Anyone with some greys dye their hair at home?

[Littlemiss74]

My natural hair colour is a dark mousey brown. I’m now getting more & more greys coming through.
I recently had a full head of highlights & a tint to cover the greys in between. Am now slightly regretting this as the roots are coming through and it looks awful. I’m going to have to get them done about every 6 weeks and the cost is ridiculous just for a root tint. I also feel the highlights are too yellowy & not right for my skintone.

Does anyone dye their hair at home to cover greys - could I do this on highlighted hair? Basically I need to find a cheaper way of doing this going forward. I don’t really know what it is I need so any help would be much appreciated.

I use a wella dye at home that is the same products used in a salon, not a box dye. I buy them online from a hairdressing wholesaler and mix them on my digital kitchen scales. Very easy. Then apply to my roots with a hairdressing dye brush.

I think if you want to home dye then choosing the right shade for you would be the biggest hurdle. You could have a colour consultation in a hairdressers, let them dye your hair and if you like the results, carry on at home with the same products.

I have a few grey areas on dark brown hair. I wouldn’t mind going grey as such but I don’t like my greys as they make my hair look thin around the hairline. I dye them to match every few weeks with a clairol root touch-up kit, then use lush marron henna all over to make the colour a bit redder/richer and add shine. (I’ve got a vague feeling you’re not supposed to combine henna and home dye but it seems to work.)

Not sure about the highlights - I’ve hennaed highlighted hair before and got bright red highlights which I liked, but you might not!

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Like the poster above I put henna on mine. I worked in a community with lots of Asian females and followed their lead. They used either black or red. The red one gave a sort of pink hue to the grey. I tend to buy both powders and mix my own, or apply different amounts of each at different times.

Odd grey hairs don't dye as dark as the rest of my hair but actually I think that gives a much more natural look than a solid one colour.

I think there might be information needed about being able to dye hair after henna use too - long term use and whether henna has to grow out?

I don't think there are many hairdressers who can get it right, in my experience. So I've given up and am growing mine out. My hair looks absolutely dreadful, tbh, but I can't face going back to the monthly root colouring.

Box dyes at home and me don't get on......... ruined tiles, towels and spending ages cleaning the bathroom? No thanks.

I used the garnier dye, but my hair is blonde so greys are much easier to cover, and not AS noticeable as in dark hair. I do it every 8 weeks or so, it's not very expensive, and takes less than an hour - I just pop it on, watch an episode of Coronation Street or something, then go for my shower and wash it out at the same time.

If you can find a decent dye that suits you, I'd absolutely try it at home.

@randomkey123

I don't think there are many hairdressers who can get it right, in my experience. So I've given up and am growing mine out. My hair looks absolutely dreadful, tbh, but I can't face going back to the monthly root colouring.

Box dyes at home and me don't get on......... ruined tiles, towels and spending ages cleaning the bathroom? No thanks.

I don't quite understand how or why you get the dye everywhere, or why it takes forever to clean up. What the heck do you do with it?!

I do, and have done for years. Recently tried eSalon and am liking what they do. They make a colour just for you, then after you have used it you get in touch to make any changes for next time (you can choose to get colour as many times a year as you want). Between proper dyes I mix up a small amount to cover roots.

As you haven't home dyed before you might want to do a full colour dye at a hairdresser (as that is easier to replicate at home). You can probably try highlights when you are more confident (or able to rope in a family member/friend to help).

I do. I have light/medium-brown hair with a good sprinkling of grey and use Superdrug own brand or Clairol nice n easy in medium blonde. There are instructions for how to use them on recently-dyed hair: you apply to the roots and leave on, then just apply to the previously dyes hair for a few minutes. To be honest, I only ever dye the regrowth now with one of the root touch up kits. There is a small tray to mix the dye and a brush to apply. It takes maximum of 30 minutes including washing off and doesn't make any mess even though I'm not a very careful person. The greys can come up a bit lighter but I think that actually makes it look more natural than a flat colour.

