Whether you're buying into the Phil Gramm 'stop whining, the recession is all in your head' theory or not, you probably wouldn't mind saving a few bucks on your beauty routine, wouldja now? And considering the fact that getting your hair colored by a pro can run anywhere between $50 to $500 depending on where you live and what you have done, it doesn't hurt to have a few budget-conscious tips up your sleeve. Because even trust fund babies can get cut off -- like, say, when daddy warbucks gets indicted for tax evasion. So there's something in this post for everyone. Yay for that. Now, let's have at it.

 

How to color your hair at home, but look like you stepped out of a salon.

I had no idea, until I started researching this topic, just how complex coloring hair is. So even if you never color your hair yourself, my goal with this post is to give you enough basic information so that you're more informed before your next salon appointment. Because let's face it, even the best stylists out there don't always do a great job. And the truth is, as I've discovered, a lot of times we customers ask for a specific color that simply doesn't complement our natural, underlying hair pigment. 

 

Because this is a long post, here's a table of contents, so you can scroll down to the areas that interest or apply to you most, or skip around:

 

1. When to see a pro

2. Color lingo lesson

3. How to pick the right color 

4. Why use a toner?

5. Testing the color 

6.  General tips

7. Video: best way to apply color yourself

8. Caring for your color

9. Fixing mistakes

10. Touch-ups

 

1) Knowing when to see a pro

Ok, so the money-is-no-object trust fund baby isn't the only typa gal who should shell out more coin on hair color. There are other reasons to skip the cheap way out, because a disastrous result could end up costing you more to fix in the end:

 

* If you want to lighten your hair more than 3 shades, I hate to break it to you. But it just ain't gonna happen with a box of hair color. You'll need to lift your natural level with bleach and then tone the hell out of it. And if you don't want it to turn a lovely shade of orange, and you don't want clumps to fall out, you must - must - go to a salon. 

 

* If you have Black hair that is relaxed, permed, or damaged in any way. That is, unless you've always wondered what you'd look like bald.

 

* If you have dark hair and want to go red. I've never personally tried this, but everything I've read while researching for this post indicates that red hair dye is very tricky and nearly impossible to achieve well, unless a very unusual shade of orange is your goal.

 

* If you have blonde hair and want to go red. The same is true for redheads trying to change the shade of red. The reason is that lighter hair lacks the necessary color molecules to grab color. So if your blonde hair is very light, you may have to go anywhere from 3 to 5 shades darker than the target shade of red you want, to achieve a rich red color. And only a stylist can know for sure. But I did come across a suggestion -- try this at your own risk, because I have not tried it on my own hair. The trick is, first apply your red color of choice using a semi-permanent color. After it's done processing and rinsed out, apply the same color, but this time use a permanent color, and leave it on for half of the processing time required in the instructions. 

 

* Highlights or Lowlights: Trust me on this one. I've been coloring and highlighting my hair since I was 12 years old, and it is completely impossible to do on my own, what my stylist does for me. For example: 

I'm a natural level 5/G and my highlights are bleached down to a level 10/N, foiled in, with 20 volume on the sides and 30 volume on the crown. I get heavy, vertical weaves on top to a get a chunky look. And medium, horizontal weaves in the back. And thin slices every few foils, to break up the uniformity in all the weaves. For my lowlights, I get a 5/N painted in between the foils. After the color processes and is rinsed off, it's finished off with a 9/N demi toner. 

Um, yea. See what I mean? I could never, ever in my wildest fantasy do this using an at-home color. If you normally get highlights or lowlights and you've never asked your stylist for your color formula like I have, you might be surprised to find out what it takes to get your hair to look great. 

 

 

2) Color Lingo Lesson

Temporary

Color that is deposited only to the outside of the hair shaft, and lasts from one shampoo to the next.  

 

Semi-permanent

Lasts anywhere from 4 to 6 weeks or 6 to 12 shampoos. It deposits color, masking natural hair color, and doesn't contain any ammonia or peroxide, so it will only darken, and not lighten, hair. The most effective product to use for toning hair is a semi-permanent hair color. They contain a nearly non-existent volume of peroxide (between 5 and 8 percent), so they're considered deposit-only hair color products.

 

Demi-permanent

Lasts 24 to 26 shampoos and don't contain any ammonia, but they do contain a small amount of peroxide, so it can cause permanent lightening.

 

Permanent

These colors penetrate the inner core of the hair strand to permanently change the natural color using ammonia and peroxide. They tend to lighten hair color, even if the shade chosen is a dark level. Permanent color won't wash off. 

It's interesting to note that at-home color solutions are 32% ammonia, whereas the color professional stylists use can range between 3-5% ammonia. Ammonia is very drying, so this is an important consideration if your hair is damaged.

