Being blonde cheaply

[ClockWatchingLady]

I've had to stop getting my hair highlighted because I can't afford it. Can I go blonde myself without it taking forever or looking ridiculous?
My hair's a light brown (mouse?)/dark blonde naturally. It's straight, thick and in a bob.
Is Sun-in (does it even exist any more??) and such-like as bad as they say?

Sorry for stupidly naïve question!

Many thanks for reading.

I never think home dyed blonde hair looks good. Gets very blocky and brassy.

Your best bet for going blonde on the cheap is to find a recommendation for a hairdresser who comes to your house, their prices are always much lower than a salon's.

I'd have to agree with squoosh. Unfortunately in most cases being blonde cheaply means looking cheap blonde.

Do you have a college near you? My local college is always looking for people to go along and let the trainees loose on them . I've had a few hair-dos there (although admittedly not blonde highlights) and they've been as good as a salon - the tutors are watching the trainees like hawks. I once had coppery lowlights and a cut and blow for £15.

Apparently (according to other MN recommendations) eSalon is brilliant - I plan to try it next time I have to dye my hair.

I always dye my hair at home - I have so much grey that I now have to have a full head of colour plus highlights, which takes hours and costs a fortune, even with an at home salon. Our local college is only open for a few hours a week, which doesn't fit in with work sadly. I now just stick an ash blonde on and use silver shampoo - it doesn't look brassy (I hope!)

Thank you all. Perhaps I need to learn to accept the mouse look, although I'll definitely give the eSalon a go, and will check out local colleges (brilliant ideas - thank you).

I used to dye my hair blonde myself and agree with squoosh - also you get a build up of colours and can end up going very brassy. I have found someone locally who does hair at home - she only charges £38 for cut and highlights and she is the best hairdresser I've ever had. Would definitely recommend looking round where you live for mobile ones or ones who do it from home as will be much cheaper than a salon!

It is worth buying a professional dye such as Majirel and using 30vol cream peroxide to lift the hair enough. You use one 50ml tube to 75ml of cream peroxide ( the Jerome Russell ones come already in this measure) and mix it in a tinting bowl and use a tinting brush. It is incredibly thick so doesn't drip everywhere.

If you stick to .1 or .2 it adds ash tones to the dye ( so 9.2 for example would be an ash light blonde) and will tone down the brass. Use Touch of Silver shampoo once a week to keep it cool toned ( this costs about £2.50). You should get a good level of lift this way.

When you come to do your roots you just mix up what you need on a 1:1.5 ratio so it goes much further.

Milminge - that sounds v complicated to my small brain! If I wanted a light ash blonde for hair which mousey brown/75% grey what would I buy from the Majirel website?

Groupon often have hairdresser specials. My last highlights, cut and blow dry cost £29.

Wow, milminge, that sounds like seriously specialist knowledge. Thank you.

Thank you again to all - am looking into options.

It'd better be true about all that fun I'm due once I go blonde again.

My hair is mousey with a bit of grey and I due mine at home to a dark blonde. It looks not as good as the fabulously expensive highlights I had in my twenties which I can no longer afford, but a lot better than most of the highlights I see on women who have theirs done professionally on darker hair. I think that if you do it at home, you need to keep it close to your original colour. FWIW, Sun-in looks ok on my hair, too. I went for a hair cut once a at a very good salon and the salon director complemented my stylist on the highlights she had given me, which were actually Sun-in.

Molly - which brand do you use? And how do you apply the Sun In?

I used Sun-in for years and thought I looked good. Now I look at myself in photos and think OMG. Just saying

Sun in will leave your hair in disgusting condition! I'd really recommend going to a hairdressers, some offer a discount for the first time you get a colour?

I'm not sure how good it would look on a bob, but I had Ombreage (google it!) done by my hairdresser. You don't need to have it re-done (well, not for a year or so) as it's not done near your roots... it just grows out gradually and naturally, but it just really lightens up your hair and you still feel like you're (kind-of) blonde. I would really recommend it. Photo attached.

Also google image search 'ombre hair'. Ignore the bad 'dip dye' examples!

I know that going to the hairdresser for dye/highlights might be an option for some, but £50-70 a pop every 4/6 weeks to cover all my grey is simply not doable (and given the popularity of home dyes I suspect it's not doable for many women). If you can afford that then lucky you!

This is my hair today. It's been at least 8 weeks since it was last dyed and I haven't washed it since Wednesday so it is not at its best, but for an average of £4 a month on cutting and colouring, I am happy with it.

i'm ash blonde and do my hair myself at home. i only ever use ash toned colours as i find on the whole, most boxed blonde colours can be far too ginger. i use l'oreal excellence creme in either ash blonde or light ash blonde, and do it every 4-5 weeks as my hair grows fast. there's a pic on my profile of my hair colour. have never used sun in, i remember a friend using it when it very first came out and it turned her hair bright orange!

Molly and Niper - your hair is gorgeous, and definitely not cheap/brassy looking. I'm dyeing mine at the moment with Clairol Age Defy in mid ash blonde, so will see how it turns out!

I use prelightener to make sure there are no ginger bits.

Then you can put ash shades over that.

The Majirel thing isn't complicated. The higher the first number the lighter the dye, so 1 is black and 10 is very pale blonde.

Unless it is a straightforward base colour it will come with another number next to it so if it is a .1 or .2 that has an ash tone to it and if it is a .3 it has gold added and the higher this number is the warmer the colour tone gets.

Sometimes they have a third number such as 5.35 and this would indicate a light brown(5) with golden tone (3)with additional red(5).

You mix Majirel with 20 or 30 vol cream peroxide( but not the blue powder just the cream) but never 40. This is applied to the hair with a tint brush and using a plastic tint bowl( and gloves obvs). What is good is it gives really great grey coverage and lifts the hair too and won't turn it orange if you use one with an ash tone. It's a professional dye and it's the best I've ever used.

You can use it to just touch up small areas too if you mix it 1part majirel to 1.5 cream peroxide.

So - if I've got this right, if I was buying a light ash blond from Salon Services www.salon-services.com/majirel-permanent-pcolour25_1/ I would need to buy a tube of 8.1 plus a bottle of creme peroxide www.salon-services.com/salon-services-peroxide-creme/

Does that sound right?

Yes that's the stuff

That ombré looks wicked!!!

I'd love to be able to colour my hair at home. I have dark blonde/light brown hair naturally, but for years now I've been having a mixture of blonde and caramel highlights put in. There's no way I could do this at home.