Haircolor

I worked at Sally Beauty Supply for a little over a year - and about a year ago. I saw every kind of disaster possible when it comes to someone coloring their own hair. Here's some food for thought.

1.) You have to have good luck if you want to color your own hair.

2.) I swear by having someone who knows their stuff, do the coloring. The person I go to is terrific.

3.) If you elect to do your own, stick with one manufacturing line, don't keep changing them. You will never get the same color again if you do. Many people buy their products at the grocery store or Walmart and don't remember or care to remember what they bought the last time. You can go to Sally's and buy exactly the same product the hair salons use. You have to know how to mix the color (instructions are included) and you have to know what to buy.

4.) Places like Sally's don't require their sales people to be hairdressers. I know. They can usually help you correct your errors but will be hard pressed to suggest what is good for you and the color you want. Back to the hair salon with you.

5.) If you do have enough nerve to ask you salon person for the colors and numbers of your color (assuming you like what he/she has been using on you) then you can buy the color at a place like Sally's and do it yourself. Oh and just do the roots after the first color, not the entire head each time!

6.) My salon person uses a glaze on my hair and lets the gray pickup some color and it actually looks like my hair is highlighted. When she first colors it, I am not wild about it but within a couple of washings, I like it and it lasts for 8 weeks. Then back to her. I don't have my hair cut all that often and it would be cheaper if I didn't have her blow it out and style it. It is my only true splurge in life.

7.) You can remove any color you put in your hair by mistake. BUT you are left with no color (icky yellowish grayish awful color) and then must wait a day or so until you try again.

8.) I recommend going to a good salon if you want to look professional and or have a hair color that stands out in a positive way.

Hair can really make or break a person's appearance. I had stopped coloring my hair for several years and I just wasn't happy with how old it made me look, so I went back and agreed to do the glazing thing rather than a solid color. My hair looks very natural and I love it!

Good advise Sas, and I would never have put anything on my hair without first asking the advise of my beautician, since she has been the only one I have trusted my hair to, for over 20 years. I've seen some of the disastrous results that people have achieved by just winging it, and buying what they thought would work. By all means, if you are going to do it yourself, then consult with someone who knows their stuff before you end up with a disaster on your head. :eek:

When working at Sally's Beauty I saw people arrive with towels on their heads and tears in their eyes.

And.... I have a friend and a sister in law who do their own hair and they do a great job. Both are cheapskates (not a bad thing at all) and yet manage to buy the same product, follow the directions and have their hair cuts done professionally. There is nothing wrong with doing your color yourself. Just get some expert advice with what color and what looks good on you.

I have seen some horrible horrible color jobs. Highlighting can be tricky too. Some folks look like they had their kids do it!

I hated working at Sally's for a few different reasons but a big one was how many people came in thinking we could fix the problems they created when even experienced hair salon people would have problems correcting the disasters they created. The customers often got nasty and were not fun to work with...... I would usually tell them to find a salon to fix their problem, but they often just put color on color = bigger disaster.

Oh well.

:rolleyes:

I have always been extremely lucky with my home hair coloring adventures. How does someone mess up a home dye job so badly? It's so easy. I don't have the time for salon dye jobs... heck I go a year or more without a haircut a lot of times lol. I just don't think to go get it done. not to mention the cost of salon dye jobs. But my hair is pretty easy. it doesn't go funny colors and doesn't do anything crazy when I dye it (thank goodness). So if I wanted something other than that ugly mousey color it was before I had to do it myself lol. I've been dying my hair every 6-8 weeks for at least a year now and *knock on wood* it's always gone well lol.

I'm tempted to try Henna but I hear you have to let it sit for like two hours and I just don't have that kind of time to sit with a shower cap on my head and wait for hair dye lol and I'm seriously lacking the patience for that haha

Okay, I don't really count for this because I don't have gray hair yet, but I have dyed my hair before, and I could start showing gray any time as early graying runs in my family.

Anyway, my mom uses the stuff in a box. She tried changing her hair color once, but the dye faded too fast, so she went back to her natural hair color, which is black.

When I've dyed my hair, I've always used the store bought stuff in a box too. I had a bad highlight job in the 6th grade though, so I do not trust home highlight kits anymore at all.

Never done mine professionally, so no opinion on that, but I think the store stuff does pretty well.

I have some white hairs and I'm getting more all of the time. I've been coloring my hair since my late twenties. I've had it done both professionally and at home. People have told me that I do a better job of coloring it myself and it also seems to look healthier. I stopped having it done professionally because it was costing me too much, my hair was becoming dry and brittle, and sometimes the color didn't seem right either.

