50% off coupon for trying a certain salon for the first time...) The process was a bit time consuming but being the first time I have done it since high school - Not too shabby! AND I saved about $75 by the time its all said and done - that's the best part!!

 

[amshowers]

Just a fyi bleached hair will not hold color, the dark color will fade out of the bleached hair very fast. If you want to return to your darker natural color, you should pick up a protein filler at a beauty supply store, and then color. The protein filler fills in the light color of your so it can grab the darker color. Protein filler is very in expensive at about 5.00 a bottle. You may notice your ends seem much lighter than your roots because of the color fading, but if you use the filler you can dye it all one color and the add some highlights and then continue to highlight your roots as the grow out. You may not have had enough highlights in your hair that fading is too noticeable after you highlighted over the color, but if you do end up with the dark hair color fading and the ends looking much lighter than your roots, this will solve that problem.