 

Natural

Lasts 30 to 35 days, but can take months to completely wear away from the hair shaft. Natural hair dyes are made of plants like henna (and walnuts for a brown tint), combined with a low percentage of peroxide and ammonia. They are considered more of a hair stain than a dye, but they are also very drying to hair.

 

Highlights

Getting your hair "highlighted" is just a less offensive way of insinuating that you're a bleach blonde. It's a chemical process, generally using bleach, to lighten small or chunky strands of hair several shades lighter than your base color. I get my hair bleached -- I mean, highlighted -- at Aveda, and they refuse to even call the substance "bleach." At Aveda, it's called "enlightener" even though box says "bleach." But highlights aren't limited to the bleach blonde variety. You can get in virtually any color including red, burgundy, auburn, or light brown. If the color is lighter than the rest of your hair, it's a highlight. Lasts about 2 to 3 months.

 

Lowlights

The opposite of highlights, lowlights use a chemical process to darken small or chunky strands of hair, several shades darker than your base color. Because our hair in its natural state has subtle shades of color, lowlights are a great way to add depth, texture and a more natural look to hair that has been colored (hint, hint Paris Hilton, Heidi Montag and Pam Anderson, this means you). Lasts about 2 to 3 months.

 

Single process

A permanent or semi-permanent single color that creates a one-dimensional tone, so essentially your whole head will be the one solid color.

 

Double process

A single process color plus highlights or lowlights to add a multi-dimensional tone.

 

Developer

This is, essentially, hydrogen peroxide and it creates the chemical reaction when added to the color solution, which allows it to oxidize the color of your hair.

 

Oxidation

The reaction color has with the developer/hydrogen peroxide. After the developer is added to the color, it begins to oxidize, or lose an oxygen molecule. This process creates heat in and on the hair shaft, which expands the cuticle layer allowing the color to penetrate it and alter your natural hair color. 

 

Level

Level is the unit of measurement used to identify the lightness or darkness of a color, arranged on a scale of 1 to 12, with 1 being the darkest and 12 being the lightest. And there are 4 shades within each level of color.

 

Deposit

The ability of dye to add color pigment to hair. Before any color can be deposited into the hair shaft, the cuticle (or outer layer), needs to open up. Once it's opened, the dye is able to react with the cortex (or middle layer, where the color exists) to add color. 

 

Lift

The ability of a product to lighten hair. Before any color can be lifted from the hair shaft, the cuticle (or outer layer), needs to open up. Once it's opened, the color or bleach is able to react with the cortex (or middle layer, where the color exists) to remove and change color. 

 

Toner

It's a color deposit that you apply after coloring or bleaching to neutralize or eliminate brassy, unwanted tones. Essentially, it's just a way to say you're using hair color to change an unwanted tone. Toners are generally semi permanent or demi-permanent hair color. 

 

 

 

3) How to pick the right color for you

Know your skin tone

Cool: 

* If you have fair skin, a rosy or pink complexion, and the veins in your wrist are blue, you probably have a cool skin tone.

 

* Hair colors to try: Blacks, ash browns, and blonde shades, including platinum, work best on cool skin tones.

 

* Hair colors to skip: Yellow, gold, bronze and red tones like auburn, or copper. These shades will give make your skin look sallow.

 

* Home hair colors that say "ash" indicate a cool tone.

 

Warm 

*  If you have golden, olive, or beige skin, an ivory or peachy complexion, and the veins in your wrist are green, you probably have a warm skin tone. 

 

*  Hair colors to try: Deep rich browns, red hair colors from auburn to golden blonde, or gold highlights work very well for warm skin tones.

 

*  Hair colors to skip: Trendy or alternative colors like blue, violet, or jet black, unless you going for an edgy or goth look. Otherwise, these colors will make you look washed out. 

 

* Home hair colors that say "golden" indicate a warm tone.

 

 

Check the box on the hair color for these letters. They indicate the tone that the hair dye will create:  

A=Ash (cool)

B=Blue (cool)

G=Gold (warm)

R=Red (warm)

RO=Red Orange (warm)

RV=Red Violet (cool to neutral)

V=Violet (cool)

N=Neutral

 

 

Color Basics

** Caveat: I am not an expert on color basics. This is based on my own personal research. So if any readers see an error, I welcome your corrections. **

 

 

The Law of Color & the Color Wheel

 

You may have believed your natural, underlying hair color is say, brown. Or light brown, even. Rookie! Actually, our hair is much more complex than that. And boring as it may sound, being wise to this info is absolutely key in helping you pick a new color that looks fabulous and not fatal. Remember this as you read the details on color basics below: Your hair may not turn out the same as the color on the box because your final hair color is the result of your underlying color + the color in the bottle. So when you look at hair color swatches, knowing your underlying natural color will help you weed out hair dyes that could have disastrous results on your locks -- -- and this is what hair stylists study in beauty school before they can even work on a customer.

