Hairdressers - why are home hair dyes so bad? MY ROOOOTS!!

[cheeseandpickledonions]

I have naturally mousey/grey hair and I have had it recently dyed a medium dark brown at a salon near me and thanks to lockdown my roots are AWFUL and need doing.
Before lockdown my hairdresser said "don't be tempted to use a home dye to cover the roots!"
Is there an actual reason why home dyes are so bad? Do they react badly with a salon dye? Or does she just want to make sure she doesn't lose a customer?
I snaffled a Clairol root touch up thing in with my essential Tesco shop but now I'm scared I'm gonna go green or smth!

I did my roots with home hair dye this week. Left it on the rest of my hair for 15 mins but I did need two boxes as my hair is long. It looks fine, my hair is dark brown and I’ve been going to a hairdresser for years.

imo hairdresser say this to keep your business

If you use a dye you should always stick with the same one. So if you get it done at the hairdressers and use their product, switching between that and home dyes could cause the hair to become patchy, or even some kind of weird reaction depending which products. Your coverage may be uneven. However, if you only ever use box dye there are no issues at all. The issue is switching between them. So obviously hairdressers will always advise you to get it done by them.

I’ve twice had to use emergency colour only on my roots. I use Olia as it has no ammonia and it’s not made any difference to the coverage when I’ve next gone to the hairdresser. It does fade a bit by the five week point but that’s probably a good thing

Root sprays are ok but I STILL KNOW YOU’RE THERE ROOTS

I would say medium dark brown is the easiest to maintain with box dye. I usually if am between two very close boxed colours go with lighter as they take quite dark on my hair.

Il be doing mine again in the next week. Usually chocolate brown...

My hairdresser has told me go for it as I can't go far wrong with my hair being dark.

I’ve been following the whole #waitforus and #westanforpros SM movement and I think it comes across as so condescending.

Hairdressers are saying: you couldn’t possibly touch up your own roots. Wear a hat for lockdown.

I totally agree that hairdressers are the best people to do hair: they have the education and experience.

But in the situation that we’re in and for small jobs like touch ups and fringe trims I think they need to accept that the majority are going to diy it.

They're saying it to keep business. They don't want you to see how easy and not much different a home dye is as you'd see the waste of money salon dying can be dependant on hair colour

I've always dyed my own hair (for almost 40 years now as I started going grey late teens) using either L'oreal or Clairol. I think I'm pretty much all grey now. I do it when the roots become obvious (I use a powder touch up in between) but I'm surprised at how people are surprised when I tell them I dye it, so it must look ok.

A hairdresser friend of mine usually cuts my hair at home for me, she also helps me to put on a box dye as I always make a mess.

She’s always said that for a standard all over colour a box dye is as good as if not better than you’d get at a salon.

She could charge me £70 at her salon but tells me for my straightforward medium brown it would be a total waste of money.

Unless you’re having highlights or something with a special technique what’s the point?