I have a few greys, mainly clustered together at the temples but with a few odd ones dispersed throughout my hair.
I use a professional wella colour that is the same as my natural brown colour and a developer. I mix these myself and apply to the greys only. So far this has worked well, although I am aware a few might escape my attention, but I’m not bothered about the occasional grey as long as I’m almost entirely brunette.
I considered going lighter to make the greys less obvious but my colouring suits brown so I will continue in this vein until the greys are too many to strand dye at which point I will suck up the cost and go to a professional 😊

I use this one. My hairdresser, who comes to me to cut my hair, puts it on for me but it's easy enough to DIY. Being semi-permanent when it grows out it also fades a bit so you don't get quite such a harsh line between dyed and undyed hair.

My natural colour was wild rodent. From about 15 I had highlights to lift it - could manage with them 3/4 times a year until my early 50s as the summer sun blended the roots and helped.

Sadly as the grey increased op so Di the highlights. I am 61 now and for the last few years have had ashy blonde highlights, dark blonde ones and a light brown through the rest. The pattern goes like this: full head, TBar, half head, T Bar, full head 6 weeks between each. Cost is between £180 and £140. The three colour approach helps the roots not to show.

It's expensive and probably my one self indulgence but I am still working full-time and feel it helps give me credibility in a high profile role.

I’ve used Clairol Nice and Easy for years and am happy with the results. Tried having it done at hairdressers a couple of times but it was never as good, took much longer and cost silly money. Takes about half an hour, every 6-8 weeks and my hair taus in good condition. It was naturally quite a light colour, so the grey is less obvious at the roots than a dark brown would be. I now mix two different shades together to get what I want as I get older.

Oh and I don’t make a mess with it in the bathroom or with my towels [query]

@RosesAndHellebores this sounds lovely, is there any chance you could post a non-identifying picture please?

Here you go - best I can do.

My sister has darkm brown hair and does as a PP and Toni and Guy told her to do, and uses Wella, onling form Amazon. It is exactly the same dye they use and she can so it better herself now.

I have blonde hair going grey and I just tried using Garnier Olia dye, (lightest possible) I left it on for 20 mins longer (looked up reviews on internet) and it is fabulous, the grey is a lighter blonde and the rest is just lighter, so very natural looking.

Wish I'd done it years ago.

The grey is an asset, it makes natural blonde highlights when you dye it. Will never look back and sure I'll get better at it.

I’ve got mouse brown hair with increasing sprinklings of grey. I use L’Oréal semi-permanent box dye every month or so, or henna if I can face the mess, and it looks absolutely fine. Hairdresser complimented me on the colour when I went in for a cut.

Yes - I have a Josh Wood subscription.

I used a box dye for the first time a month ago. L'Oreal Preference dark blonde. My hair is a light mousy-type brown. I had big grey stripes in the front and quite a few grays in the rest of my hair. I have had highlights most of my life but stopped with lockdown.

I am happy with the result, although I was petrified. It darkened my hair slightly but has now faded but that just means my natural blonde highlights are showing.

I will do it again. It gave me a lift and DH said I looked younger.

I have light brown hair with a few natural highlights running through it, plus now a good sprinkling of grey. I use Superdrug's wash in wash out colour every few weeks and it suits me fine because it's simple, gentle, and not too obvious. It would be difficult to have a home-grown disaster with it. It's inexpensive too. I may have to resort to something more grown up at some point but my hair has been kind to me so far (60 very soon).

Please do not mix henna and box dye/professional dye.

There is a risk that your hair will go green. A permanent green that will cannot be covered by dye and has to be grown out.

We laugh about it now, but my poor mum spent a couple of years growing out her green hair. It looked horrendous,

@RosesAndHellebores thank you, your hair looks stunning

@Purplewithred which semi permanent do you use? I am finding it hard to find a true semi. @Therebythedoor is there a light brown wash in/wash out? The Superdrug one I tried was the only brown I saw and was very reddish-brown.
Thanks!

I love henna. Great teddy cloud and greys go redder still - fades so no super harsh roots. I use the red one from lush.

Reddy colour rather than teddy cloud though that sounds great too