To ask how to do my roots

[fortunatelynot]

Minor problem but I I look like a skunk. Have not coloured own hair for 20 years and normally visit hairdresser who uses foils and puts blonde and brown through to overall give a blonde look. I obviously cannot visit my hairdresser at the moment but I feel a mess and want to perk it up until I can. Naturally I am mousy.

Last time I DID do my own hair I used a dark blonde but it came out with a dark green tinge although this was many years ago.

I have very little bleach in my hair as my hairdresser uses tint.

Tell me a simple way to do my roots - seriously - without it turning my whole head a funny colour.

A word to the wise: go for cool brown shades rather than anything "warm" as the latter can give you an orange tint.

I have been completely unable to find any dye at all for weeks but I went into our shit co-op the other day and although they had no milk or bread they did have a couple of ancient boxes of nutrisse that someone had obviously found at the back of the stockroom now it's presumably empty and it was like winning the lottery. I am going to do a few patch tests first!

I am an educated person yet it sounds so complicated! So basically dark blonde is the best shade?

Your hair op I wouldn't touch at all if your hairdresser has lightened it. Sorry if that wasn't clear. I was talking more generally to others who use dark colours.

Oh god, I hope hairdressers reopen soon. I’m going to either look like a badger if I don’t have a go at doing it myself, or Donald Trump if I do it myself and it goes wrong.

Your hairdresser probably uses a "base" colour as well as the highlights - I doubt that she highlights every single strand of your hair.

If she does ask her what it is and where you can buy it from.

My hairdresser highlights mine in L'oreal Majirel 8 and the base colour is 7. I buy tubes of 7 from her and do the roots in between - I am really really really careful to only do the amount of hair that has grown out - i.e don't dye over dye.

Your hairdresser might be happy to advise you or even sell it to you - you could offer to pay her for her time and effort - after all she's going to want to have you back when this is over.

Google colour wow. Mineral makeup for roots which just washes out

@Isolatinginthekitchen if you put brown over your blonde, it will go khaki. You have to re-pigment the hair shaft when going back to dark, before applying brown tint.

@fortunatelynot what hair dye does your salon use? Do you know what peroxide strength too?

Santa's linked to a very good youtube tutorial - that's basically how I do mine. The back sections are always a bit tricky as I have long hair - if you can enlist support for this bit it helps).
My FIL was a hairdresser and he also recommended adding a bit of water 10 minutes before the wait time is up and massaging the colour up to the tips to integrate it seamlessly with your current colour (esp. if you are using a new shade/brand of colour).

He also taught me to apply to the roots, but then every few (random) sections, apply the colour to the tips to add some depth and variation - but you may want to leave that for the first time!

I'm a mousy brown and like the posters above use a 'dark ash blonde' or 'dark natural blonde' as anything marked as 'brown' is just too dark.

Its a bit worrying the first time you do it but its actually really easy and often people are surprised when I tell them I do my own.

Don't do it. When you finally get to go back to the hairdresser you'll be glad you didn't. Tint won't lift tint, so if you go too dark, your hairdresser will need to use bleach to fix it. You don't want that. Be patient. Ride it out with headbands, scarves, sprays and powders if you can get them. But do not dye it. You might have enough regrowth to do a whole new look, or you might want exactly what you had. Don't end up with a crop you didn't want or banding you have to grow out because you couldn't wait.

I think I will keep searching for the Loreal root treatment. There are too many warnings from you all to consider doing it!

I’d message your hairdresser and ask her for professional advice as to products you could buy online and mix.

I did this before when my hairdresser selfishly went on holiday (that’s a joke before everyone jumps on me) before a big event I had. She texted me the mixture, I applied and it was fine

I'm not going to touch my hair.

I've spent £££ having it done and I'm not risking it.

So it looks shit for a while. I'm not going anywhere or seeing anyone so I'm just going to wait it out.

It’s really easy to our hair at home. 6% peroxide, L’Oréal majerel or other brand, mix per instructions off you go. Easy
I have my hair coloured at the salon but in between always do roots ( sometimes full head) at home.

It just makes me feel so depressed, I can’t leave roots

@fortunatelynot you can get the touch up spray I mentioned from supermarkets, boots and Superdrug which are all still open. It’s the most common one on the market

if you put brown over your blonde, it will go khaki. You have to re-pigment the hair shaft when going back to dark, before applying brown tint.

Oh no, really? I have dark brown hair with blonde balayage and my hairdresser told me that I could put an all over box dye on it and it would be fine as long as it was a dark brown shade. I was planning on going back to dark brown anyway so not bothered about losing the blonde but don't want it to go khaki Not sure what to do now.

Mine is similar @tootiredtoconga! I was told if I went for a copper colour it would come out okay (by my hair dresser!) now I'm worried 😂

@Santaclauswhosthat

have you got any cool brown shades you'd recommend? Everything seems to have 'Warmth' in it for which read hint of ginger.

@tootiredtoconga @Isolatinginthekitchen
Just do your roots and drag it down into the mid sections for the last 10-15 mins but leave the blonde alone for now. I’m growing out a baylage and doing my roots with the L’Oréal Inoa my hairdresser uses but you’ll be fine with a box dye for that, maybe go a shade lighter than you think though, my base is naturally a 4 so I’m using a 5.

Best thing I ever did was go and get my hair done the day before baby arrived (I was induced, so knew the date). Should have done a similar thing before all the hairdressers shut. I hate these roots! I've been going blonde via highlights for about 3 years so it looks awful right now.

I've also got mousy natural hair

Right - I did it and it came out..............really well!!

I spoke to my hairdresser to get my base colour number and then watched a few you tube 'root' tutorials. I will share what I did in case it helps anyone else. Please note I am a complete novice so if I can do this, anyone can!

1. Find out your base colour from your hairdresser. I text mine and she told me exactly what to get (it was a nutrisse colour).
2. I mixed it in a plastic bowl and found a (new) small narrow paint brush. I used this to put it on my roots rather than mixing it in the squirty bottle they provide which has a crappy little nozzle.
3. I parted my hair down the middle and painted it on then gradually took very small sections from each side and painted the roots. I made sure I did the crown and even managed to do my roots at the back but it was more trial and error and feeling where the parting was.
4. I didn't comb it through the rest of my hair. It says that you can when doing your roots on the pack but I normally have several colours put through my hair using foils and I didn't want to just coat them in colour.

Good luck if anyone else tries it!!