Is there really much difference between between box dye and salon dye?

[AaronPurrSir]

Just that really. I’ve had my hair exclusively dyed in the salon for the last year after decades of box dyes. I’m really grey and my roots show after about 3 weeks, and I can’t be dealing with the time and expense of salon touch ups every months.

Every hairdresser practically breaks out in hives whenever box dye is mentioned and talk about how “awful” it is. Is it really that bad? Surely there’s very little difference between shop bought and what they use in salons, or do they just make out that there is to get you to keep spending money in the salon?

Watching with interest, finding it so expensive getting grey roots coloured every month.

You probably need an ex hairdresser to give a truly informed opinion on this but IMO amateur opinion there is a massive difference in the end result. That might be down to application technique rather than product though.

IME box dye jobs only look good on people whose hair is pretty much one colour all over. So my young DDs look nice if they put a chestnut or golden dye over their naturally healthy young mid brown hair and older friends who are totally grey can look lovely with a silver dye that brightens things up. But for people like me with patchy grey/brown hair and root growth I need a hair dresser who can see the whole head and balance the colour between the grey trots and sides and the previously dyed bits so I don't come out with orange roots and mahogany mid lengths (as sometimes modelled by Paul McCartney)

In my experience it depends on the colour.

I now have my hair Red and no box dye even comes close to the salon colour! When I was light brown, box dye ( L’Oréal one) was absolutely no diffrent Imo to the salon.

I have found there is a massive difference in how nice the colour comes out (mother is a hairdresser) however there's nothing stopping you from buying your own salon quality colour and using it yourself just like a box dye.

I personally recommend the John Frieda Precision Foam Colour. I like to have my hair done at a salon, but unfortunately it's too expensive not always possible. This dye is my absolute favourite - the foam consistency gives a 100% patch-free end result, as it really seeps into every strand! The colours are also beautiful and it leaves my hair wonderfully soft. I swear I don't work for John Frieda, I just really love this stuff!!

Also many people have asked me where I got my hair done when I've simply gone and dyed it myself.

Following!

Box colours don't cover my grey anywhere near as well as salon colours.

I buy the salon product from a shop called Sally's
I saw what different salons used - some salons you can see the coulor shade books but at some they don't seem
To
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Wella and colrstone can be bought from Sally's
I do the roots with a brush that they sell and use a pot like a hairdresser has too - about 2 or 3 pounds for both .
I then emulsify the coulor with a bit of water so that the hair shade goes thro but is diluted a little
I'd love to be able to do two or three low lights but it is beyond me .. at least we can purchase salon quality dye tho !

Also many people have asked me where I got my hair done when I've simply gone and dyed it myself.
So is it obvious it's dyed then?

My hairdresser happily recommends box dye colours if asked - I only go a couple of times a year and do it myself in between. She gives really good advice on what colours would work - when I was blonde I needed to go 2 shades lighter than it shows on the box to get the colour they did in the salon and she explained all this. I also have people ask who does my hair when it is dyed at home, although it is pretty bright so obviously not natural!

I don't have a problem with grey, but in the last few years my hairdresser hasn't been able to give me the colour I want so sometimes I wonder if I wouldn't be better off trying to do it myself. The last time I did that it didn't turn out well because I hadn't applied it evenly enough - can't see the back of my head.
My hairdresser applies a different colour to my roots than to the rest of my hair, but it never looks as it should. The roots are usually brighter.

So is it obvious it's dyed then?

Isn't it always obvious when someone dyes their hair, regardless of whether it's a good dye job, or a bad dye job?

Highlights - even beautiful ones - look like highlights.

And only a vanishingly small number of people over the age of 40 have no grey hairs, so that is always the immediate give-away.

no difference.

I have been colouring my hair for years, it's probably all grey now under the chocolate brown.
I have shoulder length, layered hair.

the application is important & it gets easier with practise!

buy a plastic, hair tub & brush set, pound shop have them.

start at hair line , especially if your grey, then work along the hair parting , sectioning down each side, ask for help with the back if necessary, but perfectly possible to do it yourself.

if you always use the same colour , then the roots are easy to do, just mix half the mixture, This will give you 2 root applications from one box.

I have tried all makes, believe me, there is very little difference, apart from the price.

I tend to use Aldi's own make or the pound shop one now.

I have at times had a colour at the hairdressers, as a treat or if there was a good offer on. No one noticed the difference to my usual home efforts!

Good luck.

I think application technique is much more important that the actual product.

I think it is generally obvious when hair is dyed. It doesn't mean it doesn't look nice or doesn't suit the person, just that it isn't their natural colour.

i dont think there is a noticeable difference

How annoyed do you think my hairdresser would be if I went there after a disastrous try with shop bought stuff? She'd be able to dye over whatever I'd done, wouldn't she?

I always get compliments on my colour, even from hairdressers, and I have been box dyeing for about eight years.

Which one Rainin?

It’s the same stuff. As others have noted, it’s all in the application.

I'm brunette and my hairdresser also recommends a box dye. The honest truth is there is very little, to any, difference between the salon and box dye for me as I am one colour all over.

For me it's not financial as such, I jist cant be arsed sitting in rhe hairdressers that often, and for that long, for something I can do at home and with pretty much the same result.

However I think if it's anything other than one colour brunnette then a hairdresser may be required.

Huge difference in my opinion. I have a huge amount of grey, have thick hair.

Box dyes fade on me within about 5-10 days.

I went to Sally's and bought some salon colour. It's amazing, keeps its colour and really lasts.

I will get some pics of the bottles. I need to buy some more.

I used box dye. I've discussed it with the woman at the salon that cuts my hair and in her words, "there's absolutely nothing wrong with a decent box dye.It looks good, and you're happy with it, and that's what matters."

use, not used.