how do you deal with roots when you home dye?

[HauntedLittleLunatic]

I have only just started home dying, using the treseme foam (i think).

How do I deal with root re-growth? There are some instructions for roots which basically involve application to roots leave it and then basically do whole head for a shorter time. Is this the right way? Is it necessary to cover whole head for small area?

I don't use foam, I use normal liquid dye but I am very particular about not running it through every time.

I apply the dye to my roots with a foundation brush (I know that's weird) for a very precise application

I can make 1 box last 4 root touch ups.

I only mix what I need, because Clairol, which I use, is equal parts...

how long do you leave it on for Tatty? I usually use the root touch up kit but like the idea of using my actual colour and just mixing up a little. But the root touch up only takes 10 minutes, whereas a full dye takes 30.

I leave it on for 30 minutes because I am grey as a grey thing

me too :( grey and resistant lol

Thanks.

Wouldn't really be able to make up part of a bottle with teh foam as you have to do it in the bottle supplied with the stuff in.

I have seen some root touch up kits which say on them "also compatible with this shade from brand x etc." would these be worth a try? How close is the colour match likely to be (given that original colour has also faded a bit?)

Would I bebetter to move to a liquid colourant so I can do root touch ups as you describe? How easy are they to use?

Not at all. I just assumed that it was kinder on the hair not tovrepeat a process which was not necessary for the .majority of the hair shaft...happy to stand corrected tho.

No, you're right Haunted, it's better to do touch ups when your roots start to show. If you keep on dying the whole head of hair eevry few weeks you will get a a build up of colour at the ends & it starts to look really dark.

I used to use those Clairol Root Touch Up things but I found them a bit dark. I am now using the regular Clariol dye & mixing a little bit each time as tatty suggests. It's a much cheaper way of touching up.

I got a dye brush with a rat-tail end from the chemists which makes it easier to section out the hair to get at the roots. It takes a bit of practise and I'm cack-handed but I'm starting to get the hang of it now. I'm still trying to figure out how often to just do the roots & how often to pull the dye right through to the ends but overall I'm really happy with how it's working out. I have quite a bit of colour build up at the ends from my previous misguided home dying attempts but I feel like I'm finally making home dye work now.

I can recommend reading all hair dye threads that tatty has commented on - you will learn loads

I just redo whole head colour, am far too cack-handed to manage to only do roots. But hair very dark and cropped fairly short anyway, so build up of colour perhaps not such an issue.

im being really dense but when i buy nice n easy home dye it states that once opened you have to throw away whats left. Can someone tell me how you make it last

I use 'root touch up' about a fiver from Superdrug

or if I cant be arsed, hair mascara in the right shade

That's the issue really, is colour build up and overprocessing. The main difference between home dyes and going to a salon is a salon will generally ensure you don't get colour build up so that if you want some highlights in the summer or a colour change, its not some major big drama to achieve. This is less of an issue of course on the lighter colours but if you are a mid brown or darker, you can end up almost black and its very difficult to remove if you change your mind, even using colour b4 or bleach.

Its a bonus extra that it happens to be cheaper - at about £6 its hardly expensive to dye your hair anyway but when you consider if you are just doing your roots with a brush that you can do it for £1.50 a go, because that bottle of dye lasts 4 root jobs, that's even better. But its not that that motivates me, I just don't want colour build up.

I would switch to a liquid dye if I were you OP. One of the reasons I don't like foam is that it encourages you to do the whole lot each time and I can't quite get how you do an accurate root touch up with just foam.

I am cack handed enough but to be honest if you mix the dye in a little bowl (which you have to do if you are only using 1/4 of a box) and use a foundation brush or even a tinting brush to paint it on, sectioning off your hair and working methodically through, its not as hard as you would think.

chipstick - its only when its mixed that you can't keep it, just take a quarter from each bottle and whats left will be fine.

Thanks muchly totallylost

have just tried it myself for the first time. Twenty more minutes and we will see if it worked.

I have been using semi-permanent dye. By the time the roots are showing the colour has faded and then I redye all my hair. Is it wrong to do this?

Didn't know you could keep any unused product- thought you had to throw it away. Thanks for the tip! Next time I will try retouching!

I find the root touch up kits fine and have always been happy enough with the match but my (non grey) hair is pretty dark anyway. Good idea about using 1/4 of a normal pack. Very money saving Will do that next time.

Its not wrong if you have colour fade Bleurgh - the whole idea of not is not to get build up really so if you are fading that's unlikely to be a huge problem. This can also depend on your shade.

Just to be clear to everyone, you cannot keep mixed product, but you can choose to mix only half the bottle or one quarter of the bottle as it is equal parts of each to mix together, generally speaking, though do check depending what brand you use

gah - just go to the hairdresser

I thought this thread was called how do you deal with the riots while dying your hair?

Thank you for the tips - this thread is v helpful to me.

I can confirm that always dying all your hair and not just touching up the roots is a bad idea

Am now pretty grey so have been using permanent dye and much more often than before when I used semi. My ends are sadly now straw like and MUCH MUCh darker than my roots, so I now have knackered three tone hair - grey roots, ok mid section and v dark ends. Not a good look so think I may actually have to go to a professional for a £££ cut and colour to sort it out before heeding the advice here!
Thanks

Thanks Tatty. I willl heed your warning about mixing hair dyes! Very helpful thread!

How do you do the back though? I can do the front roots ok by sectioning it but not the back - makes for a worrying time if its windy

So do you have to do roots all over.

I was only going to do the more visible areas at the top and sides, and maybe at the nape of the neck wear it can be seen if I have my hair up.

Maybe I will just redo whole head this time...don't want to mess up when I am hoping to impress a certain man in a couple of weeks...