Is home dye really bad in comparison to hairdressers

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I used to dye my hair black , I have brown hair and it suited me really well while younger . As I got older I got sick of such an strong colour and it was such a contrast with the roots so had it striped very gradually , now it’s a dark brown colour but much richer and lots of different tones . My hairdresser is brilliant but it’s so so expensive . My roots start to grow out after 3 weeks , i get to six weeks and need to do it again . I’m so tempted to use a semi permanent same brown colour but the hairdresser told me that home dyes ruin hair , some kind of metals in it means it’ll be in the hair way longer than the dyes they use (she is constantly booked up so I really don’t think it’s cause she needs the business ) . I’m late 30s and feel it makes me look so much better when I get it done but it lasts about 2weeks and I can start to see it fade, grow out again. I’m so tempted to use the odd semi permanent at home but feel it would ruin all the work put in with striping it (took a year to get the black dye out). Any colour experts ??

I’m no expert but I have been dyeing my hair at home for 8 years. If you use box dye then go for the ashiest colour possible and the lightest colour possible. This is because box dyes are often very red/ginger even if the colour isn’t meant to be red/ginger plus they go much darker than they say! So if you want level 4 brown, use level 6 brown (1 is black and 10 is platinum). To make sure it’s ashy, use something with .0 after the first number (so 6.0, 7.0 for example). Other numbers after the decimal point mean various kinds of shine like golden or red (you do not want to go gold or red with box dye, they do not turn out well).

I hope that makes sense. Can you perhaps find a mobile hairdresser who will come to you and maybe have more availability/lower prices? I’d recommend professional if you’re going anything other than mid ash brown tbh! If you do chance it, try and use a tinting brush to make sure you just get it on the regrowth, don’t put it on all your hair or it’ll ruin your highlights. Plus box dye massively builds up. So just do the regrowth.

After home dyeing for years, I went to treat myself to foils the other day. The supposed highlights looked no different to the box dye. In fact my box due was nicer! I may as well have set fire to £80.

I think hairdressers are probably more skilled at application and have a greater range of shades to use, but if you have a home dye that works - it’s no different imo.

Thank you so much ! Yes it is a lot darker than ash brown … I just remember how easy and cheap it was to dye at home but I’d be worried about the build up of home dye in my hair as it took so long to strip the black from it. Hard to know , then I know others who home dye their hair brown and it looks absolutely fine 🤷‍♀️

Get a nicer brand if you can (by which I mean more expensive) ... Naturtint and Flowerology have worked well for me, although they're permanent. Nice'n' easy is a reliable standby.

A stylist once advised me to choose box dyes that are ammonia-free, since it's better for your hair apparently.

I had my hair dyed by a professional hairdresser for years and it always went really ginger. I started doing my own and it's so much nicer!!!!

Been dying my own hair for 10 years and even my hairdresser compliments it.

You could dye your hair at home but with salon tint. I go to sally/salon services and buy koleston and 6% to do mine. I cant afford to go to the hairdresser all the time so do roots in between. Works out about £10 a time depending on your hair length

The problem with box dyes isn’t the tint itself I don’t think but the strength of peroxide. It’s high. That’s the damaging bit. Pro colours don’t necessarily need strong peroxide unless they are high lifts where they lighten and deposit colour in one go.

I used a really cheap dye recently (polycolor). It's lasted ages and looks as nice as when I had my hairdresser do it.
I think if you are getting highlights or something like balayage, then a hairdresser is likely to do that better than the average person can at home, but if you have brown hair and just want to cover greys or make hair a bit darker, box dyes can be great - my hair has different shades and the box dye doesn't make it all one flat colour, it seems to come out multi tonal.
And obviously it's a lot less money. I wasn't keen on foils because it didn't go right to the roots.

I’ve had mine done at the salon for a while but I’ve gone back to doing it myself. When I have it done at the salon there is loads of dye on my hairline and scalp for days, when I do it myself it looks good and I don’t have that issue- plus it costs me less than £10 rather than £70!

I've always dyed my hair at home, blue black over my light to mid brown hair. But it never sticks. I use permanent dye and I’m back to brown within a month. I use Schwarzkopf which is supposed to be a nightmare to strip from hair if you want to go lighter. I don't even need to grow it out, it just washes right out within a month.

Before Covid I always had mine done at the salon but during Covid I had to do my own. I couldn't really see much difference. I use light ash brown. I've just kept on doing it myself.

