Home Hair Color ?? for those that are 50%+ gray

[RhondaM.]

I've never colored my own hair before, I've been going to salons to have it done.

 

Before I turned gray (I'm more than 50% gray) I had dark brown hair.

 

Right now my hair is a medium golden brown. I have old highlights. I need root touch up BAD!

 

I bought some Nice n Easy Natural Medium Golden Brown and now I am scared to use it! :tongue_smilie:

 

I don't know if the color will be close enough to my other hair color to just do the roots.

 

It says for really color resistant hair I can leave it on for up to 45 minutes!!! That long?? That won't burn my hair?? Do I leave it on just the roots for 45 minutes...or all of it?

 

I don't know anyone else with as much gray as me that colors their hair themselves.

 

Can anyone help me?

 

RhondaM.

[redsquirrel]

Do a test strip if you don't know what colour it will be.

 

Hair colouring is easy peasy. There have been big improvements in the last 15 years or so with home kits.

 

Make sure to use shampoo for coloured hair or it will fade like crazy. Stay out of chlorine water as well.

 

Google a bit for hair colour at home. It's really not a big deal. No, 45 mins won't fry your hair. Not at all.

 

If you are nervous maybe start with a semi-permanent or a demi-perm hair colour? I am not sure if that works for 50% grey...it might. Again, google is your friend. There is SO MUCH information out there on hair dying at home.

[~Jo]

Well I don't color my hair myself, my dd does it at home (but she is a cosmetologist - I just can't afford to go where she works, LOL.) We use box color because that is the only one that isn't resistant to my gray. We use Revlon Colorsilk. We only color my roots - and then add highlights as needed - but we've been using this color for a long time, so we know it will not cause a line for me. I'm also at least 50% gray, if not more.

 

I would do a test strip like the PP recommended - somewhere not very noticeable. Do you have a friend that can help you out - doing just the roots and the back of your head can be a bit tricky.

 

One other thing we do when we are not going to add any highlights is to let the color sit on my roots for about 20 minutes and then the last 10-15 minutes she pulls little strips of the color down through hair to blend it into the rest - like backwards highlights. It really helps it to blend well.

 

Also I have noticed with my hair that the darker color on my highlights does not last very long and after several washings the highlights start to show through - so if you did all over color your highlights may start to come through again. It also does this with my sister's hair.

 

Another thing - if you are taking any medication you have to be careful. My sister takes medicine for seizures and this last time her hair turned DARK brown, almost black. It doesn't happen all the time. It actually looks pretty good...but something to keep in mind.

[Mejane]

Grays will color lighter like highlights. Be careful of buying anything red or golden if your hair naturally pulls those colors. I have dark brown hair with auburn highlights and if I put any red on my hair, it gets fiery; I'm talkin' hot. :D So I use only the neutrals.

[MamaT]

I have been coloring my own hair for a long time, and I'm way more than 50% gray at this point. I have never just done the roots, though. I color it all about every 6 weeks. The best tip I could give you is to go one or two shades LIGHTER than your natural color. The color always turns out darker than the box shows. You can do it!

[redsquirrel]

See, now I don't think it is hard to put on my roots etc at all. It does make it hard if the dye is very thin or runny. I create my own 'recipe' from hair stuff at Sally's and it is always nice and thick. I'm not totally certain about box kits.

 

I start with the part and then around my face and then behind my ears and along the nape of my neck. Neatness isn't a big deal. Just run the applicator around your hairline squeezing out dye and use your gloved hands to sort of scrub it into your hair at the root level. Then move to the rest of your head, squeezing the dye out along the scalp and using your hands to rub it in. There is no need to use a comb to make those nice straight lines. In the end, all your scalp should be well covered. I used to get it done in a salon, many, many years ago, and she would spend all this time making these nice straight parts and brushing on the dye. When she was done she would rub my scalp, like she was washing my hair, to make sure the dye was well distributed all over my roots. It made me realize there is no reason to be so darn careful with the dye.

 

One good thing about doing it this way is that you can overlap the new dye a bit over the old dye. It blends it in so there is no harsh line if the colours aren't exact. It also makes it really hard to miss a spot. If you are running your fingers all over your scalp, in a hair washing manner, then you are much more likely to hit everything. I do have my DH pop in to give a once over to make sure I didn't miss a spot. He is much more likely to find a spot either behind my ear or along the neck than on the back of my head.

 

Now, I would only use this method with a single process. If you were using a bleach first before colouring then you would need to be much more careful. I have also tried 'reverse highlights' and it has been great. Garnier made a product called 'colourbreaks' for highlighting coloured hair and I tried it a couple times. It wasn't that impressive.

 

have fun! Once you get used to doing it yourself, you will never go back to paying so darn much. It does feel good to be pampered and have someone else deal with the clean up though, lol.