How To Color Your Hair At Home And Mistakes To Avoid

I do not blame you at all if you simply cannot wait any longer and need to touch up your roots. I have an article for you above with some temporary root cover-up recommendations to get you by.   BUT, if you do make the decision to do something more permanent, I want you to do it as safely as possible, with the least amount of damage to your hair, and not messing up what I've been doing for you over the years.
 
“Fixing box color can be super expensive, in some cases taking six months to a year for full correction”

I've been using the same hair color line (Schwarzkopf) since I've been doing hair.  Because of that you and I both know if there will be any allergic reactions, itchy scalp, blistering, swelling, etc.  This is very Important: if you decide to use an at-home box color, be sure to do a hair strand test and follow the manual directions.  Even though you may not have had an allergic reaction to the hair color I've been using on you, the box color you buy may have ingredients that could cause a reaction.  This is an important piece of information left out of almost every article I've read. 

Many of the articles I've read mention at-home color kits from different salons and stylist.  Because I do not want to lose my license and create any liability issues, I have made the decision not to have these available. 

Doing an internet search I found that most at-home hair color kits are out of stock.  You'll need to take this in to consideration and plan accordingly if you choose to color your own hair.So, if you’re ready to go for it, here’s the best at-home tips for dyeing your hair:

• Stick within one or two shades of your own hair: Now is not the time to be experimental (unless that’s your end goal). If your intention is to cover the gray, try to keep as close to your shade as possible
• Lighter works better than darker: If you’ve never colored your hair before, try a shade lighter before going darker.
• Wear something old: Coloring hair at home still involves serious dyes. Wear something old (and button down) if possible and protect the surfaces in your bathroom that color might drip on.
• Mix well: Now isn’t the time to be lazy about it. If you’re mixing your own color, make sure that you blend all the elements, or you’ll have patchy spots.
• Create a barrier system: Use Vaseline (or even lip balm in a pinch!) to protect the area just below your hairline so that you don’t even up with dye splotches all over your face.
• Consider doing only your roots: Experts say that maybe you should leave tricky highlights to the pros. If you’re worried about your gray, stick to covering the grays only.
• Rinse well: Love your color? Cool. Now rinse it out until the water runs clear to make sure you haven’t left color in that might continue to dye your hair (or your pillowcases).

​The article below includes helpful how-to tips on at home hair coloring.

How To Color Your Hair At Home
​And Mistakes To Avoid
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Bad DIY hair dye can take up to a year to fix. If you can't wait to fix your roots, follow these tips from hair stylists.

Worrying about your hair color may seem like a frivolous vanity during the coronavirus pandemic, but watching your roots grow back to their natural color on Zoom and FaceTime probably isn’t helping your emotional stress load.

Unless your local salon offers color-to-go kits (we’ll get to that later), your colorist is probably in complete opposition to you tampering with their hard work. Stylists are pleading with their clients on social media to step away from the boxed hair dye during self-isolation with hashtags like #showusyourroots  and  #waitforyourstylist.

“Fixing box color can be super expensive, in some cases taking six months to a year for full correction,” said Meghan Baldwin-Vasquez, a balayage master specialist and color correction expert at Karisma Salon in Smithtown, New York. While some “hairfluencers” have proclaimed wearing a hat is the only viable alternative, we thought we could offer up more practical solutions for a DIY dye job, if you insist on doing it yourself.

If you’re buying permanent dye, don’t keep it a secret from your stylist.  Ask for advice.“Don’t be afraid to ask your hairdresser for advice before buying,” said Nicole Giannini, master colorist and owner of Siren Beauty Space in the San Francisco Bay Area. “We are service professionals and making recommendations is part of our job. It will bring our clients back with more gratitude.”

Giannini and Baldwin-Vasquez both offer custom curbside at-home color kits for their clients. Giannini calls her kit the Apocalypse Color Kit and it includes the client’s custom color, developer, hairline barrier, cleansing treatment, applicator, brushes and an application tutorial video. (see my note above)

If your colorist isn’t offering color-to-go kits and you can’t be talked out of using a boxed dye, make sure you select your color very carefully. Baldwin-Vasquez said that selecting the right shade is the hardest part of doing a boxed dye. “When choosing your color, keep in mind drugstore brands are different than professional and usually run one to two shades darker than depicted on the box.”

Baldwin-Vasquez also advises against warm and golden tones for at-home root touch-ups in favor of colors that are neutral and ashy. Baldwin-Vasquez’s top drugstore choices are Clairol Root Touch-Up, which “has about 20 shades and comes with an easy-to-use kit,” and Garnier Olia Ammonia-Free Color, which is “closest to salon-grade color and is oil-based, leaving the hair feeling more hydrated.” Giannini obviously prefers her own clients use her Apocalypse Color Kit, but for everyone else she suggested the Madison Reed at-home hair-coloring kit, because it’s the “cleanest option on the consumer market.”

When you’re ready to dye, both colorists suggested only applying color to your hairline and part to avoid more opportunity for disaster. Giannini also warned to not make the common mistake of rinsing the color too soon. “Sometimes people panic when they see a funny color during oxidation and think, ‘Oh, shit! Something’s gone wrong! I have to get it off!’ but that funky color is just normal oxidation. If you rinse too soon, the dye molecules won’t have had enough time to deposit.”

The good news, according to Giannini, is that unless you’re using bleach, you can’t “overcook it.” In fact, she recommended leaving the color on up to 15 minutes longer than what the manufacturer’s directions say. Giannini also loves using Kevin Murphy Re.Store, a cleansing conditioning treatment, directly after rinsing to lock in color and soften the hair. “It restores moisture and shine while prolonging color results.” Giannini suggests using Re.Store weekly.

Looking for something a bit more temporary?

If you’re not ready to commit to a permanent situation and you’re just looking to cover up small patches of gray for an upcoming Zoom happy hour, Baldwin-Vasquez suggested brunettes can use mascara to cover the roots. For all hair colors, there are options like Color Wow Root Cover Up and Color Oribe Airbrush Root Touch-Up Spray. Pro tip: Giannini suggests using touch-up spray in the shower to avoid any potential messes.
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This helpful information is from HuffPost