 

 

        This is known as the color wheel - it's the law of color basics

 

Our hair is broken up into primary and secondary colors, and when we add an artificial color we also have tertiary colors:

 

Primary colors are pure colors that will not be achieved mixing colors together. Your hair's 3 primary colors are:

Yellow -- is warm and the lightest of the primary colors. When you add yellow to other colors, the resulting color is lighter and brighter.

 

Red -- is warm and the medium primary color. Red added to blue-based colors will make them to look lighter. Red added to yellow colors will cause them to become darker.

 

Blue -- which is the darkest of the primary colors, is also the only cool primary color. Blue also brings depth or darkness to any color it is added to.

 

Secondary colors: Your hair's 3 secondary colors are created by combining 2 primary colors and result in:

Orange (yellow + red)

 

Green (yellow + blue)  

 

Violet (red + blue)

 

Tertiary colors: When you color your hair you're creating a tertiary color. Essentially, you're mixing a primary color with a secondary color and getting a tertiary color. And here's the key to understanding the color wheel above: to find a hair color that will complement you (using the tone keys in the skin tone discussion above), look at the color directly across from it on the wheel to know what tones will neutralize or negate any unwanted color.

 

 

Color Levels

Hair stylists use the level system to analyze the lightness or darkness of a hair color. Hair color levels are arranged on a scale of 1 to 10 or 12, with 1 being the darkest and 10 or 12 being the lightest. 

 

 

The rule of thumb is never attempt an at-home color if you want to go lighter than 3 levels from the base color, whether the base color is natural or color treated. So here are the suggestions for at-home coloring:

Base level          Suggested at-home color level

1 BLACK         LEVEL 2-4

2 BROWN/BLACK LEVEL 3-5

3 DARKEST BROWN         LEVEL 4-5

4 DARK BROWN         LEVEL 5-6

5 MEDIUM BROWN LEVEL 6

6 LIGHT BROWN         LEVEL 7-9

7 DARK BLONDE LEVEL 8-9 OR HIGHER

8 MEDIUM BLONDE LEVEL 9-10 OR LOWLIGHTS

9 LIGHT BLONDE LOWLIGHTS

10 V. LT. BLONDE LOWLIGHTS

 

4) Why use a toner?

If you've ever seen what your hair looks like right after the stylist removes the foils from your hair -- blonde highlights or otherwise -- you understand very clearly why toning is a must. That's because anytime you add blonde highlights to hair that isn't naturally blonde, or when you change the color of darker hair 3 or more levels lighter than your natural color, it's more likely than not that you'll end up with an unflattering shade. Toning corrects that problem and helps give you a more natural looking color. 

 

Toner is generally not found on drug store shelves, so your best bet is to go to a beauty supply store.

 

5) Take the color for a test drive - just to be safe 

Allergy test

Mix 2 drops of color with 2 drops of developer and smear it on the inside of your elbow (an extremely sensitive area of your skin) and let it stand for 20 minutes. If you don't develop a rash or have any other allergic reaction, then it's safe to use.

 

Elasticity test

Hair elasticity is your hair's ability to stretch and return to its original length without breaking. This test is very important if you color, highlight, straighten, or perm regularly. Test elasticity on wet hair by taking an individual strand from the front hairline, temple, crown, and the nape of your neck. Grab a single strand of wet hair tightly and pull it taut. Then release it. If the hair breaks easily or doesn't snap back to its original length then it has low elasticity, and your hair is probably too damaged to color. You could end up with fried hair, or worse, hair that falls out. But if the hair bounces back, it's probably healthy enough to color.

 

Strand test

Test the color on a small section of your hair to make sure you picked a color you'll be happy with. Mix 2 drops of color with 2 drops of developer. Cut a small amount of hair and tape it together at one end. Dip the hair into the dye and let it stand for the development time required on the box. Rinse out the dye in cool water. If you're happy with the results, you're ready for show time.

 

 

6) Super, duper awesome video on the best way to apply color to your own hair:

 

7) General tips

* Whether you're going lighter or darker, stay within 2 shades of your natural color.

 

* Deep condition hair a few days before coloring — healthy hair with it natural oils absorbs color best.

 

* Apply Vaseline around your hair line to prevent stains on your skin.  

 

* Most hair colors begin to process immediately after you mix the color and developer — even if you haven't applied it to your hair yet. And automatically stop processing after a specific amount of time (generally up to the amount of time the instructions say to leave the color on). Don't mix the color until you're ready to apply it immediately after mixing.

 

* Different products have different application requirements, so check the instructions to determine whether you should apply color to wet or dry hair.

 

* If you're using henna, beware that they are very temperature-sensitive. So your hair may turn out a different color depending on whether you color on a warm or cold day.