I've been using Nice'N'Easy Color Belnd Technology in Natural Medium Golden Blonde. My natural hair color is a medium to light brown but since I have quite a few white hairs now, I like to go lighter. I've been different shades of red and blonde before. If I go too red my hair color really fades fast. I've also had my hair highlighted. I color my hair usually about every 6-7 weeks or so. I haven't tried the foam yet because I haven't seen my shade in that.

I don't color, but very soon I will need to. My dad had premature gray. I have a lot of gray hairs around my face... I'm only 19! I found my first gray hairs at 14 years old! I just don't want to because I have very course/curly hair and I don't need something to make it more frizzy than it already is.

Another VERY important issue to be considered before you do anything to your hair, whether it be in a salon or at home ~~ medications and health issues. I'm not an expert on the subject, but my beautician is, therefore I listen to what she says.

If you have had recent surgery with anesthesia, certain medications that you might be taking, and even certain health conditions, can all effect the way your hair reacts to any chemical treatment, be it coloring, a perm, straightening, etc. This should be brought up with the salon, or asked of someone in the know if you are doing it yourself at home.

If in doubt - check it out - and don't assume that just because you haven't had a problem in the past - that you won't ever have any.

Just sayin'.........:)

I saw my first grey at 15, my mother was 100% silver by the time she was 40. I waited til I was nearly 30 and then couldn't put it off any longer. ;) I'm 35 and spent the first few years getting my hair done by an amazing colorist friend of mine. I haven't been able to afford him since Clara was born, so I just rely on box color, which I have to apply every 3-4 weeks, because my greys are really resistant!

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Originally Posted by Freckles

[FONT=Comic Sans MS]I will never color, but I do have "highlights".

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I've had the same lady do my hair (cuts) for the last 15 years, but I never
have colored it. My natural color is as close to black as you can get, without
actually being black. First gray hairs in my late thirties, but still have as much
dark as gray right now. It's sprinkled throughout. I wear my hair short & I like
the way it looks & it's so easy to take care of. I consider the gray as my highlights.:)

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Originally Posted by sparks19

How does someone mess up a home dye job so badly?

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I messed mine up so badly because I was attempting highlights. It was a box kit with the cap you're supposed to pull your hair through. Well I couldn't pull my hair through (my hair is very long and I was doing it myself) so I just applied the dye directly on my hair thinking it would be fine. Boy was I wrong! :eek: Like I said.....I looked like Tony the Tiger, only it wasn't greeeaaaat.
When I was younger I used sun-in and then did the bleach process on all my hair. But then I wanted highlights. Silly me thinking I could do it myself. Now that I use the professional I can do all kinds of things. I've gone super dark and then change it up with highlights. My stylist is one of my boyfriends highschool friends, so he gives me a break on cost. Plus I only see him about twice a year. Once for a perm and once for color. He obviously does a great job because people always think my hair is natural.

I do it myself. I used to do it quite frequently as I used semi permanent colors that I had to keep touching up. Lately though my job has not allowed me to have any colors at all so I've been stuck going between an almost red auburn brown and a darker, closer to my natural color brown.

The unfortunate thing is I feel like my creativity has been drained greatly ever since I've been forced to stay with shades naturally occurring.

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Originally Posted by Suki Wingy

The unfortunate thing is I feel like my creativity has been drained greatly ever since I've been forced to stay with shades naturally occurring.

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You could always clip in colorful bits when you leave work!

I once thought of just coloring the "underneath" hair - I guess level with the middle of the ears and down - a nice green, so it'd be there when I move my head, but could also be stealthy - unless I stuck my hair in a ponytail!

I never did it mainly because I have such sensitive skin, I'd probably have a violent reaction to the dye, so it's not worth taking the chance. And green would be a hard color to get and maintain, I know, particularly since my hair is a dark brown with reddish streaks naturally, the opposite side of the color spectrum. I went to college with a girl who changed her name to Tineuvial and colored her hair green, but she stopped the green when she realized it was staining her pillowcase!

Honestly, the color I got at the beauty supply store is exactly the color I've been searching for :love: I couldn't be happier. Now I intend to keep it that color and as soon as I get my paycheck next week, I'm buying the sulphate free shampoo that supposedly saves color.

My coworker was off the past two days and saw my new color for the first time this morning, and I also happened to have on a new sweater (an $80 sweater for $12 steal from Ross next to the beauty store) Her reaction? "wow, Kim you look different. you look Lovely!" Ummmm.... as opposed to looking haggard and yucky every other day? :rolleyes: I took it as the compliment it was intended - I still had lots of fun teasing her about the compliment all day :p

If it ever comes to the point where box color stops working for me , i will stop dying my hair lol. I dont mind grey hair. I went with my natural color for years but this red just makes all the difference.... But for me its not worth the cost of a salon job, not to mention the time it takes up. Just not for me at this point

For the record i have never tried highlights and, on my own... I dont think i ever will lol