I'd be vexed if I paid that much and was noticing it after Two weeks.

Home dye isn't good for hair but neither is brushing or drying it, times have changed and honestly if I pay to get it done now, it's nothing more than me feeling too lazy to bother with the rinsing and bathroom cleanup.

My daughter used a brunette one recently (possibly nutrisse? really fruity smell) and I was blown away by how healthy her hair looked for a few weeks.

The little tubes of intense conditioner (some are one off use the others are for 4-6 weeks use) included in the box are phenomenal with most reasonable home dyes. Honestly they are as good as stuff we used to pay a tenner+ for in the 90s.

You've nothing to lose by trying it once. Home dyes are so much better than they used to be, they're not even that messy until the rinsing.

Thanks so much for replies, I guess it’s the fact that I spent well over a year getting my hair striped gradually as I had years of box dyes build up so I’m a bit wary of doing it again. But it’s literally just the roots roots I’m getting done and it is a good 80 euros where I am . I just worry it would build up again. I don’t live in the UK but can order online if anyone knows of good , very similar dyes to what they use in salons ? Is semi permanent healthier (I guess I’m looking for something that would wash out rather than stick to the hair and build up ). I’ll definitely try no ammonia . I think I’ve now just been so convinced that box dyes are so bad and ruin hair but on the other hand I can’t pay that much every six weeks and by 6 weeks it needs to be done.

Another possible option is a tinted shampoo - I have dark brown hair with a few grey bits around the front that I don’t like, and using a brunette shampoo every day makes them blend in. It’s Charles worthington colourplex but there are various others. I do need to colour eventually but it makes them not obvious. I’m another who’s used loads of box dyes without issue. (But then I also trim my own hair so am not a hairdresser’s dream customer!)

Home dye is good if you are matching your own colour. For anything more dramatic eg bleaching I’d go professional.

Colour conditioner is another thing worth trying to stop the fade. However it probably won’t do much for your roots.

Can you get the Clairol root touch up kits where you are? They can buy you a few more weeks.

I started going grey at 19 (I'm 61 now) so have been colouring it myself for decades. About three times I've gotten it done professionally and it has never been better, just a lot more expensive!

Definitely use salon dyes at home, I've been doing it for 15 years! I like Inoa. To avoid the build up I mix the normal dye with Inoa Glow. It has higher translucency so you don't get a block colour but still good coverage.

I use eSalon. Its more expensive but it looks a lot better. Every now and then i use a box of dye from Boots / Superdrug and I always regret it.

I am rubbish at dyeing my hair- my hairdresser is amazing! I have dark brown hair but it going quite gray now. But if I’m having a skint month I tend to lengthen the time between appointments and use a root touch up kit- I find the clariol one is best and really works.

If I’m desperate I use the spray-on one but it’s quite sticky and washes out straight away.

I've been home dyeing for years, generally dark brown/black (natural) and hairdresser always compliments on the condition of my hair. I only do roots not whole head when needing done (mix up small amount each time).

Also had done at hairdresser last year and v little difference to home dye imo.

I'm having a similar debate OP.

I used to dye my hair brown about 3 times a year at home - the colour was close to my natural.

Then about 5 years ago, I changed the colour and ended up needing to dye it every month. My hair was wrecked. Really poor condition, split ends practically to my roots and really thin. I always use the conditioner and have good quality shampoo.

I've stopped dying it at all now to give it a break but I'm wondering whether it was the frequency that caused such a problem?

The finish was great and the colour was fab, it's more the damage side for me.

Good luck either way!

No it's total nonsense these days -- received knowledge that hairdressers are told by the people they learned from, probably going back to who they learned from, and who they learned from.

It was true in the 60s/70s/80s (maybe even 90s to some extent) when home dyes were very different than what they are today, but a lot of what people say about hair dye is out of date and doesn't account for the fact that a lot of companies have improved their formulations to be kinder to hair especially over the last 20 years.

That's why we're able to achieve much lighter lifts with much less damage even at home. Very few people could sustain light blonde shades (for more than a one-off) in the 80s/90s as you had to have a medium/light base colour and your hair would have a lot of frizz/breakage if it wasn't very carefully managed, and now even Asian hair can go (and stay) platinum or silver with the current generation of products.

You can buy the exact same colour&developer your hairdresser uses and do it yourself.