 

* Your hair is naturally darkest at the crown and nape of your neck, so apply color to these areas first. That gives the color in these areas more time to process than the rest of your hair, and can help achieve an even color.

 

* Heat helps open up the hair's cuticle, allowing more color to enter. So, after applying color to hair, throw an old towel in the dryer and heat it up for a few minutes. Wrap the warm towel around your head while the color is processing.

 

* Wait 24 to 48 hours before you shampoo newly colored hair. The chemicals in hair color will strip out any residue or dirt when you rinse the color out, so condition, but don't shampoo hair right after you color to keep it from turning your new color dull. 

 

* After your color, don't wrap wet hair in a towel — the friction from the dry towel can damage, even break hair.

 

* Heating tools, like a hair dryer, can also dull freshly colored hair, or even lighten a darker shade. So let hair air dry after you rinse the color out.

 

* Over-processing will dry out your hair and make the color look dull.

 

* Use a kitchen timer to prevent over-processing.

 

* If you have very thick hair or very long hair, you may need 2 boxes of hair color to cover your entire head. Buy an extra box just to be safe.

 

* If the texture of your hair is fine, it can get damaged easily because fine hair strands have fewer cuticle layers, so the chemicals in color penetrate hair faster. You may want to take that into consideration if you're deciding between a permanent, demi or semi-permanent color. And fine hair processes faster, so the dye may not need to stand on your hair as long to achieve the desired results. 

 

* If the texture of your hair is coarse, you have more cuticle layers, so your hair is more resistant to color. It also means that you may have a tough time changing the color of your hair to your preference. But on the upside, the extra cuticle layers are additional padding and protection, so your hair may not damage as easily. 

 

* If you're concerned about exposing your body to dyes because of the risk of cancer, opt for a natural hair dye. Or do what I do: take milk thistle for the 2 days leading up to your hair appointment, the day of your hair appointment, and for 2 days following. Milk thistle is considered a natural liver cleanse, and there's a lot of literature out there suggesting its ability to cleanse the liver rivals, or even superior to, its pharmaceutical counterparts. Don't mean to get all preachy, but I thought it was important to point out.

 

 

8) Caring for your color

* Shampoo and condition with products designed for color treated hair.

 

* Use a conditioner that contains a sunscreen to keep new color from fading.

 

* Wear a hat when you know you'll be in the sun for an extended period of time.

 

* Rinse hair thoroughly in cool water after swimming to remove salt water or chlorine, which can damage color.

 

 

9) Need to correct a mistake?

If you do a strand test like I suggested above, you'll be able to avert a real disaster. So all of this "color mistake" talk is moot, right? If not, here are a few things you can try on your own to fix color mistakes:

 

* Remember the "color wheel" above? Use it to determine what will tone out unwanted results. And remember the key to understanding the color wheel: Find the color that you want to get rid of. The color directly across from it on the wheel will neutralize or negate the unwanted color. For instance:  

- Brunettes attempting to go blonde, but the result are orange: correct it with a toner that has blue, blue-green, or blue-violet.

- Blondes trying to go brown, but look very ash or green: correct it with a toner that has red, red-violet, or red-orange.

- Blondes trying to go blonder, but look like a yellow crayon: correct it with a violet toner.

 

* Most permanent and semi-permanent hair colors have a 48 - 72 hour window before the color completely locks into the cuticle, so you can try an at-home color remover like Color Oops, which lifts the dye from your hair. A word of caution though, this is pretty powerful stuff. I wouldn't recommend it if your hair isn't in great condition to begin with. It may be time to see a professional to correct the color. 

 

* If you used a semi-permanent color, the dye will wash out faster if your shampoo is made with ammonium lauryl sulfate. 

 

* Try heating extra virgin olive oil and coating hair with it for 20 minutes. The oil will help strip the color.

 

* If you have a henna dye disaster, fill a water bottle spray with rubbing alcohol and spray your hair with it until the color comes off. 

 

* If you are going lighter and your hair didn't turn out as light as you wanted it to, try mixing equal parts hair dye and shampoo. Lather it up and leave it on for 5 minutes, then rinse it out.

 

 

10) Touch-ups

* Never apply permanent color to all of your hair each time you color — that will damage your hair, making it porous. Porous hair tends to grab more color than necessary, so your color will look uneven.

 

* Apply color only to re-growth on the roots to avoid over-processing the rest of your hair.

 

* To freshen up color on the rest of your hair, splash water on your roots during the last 3 minutes of processing, and then comb color through the rest of your hair. The water dilutes the dye, and helps add a natural hue to parts of your hair without re-growth.

 

* If you're only opting for a root touch-up, use a silicone-based gloss on the rest of your hair to intensify fading color.

 

I hope this was helpful information to you. If you plan to do a DIY color job, good luck!