Do you colour your own hair?

[justustwoandmoo]

As in from a box?

I have since I was early 20's and am now 40. Really wish I hadn't started tbh as not my hair looks terrible when it needs another colour on. It's blonde too so peroxide.

What can I do to get it all out and start again? Makes me want to shave it all off!

My natural hair type is dry/frizzy and I dye my hair blonde shades using box dyes (Clairol or Garnier).

What really helped me is to only use shampoos that are sulphate-free, as the sulphates strip out all the moisture in my hair. Have a look in TK Maxx as there always seems to be an abundance! The absolute best one I've found is Bio Keratin shampoo. I looked it up online and it's very expensive, but only a tenner for a big bottle in TK Maxx if you can find it. I tend to buy all the bottles when I see it!

If you can't get to TK Maxx there are quite a few companies that now make sulphate-free shampoo that you can get from the supermarket or Boots etc.; here are some I've tried and liked:

• Herbal Essences bio:renew Sulfate Free Shampoo Aloe & Hemp
• OGX Argan Oil of Morocco
• Faith in Nature (I'm not sure if all of these are sulphate-free so check the label)

Avoid - Sukin. Sorry to any Sukin fans, I'm still not over buying a big bottle of this and then having my hair stink like citronella candles :( had to turf it.

Every time I wash my hair I coat it with conditioner from root to tip and leave it on for 5 mins or so, and use a deep conditioning mask on Sunday evening. Because I completely cover my hair, I get through a lot of conditioner but the Garnier hair food ones are great and inexpensive. If your hair is also very dry then I recommend the coconut and macadamia one, which smells gorgeous too.

The condition of my hair has massively improved from a year ago and it's lovely and shiny - it never used to be!

Try the Bleach hair mask as recommended on another thread you can get it in sainsburys or tesco

For my current red (proper redhead not pillar box red) & any shade of brown I use box dye when I was blonde it was a hairdresser job as I always find blonde box dye brassy/yellow.

My hairdresser always comments on how lovely my colour is & anyone I've met since going red thinks it's my natural colour. The condition is great & I regularly blow dry/straighten my hair without any heat protection.

In between colouring I use this

www.superdrug.com/Hair/Hair-Colourants/Wash-In-Wash-Out/Superdrug-Colour-Effects-Wash-In-Wash-Out-Rich-Red-6-4/p/794723

Which helps maintain the colour & keep the greys (which are much less noticeable since I've gone red) at bay.

I'm no hair expert but when I wanted to grow out my blonde dye I had balayage so that the roots looked like they were supposed to be brown.

I used to , when my hair was very short . Cut every 5 weeks and dye every 3 weeks .
Started with a semi permenant , it did last quite well
Then used Superdug permenant , went lighter and lighter but by bit so it wasn't a shock to my system .
I didn't have the faff of just doing the roots , (started at roots then when they were covered appplied to the lengths) but as it was being cut so often there was minimal overlap .

I wanted to change it eventually , used Lush henna , back to my natural shade and stopped it all a couple of years ago to grow it .

I really couldn't face the balls ache of dye now , and I'm not one to sit in the hairdressers for hours .

I've thought about Semi/P dye again then decided against it , I don't want the regrowth ( it didn't fade on my hair so I would get regrowth)

@justustwoandmoo

As in from a box?

I have since I was early 20's and am now 40. Really wish I hadn't started tbh as not my hair looks terrible when it needs another colour on. It's blonde too so peroxide.

What can I do to get it all out and start again? Makes me want to shave it all off!

Can you colour your hair to match your own hair colour so you don’t have roots? And deep condition once a week. I haven’t tried the bleach mask in the other thread here, but intend to do so, it sounds good.

OP have you considered doing a balayage and letting your hair grow out that way? I don’t know how to post links but there is a YouTube video by Ellebangs called DIY blonde to perfect balayage and it might be helpful for you. Then you can let your blonde start to grow out and then maybe do home highlights instead of block colour in the future.
I do my hair at home with a box dye but I only do highlights as I’ve never liked the results when I’ve done an all-over colour. I don’t have the money for a salon at the moment either.

I home colour mine... Copper...
Have done for a while now as I don't have three hours to waste making small talk in a salon.
Section my hair, apply colour.. Carry on with whatever I'm doing then wash off.
Condition is still very good, none straw like.
Every so often I get hairdresser to give it a cut/tidy up and put colour on. Usually once every 6 months just to ensure all tidy.

My hair is naturally a lightish brown and from 19-20 I dyed it a dark brown myself, but after a while the box dye built up and my hair looked horrible with no shade variations, then I started getting highlights at the salon to make it more natural looking and it looked great. Moved to London when I was 21 and was earning a low salary so started box dying it blonde, for the first 2 year sit looked really good and grew loads! Then I went on holiday and came back and my hair was totally destroyed! Think it was a combo of continuous box dye build up, mixed with heat and sea water etc, so I got loads cut off but it was still so so dry, so I started getting it done again at the salon, it's cost a lot but it's been worth it! It's been 3 years since it was destroyed and it still isn't back to the condition it was in before but it's a lot lot better and I much nicer more natural colour. I also have really thick hair so it can take a lot of damage

There's a big difference between dying your hair a dark colour and lightening your hair from a dark colour to a lighter one. Alot of people will be using a dark box dye which doesn't damage hair all that much. Going blonde can.

I do my hair light ash blonde at home and have doen since lockdown first began. I use 6% peroxide with a bonded bleach powder so the damage is minimal and only lighten the regrowth. About every four weeks, I will put an ash blonde toner through (mixed with 6% peroxide) to keep the desired colour otherwise it gets yellow.

It's important to use a bonding product to help reduce damage, and a good treatment like philip kingsley elasticizer to keep hair in optimal condition. I also do a keratin straightening treatment every 4 months which reduces the need for straighteners significantly. My hair is in great condition.

I'd be careful if you attempt to go darker at home to match your roots. I've done it and if you don't add a filler colour to replace the pigment that the bleach has taken out you could end up with a very dull, flat colour.

Lots of information online about it if you google filler colour on bleached hair, I'd definitely read up before making any drastic changes.

Yes I have for years , I use e salon now though for colour.

All permanent hair colour, whatever colour, has peroxide in - its what opens the hair cuticle enough for the dye to penetrate. You can only make hair lighter with bleach though, which also needs to be used with peroxide in order to open the hair shaft to allow the bleach to penetrate.

If its blonde and you don't want to use peroxide there are semi permanent dyes which have very low levels of peroxide, or you could just use a colour depositing one, but they would not last many washes.

As pp says though, do not just put a flat brown on a blonde as it will go green, it either needs to be a brown with a lot of red in it, or you need to put a red colour on it first.

For shampoo and conditioner @justustwoandmoo, have a look at SBC. I use the collagen one most of the time, but use the propolis one about every 4th time. I'm very happy with the results.