Hair colour - asking hairdresser for name of tint

[kittykitty]

I get my hair coloured in a relatively nice salon in London, but a combination of how fast my hair is greying and money issues at home, mean it's becoming something I really can't afford to do as often as I do now.

I'd like to talk to my colourist (who is lovely) and say that while I would want to come in a few times a year for the main all over tint because I love the colour she came up with me, that I can't afford to keep coming for the root tints.

I want to ask her to advise me on what colour I should go with for a home colouring kit to match what she's chosen for me in the salon. But do you think it's not quite 'done' to ask how to do the roots myself at home? It's that or stop going entirely and do it myself which isn't really what I want either.

Any help/suggestions most gratefully received.

"Hi mrs hairdresser! My roots tore through so fast that I can't afford to keep up with them but I love your colour so much that I don't want to switch to a box colour! Do you know what colour I could use as an inbetween appointments colour so I can carry on coming here as well?"

You need TattyDivine (or at least I think it's her) it's perfectly possible to buy the exact ingredients to get the colour your colourist uses. You need some numbers from her I think.

Coincidentally I'm just about to ask my hairdresser the same thing. I only go every 3-4 months, sometimes leave it even longer if I've had a shortish cut as I'm happy to let it grow a bit. I have a lot of grey around my hairline, in fact it's completely white around the temples and standard packet dyes don't have much impact on it.

I'm hoping my hairdresser won't have a problem in helping me as they won't be losing any business from it. I've been going there a very long time so I suppose that should help with it.

Hi - thanks for all the replies. I was hoping that would be the case. I'm heading there on Friday so will report back on what she says.

You can easily get professional level colour DIY. if you google swatches Majirel it will help you understand what tint you currently have.

If you want to do it yourself buy Majirel and mix it with 1.5 more cream hydrogen peroxide (20 or 30 vol) in a tint bowl with a tint brush. So if you use 50ml of Majirel you need to mix it with 75ml of cream peroxide.

Other stuff you need- latex gloves. This stuff is thick when mixed so won't run everywhere.

The colours work like this level 1=black to level 10= very light blonde. The second number tells you the tone so 1=ash and 3=gold with 5 being red. Sometimes they have a third number letting you know that there is another tone in the mix.

5.3- is a medium golden brown where as 5.35 is a little warmer and leans more chestnut.

Light brown is level 6
Dark blonde is level 7. If you wanted a dark ash blonde you would need a 7.1 or 7.2. If you wanted a golden dark blonde 7.3 or 7.35 etc.

If you have a lot of grey hair it is advised that you have some gold in your choice of shade otherwise the hair can look really flat and take on a greenish hue.