Is drug store hair color really worse than salon c... - Page 8

AngelPuppy1 · ‎03-13-2010

I went to a couple of very expensive salons for years and my hair was very damaged and dry and several times my scalp was even burned! I also never really got the color that I was happy with.

I personally don't believe professional hair color is any gentler. I can't comment on whether salon products are better --- don't know. I believe the expertise that the hair salons and stylists have is where it pays to go and get colored and cut and all that.

A long time ago I switched to coloring my hair at home and I loved the color I achieved at home --- got lots of compliments --- and never had the problems of burnt scalp or dryed out hair!

"A day without sunshine is like, you know, night." - Steve Martin

lulu1 · ‎03-29-2011

I did at home (permanent) hair coloring for years. Truthfully I bought the brand that happened to be on sale. At that time I was probably at most 10% gray. Eventually Mother Nature upped the percentage. I switched to Sally Beauty products and was told I needed a 20% developer as opposed to the typical 10% included with most home brands. So, it's the developer that is the biggest difference between home and salon products.

I now do professional coloring and luckily I had my hair done the last day the salon was open. The owner gave me 2 applications of "my stuff" to apply at home. Hopefully she will be open by mid-May.

wagirl · ‎03-09-2010

I think the stylists in the salons poo-poo other products as a matter of course--I think the store brands aren't as concentrated as the salon ones--the only thing is, once you start coloring from a box, you have to keep it up. and I learned the hard way that sometimes--the wrong color is packaged in the wrong box---had that happen to me a few years ago--put what I thought was a med brown on my brown hair and it turned out bright fire engine red----didn't think to check it as it was the same brand and color I always used----OMG---and couldn't get in to have it fixed as I was leaving on a trip---so I washed it over and over with dawn dish soap to tame the color--that was the last time I will ever color my own hair----also when my girl cut my hair after a home color, which she can tell that I did--she said the big mistake is not using enough, that you should really get 2 boxes and use both of them because she could see the places that the color missed.

Whosits · ‎05-19-2014

Yes I do think store bought coloring is not a good option. It is flat, for one thing and so often looks very artificial. Also it is so easy to make a color mistake and choose one that does not look good with your skin. I did not know this for years and was coloring my hair a brown that was very bad with my skin tone. It was only after a year or so when I saw some pictures of myself and had a new hair stylist gently try to tell me that I saw how horrible I looked. I've seen this on other people. If you've got the wrong hair color for your skin you are really making your

Sawn · ‎03-17-2010

I have alopecia, so I wear wigs now when I'm outside of my home, but before this, I had professional color/highlights but also had times that I colored my hair at home. I can only report on my own personal experience. The only time anyone complimented my hair in public was when I was at a restaurant restroom. I had just used Nice 'n Easy and a lady told me how much she loved my hair color. Having said this, there's something lovely about going to a salon, relaxing, and letting a professional do your hair!

tarsmom · ‎03-21-2010

I have very fine hair with gray roots. I go to the salon as they use a special 'double pigment' color that really grabs the grays and stays on until it's grown out (it doesn't fade). I have colored my hair at home, mainly because I like to experiment a little.

In my opinion, if you have shorter hair, decent thickness you can probably color at home if it's all one color. I personally have a medium brown base with blonde highlights. It makes my hair look much thicker and have some dimension. If I color it all medium brown it's either too reddish, orangeish or a weird flat color if I use an ash brown.

I have several friends that have fabulous hair texture and they color at home. It looks great. I have a friend that could practically use Dawn dish soap for shampoo and it would look fine. Not all of us are blessed with 'good' hair.

If you have thicker, longer hair another tip if you're planning to color at home is you should purchase two boxes of color. One is not enough if you have longer hair.

I will say if this goes on much longer I may have to bite the bullet and go to the drugstore for some color but I'm not planning on it at this point.

Finally, I worked with a wonderful lady - just a beautiful soul (RIP). She was very frugal and never spent any extra money on herself. However, she made sure to go to the salon to get her hair colored. I always admired her for that

GenXmuse · ‎05-15-2016

No. They'd like you to believe it because their livelihood depends on it but any color can give bad results in the hands of an inexperienced user.

BeccaLou · ‎02-09-2016

@PilatesLover I really been thinking about how unsafe hair color is, so I am letting my go grey. Mine is salt&pepper, and bought a few wigs in the color I always colored mine. No one is the wiser.I don't feel well enough to color it any more, and the salon cost is not in my budget anymore.

Caffeina · ‎03-09-2010

@Whosits wrote:
Yes I do think store bought coloring is not a good option. It is flat, for one thing and so often looks very artificial. Also it is so easy to make a color mistake and choose one that does not look good with your skin. I did not know this for years and was coloring my hair a brown that was very bad with my skin tone. It was only after a year or so when I saw some pictures of myself and had a new hair stylist gently try to tell me that I saw how horrible I looked. I've seen this on other people. If you've got the wrong hair color for your skin you are really making your

Over many years I've used Revlon, L'oreal, Garnier, and Clairol. None of them ever looked flat or artificial. The only evidence of artificial is when the roots grow out.

HangingTen · ‎03-10-2010

Years ago, I started covering my grays at a salon. The stylist moved an hour away and I commuted for awhile until taking the leap and buying a box. My main mistakes were picking something too dark and putting it all over rather than just the roots. For awhile I went with Natural Instincts because it isn't permanent. But wuth my head becoming mostly hard to dye gray, I had to up my game. I told my stylist who does my cut that I should probably just go gray but she advised against it because I was too young. For the past 4-5 years, I've colored it every 2 weeks using a box. This could be Madison Reed (nice, but pricy), Schwartzkof, Colorsilk, Nutrisse, or whatever brand is on sale or that I have a coupon for. The only brand I didn't like was eSalon because my hair turned out like straw.

My advice: Go cool/ash if you want to reduce the redness. Pick a color 1-2 shades lighter than your current color. Separate head in sections and do roots for time on instructions and then pull through for 5 minutes. Use hair cap (I get a supply in the ethnic hair area) when color is on head. Have another pair of gloves available in case the original rip or you can't get them on/off cleanly. Wear a button or snap top so you can hop in the shower for the rinse.