Home Hair Coloring: Tips on How to Reduce Your Anxiety and Increase Your Confidence

We take pride on being self-sufficient. In fact, as parents we encourage our children to be independent from a very early age.

Do-It-Yourself (DIY) projects are increasingly becoming  more and more like a staple for cautious spending.

As a colorist, I do not condemn the use of store bought color. I believe people have needs and sometimes their resources cannot fully meet them. Another driving force to an increase in DIY home coloring, is today's economy and the Covid-19 Pandemic. Many men and women are finding very difficult to see their stylists on a regular basis, so they take the DIY challenge to save money and time.

However, with any undertaken challenge comes a mixture of emotions. Going to a drug store to choose the perfect hair color shade can be a very daunting experience.

The biggest obstacle for women (and men) is choosing the right shade. Manufacturers do a fantastic campaign job ( with high profile models and actresses) to allure consumers to believe that home hair coloring is as easy as the ABC's. But, most of the the time it isn't.

Sure, these companies do all they can to accommodate their consumers, after all it is in their best interest. They carefully prepare kits containing color, peroxide, gloves, post color shampoo/conditioner and instructions.  Perfect, right! Perhaps. Yet, without expert knowledge, home hair coloring can lead to major disaster.  To avoid mishaps and costly trips to a beauty salon to correct your color, I share with you the following recommendations:

• Be frank with your colorist and discuss other options about low maintenance color. Your colorist is the perfect person to calm your anxiety and meet all your color needs. I offer T-Zones and W Zones (zones that show off your parts) to clients who express their needs to lower their color expenses.

• For predictable results, do not lighten your natural color more than two shades. Any lighter and you'll expose your underlying pigment, ranging from red orange to orange yellow. If the goal is to go lighter than two shades, have your colorist do it for you. It will be more cost effective as corretive color can be a very pricey service.

• For better saturation and control, divide the hair into four quadrants (from hairline to nape and from ear to ear) and color each section one subsection at a time.

• Cool colors control warmth but do not offer 100% grey coverage. To cover grey 100%, select colors that have a natural or warm base.

• Tone on tone colors are the safest to perform at home. They do not show underlying pigment, they can easily cover grey and the hair integrity is less compromised.

• When applying color to mid-lengths and ends, opt for a demi-permanent hair color. They are ammonia free and more gentle on the hair.

• If you are going darker, use a demi-permanent. They are perfect for deposit only.

• If your grey is less than 30% a demi-permanent hair color will suffice.

• Do not attempt to do highlights, leave it to the pros. Bleach is a powerful lightening agent and when used carelessly, it can create irreversible damage on your hair.

• To reduce the big mess that will probably result from a DIY, invite a friend to do it for you.

•  Don't forget to protect your hairline with a stain protecting cream. The stain could be very stubborn to remove.

• When in doubt call the manufacturer. They are there to help.

Maria Arias :)

Owner and Colorist 

Nolan Vincent Salon Studio

www.nolanvincentsalon.com

954-616-8817

Photo Credit: smartstyleguide.com