Hi everyone,

I am looking for some advice here about at home hair coloring. I got my hair professionally highlighted and colored in between in November. It came out very pretty but I want to go darker, to my natural hair color which is a medium to dark brown, and I want to cover up my 1-2 inch roots and highlights. I like my stylist a lot, she is very sweet and does a great job but I can't keep affording to pay for salon services. Her prices are reasonable too, but I am on a fixed income.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what color brown or what brands work well when trying to cover up highlights? I don't mind if the highlights peek through but I am afraid of having a "halo effect" from my 1-2 inch roots. I am thinking of googling a few different hair care companies to see if they have phone numbers that I could call, such as a customer help line.

I greatly appreciate any experiences, good or bad, and definitely some advice! Thanks so much!

I would personally stay away from "drug store" hair colour mainly because you had professional colour last time. Doesn't always mesh well. If you have a Sally's near you would be your best bet. Still about the same price (buying the dye AND peroxide) as the drug store. Maybe about $5 more. I'd suggest the brand Wella. I've used quite a few brands from Sally's and found that Wella works the best for me and my hair. Also, some of the employees can be pretty helpful given they know what they're talking about. If you're trying to darken highlights, you'd be safe with a medium/light dark brown. I'd apply it to the highlights and rest of your head about 10 minutes before your roots however, depending how different your roots are from the dye.

Don't know if that made sense. Good luck!

ps. I don't have "credentials", just been dying my own hair at home for 5+ years for the same reason; I can't part with that much money at a salon!

Remington,

Thanks! I called my local Sally store and there is one near me, they said they do carry Wella over the counter (available to consumers). That is a great suggestion! I have tried Wella in the past and liked it. I think that they will probably give me good suggestions, that's a great idea.

I had called Clairol earlier and I spoke with a representative who gave me some advice, but it sounded a little funky to me, she wanted me to purchase two separate packages of Nice n Easy and then mix them, only using one developer? It sounded a little strange to me, especially being that one of the shades that she suggested was reddish blonde, and I am trying to stay away from that. Maybe she thought I would have to do that to neutralize where I am now, I don't know.

I think the Wella from Sally is a good idea! I will definitely think about that. Thanks, Remington.

I have naturally light brown hair and had been dying it blonde for years. I finally grew out the rest of the blonde a few months ago and now have a whole head of natural hair for literally the first time in 15 years (middle school). I wanted grow it out and dyed my hair a color slightly darker than my natural color. By the time it grew out this color had faded to 2-3 shades LIGHTER than my natural color. The point is no matter what color you dye it, the color will lighten a bunch by the time it grows out (unless you keep up with it).

I think it would just be easier (and cheaper) to just let the highlights grow out. It probably wont be all that noticeable.

btw I love having my hair it's natural color. I get so many compliments and it is SHINY when I straighten it. The hair feels so much healthier. I also don't have to deal with touch ups and the way it fades after a week or 2. This is the recesionista in me.

Thanks Scarlett.

Yes, I agree with you about natural beauty. For so long, I didn't love myself enough to accept myself and then I covered up my hair with colors and bleach, trying to become someone I wasn't. Now, that I am accepting and loving myself more, I want my natural hair color back. I guess, I probably should just let my natural hair color grow in. It's just that I don't want the roots to be that bad and they are already getting noticeable. I haven't cut it for awhile either so my hair is just going to keep growing without my roots showing less. I guess I could let my hair grow in naturally and cut an inch off every few months so the roots will grow out. I think if I were to color it again, it would be another quick fix, and then I would have roots.

Thanks for your insight!

The Ombre style is very big right now. Go figure, once I cut off my long hair with bleached ends starting around my ears, that becomes the style.

That's basically what I did. I cut it to about shoulder length and then kept cutting it until I could do some long layers and angling to get the rest off. At this point most of the layers are gone and it's about shoulder length. I save SO much money now. I get my hair cut at the local $8 place every other month and it is fine. I figure anyone with a hairdressing license can do a simple trim and haven't had any issues.

One annoying thing is that the front tends to grow the slowest. My back grew out much faster.

Scarlett,

That's an interesting point about the Ombre style. I am tempted to just get an inch taken off but I don't want my stylist to talk me into getting it colored or highlighted. She tends to cut a little bit more off than I would like so I will tell her I would like less off than what I really want because I like this length. I think if I keep getting a little bit off every few months, hopefully it will grow or be cut out. I tried layers and am not a big fan of having a lot of them. I like having all one length more, or just a few layers, I think.

Thanks!

Have a good day!

I've been blonde/dark/blonde/dark/blonde for years! What I used to do was put in my own lowlights, or use a 20vol developer with a tube of dark blonde ion dye from Sally's so it wasn't too heavy looking, you know that painted on, block colour look? I'd wait a few weeks then use a light brown over the full head. 20vol shouldn't make your presently dark hair go orange like 40 or 30 would. And since you went lighter your hair should be more porous and any new colour seems to come out denser and look darker. And I second the ombré suggestion! I went ombré for a while and it's just so low maintenance And you can always throw a semi-permanent over the top of it (a dark blonde one, try a warm shade so you don't get any green tinge).

I went the opposite way and did 1/2 head highlights last week after a few years of not touching my hair. I feel so much better! I do love how something so simple as your hair can make you feel more like yourself

I've been coloring my own hair at home for years. My stylist always comments on how good it looks. I heard the best advice several years ago that as long as you use the same company/brand each time, rotate shades within the same color family for different shade depth it would look great. I use L'Oreal in the different blonde shades. I color it every 6 weeks and my hair is really healthy so it has worked well for me.

I do agree with the other posts regarding letting your salon highlights grow out more.