Colouring you hair
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free skin care · Sun Sep 04, 2005 12:46 pm

This does seem a little trivial after Katrina I know but maybe something trivial may be good for us.
Just wondered how many on this forum have their hair coloured.

I have had my hair coloured from a golden blonde to a very light blonde for 5 years now and am contemplating returning to my natural hair colour. Trouble is I keep getting told that bottle blonde looks better but all I see is over processed. At 23 should I not just enjoy my natural colour whilst I can, my mum is forever cursing at having to colour her gray hair.

free skin care · Mon Sep 12, 2005 5:05 am

Why not compromise and return to your natural darker color and have it be your “base color,” and then have a few lighter blonde highlights woven in. This would give the appearance of naturally “sun-kissed” hair (when your hair fades and gets lighter in the summer from spending a lot of time in the sun). Then you could gradually add fewer and fewer highlights (or else have highlights a darker shade of blonde) until your hair is completely back to your natural color? This would mean that the change is more gradual, so – hopefully – it wouldn’t be as noticeable to those around you then if you suddenly went from platinum blonde to dark blonde/light brown.

Does that make any sense?! Rosebud, if God didn’t want us to fool around and play or try on different hair colors, he wouldn’t have created Miss Clairol, L’oreal, or Garnier!!! Very Happy

free skin care · Tue Sep 13, 2005 12:05 am

Carekate I know your right!!! Very Happy

This would not be such a hard decision if it were not for a male who likes a blonde on his arm Laughing

I like the idea of having my natural hair colour but very sunkissed and I am sick of having roots just 2 months after I've had the colour done.
Carekate do you home dye?

free skin care · Tue Sep 13, 2005 1:18 am

of course I do I refuse to be beaten by grey! Cool

free skin care · Tue Sep 13, 2005 6:15 am

I'm around 50 with dark red-brown hair and a bit of grey in the front. My hair doesn't have much grey but is sort of "fading", can people suggest a coloring routine that wouldn't make me a slave to it? Maybe steaking in darker or lighter or both? Thanks for your advice.

free skin care · Tue Sep 13, 2005 11:55 am

rosebud wrote:

Carekate do you home dye?

You betcha! I’ve been coloring my hair at home since I first starting going grey when I was 15-16. See my review on the best DIY hair color: http://www.essentialdayspa.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7658&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight= I even do my own highlights at home, too! Although if I want complex, "carmelized" highlights (i.e.: highlights/lowlights in three or more separate colors -- pale gold, light copper, bronze, fiery red, dark mahogany, etc.) woven strategically around my hair, then I *do* bite the bullet and go to my trusty stylist, but it truly isn't a hardship because she cuts me a great deal and sometimes even does my color for free when she calls me to come in and be the “guinea pig” when she has training new stylists at the salon by demonstrating the coloring technique/s on a “volunteer” client!

But back to coloring at home...there was a time that I would literally change my hair color every 2-3 weeks just because I could! Before you ask, no, it didn’t damage my hair, but that could be because I wear it super-short. During that time in my life, I guess you could say that changing my hair color every other week was really my favorite hobby!!

free skin care · Tue Sep 13, 2005 12:16 pm

sharky wrote:

...can people suggest a coloring routine that wouldn't make me a slave to it? Maybe steaking in darker or lighter or both?

Actually, that sounds like exactly what you should do. Make an appointment with a “master colorist” at a salon and tell him/her that you want harmonizing highlights (lighter) and lowlights (darker) in complimentary colors to your natural (“base”) color woven strategically through your hair, concentrating on the areas

If you want something a bit easier to maintain, ask your stylist to use an all-over, single-processing, demi-permanent or semi-permanent hair color that is within 1-2 shades lighter or darker (whichever you prefer) than your natural hair color. When this is done, your grey hairs suddenly become natural highlights themselves and will blend in with your new color, rather than the grey hairs being in stark-contrast as they appear now. Demi/semi-permanent hair color gradually fades completely away in 4-6 weeks, leaving no tell-tale roots.

Regardless of which road you decide to take, be sure to tell the stylist that you want him/her to follow up the hair coloring by applying a pure, clear gloss to help seal in the color – think of it as a nail polish “topcoat,” except it’s for your hair! This clear gloss will help keep your new hair color staying truer for longer and it also adds incredible shine.

If you’d rather save the money you’d pay to have your hair colored in a salon and do it at home, there are several demi/semi-permanent hair coloring kits you can buy at the drugstore (Clairol “Natural Instincts” line is one).

Whether you chose option 1, 2 or 3 above, you can help maintain the color yourself at home by using a color depositing conditioner specifically designed for dark red or brunette hair once or twice per week to refresh your color and help disguise the telltale regrowth of roots. I can provide you with a list of very good color depositing conditioners to use.

HTH,
Carrie

free skin care · Tue Sep 13, 2005 12:19 pm

Ladies....I am in the same boat too!!! My boyfriend likes the really light pale blonde (and so do I) but how all the processing drys out my hair Crying or Very sad

Are the colors that you buy at the drugstore stronger or gentler than the salon? Want to try Clairol Herbal Essences color. They have 2 formulas: one without ammonia and for really light shades low-ammonia. Is this gentler and would it drastically lighten my hair (currently light golden blonde) Confused

free skin care · Tue Sep 13, 2005 12:47 pm

cbrooke wrote:

Are the colors that you buy at the drugstore stronger or gentler than the salon?

Yes and no. The strength of the hair dye is actually determined by how strong of a color developer is used. Developers come in 10%, 20% and 30% strengths and the higher the number, the stronger it is. For example, if you had jet black hair and wanted to go platinum blonde, you’d need to use a 30% solution to “lift” your natural color (i.e.: suck the color pigment right out of the hair cuticle/shaft) enough to go that much lighter.

A 20% developer solution is what you’d use to achieve color results that are within 2-3 shades (either darker or lighter) of your natural color. This is the typically the strength found in most DIY hair color kits that you’d buy at the drugstore.

Of course, the percentage of the developer’s strength isn’t the only thing that determines how harsh or gentle a hair dye is because it also depends on the length of time that you leave it on your hair to “process.” The longer you leave it, the more damage it can cause.

Another determining factor is the type of hair colorant used. Demi/semi-permanent shades are more gentle because they aren’t permanently altering the structure of the hair cuticle. “Permanent” (aka “Level 3") hair colorants can be more damaging because they *are* formulated to permanently alter that structure.

cbrooke wrote:

....Want to try Clairol Herbal Essences color. They have 2 formulas: one without ammonia and for really light shades low-ammonia. Is this gentler and would it drastically lighten my hair (currently light golden blonde) Confused

If memory serves me right, Herbal Essences is a Level 3 (permanent) hair color, so that in itself means it’s not going to be “healthy” for your hair! If I were in your shoes, I’d opt for the ammonia-free version.

Also, to help combat the dry, brittle, over-processed hair, regardless of what type or strength of hair color you decide to use, it’s important that you use a good deep conditioner frequently. If your hair is really looking like straw, I’d say you should deep condition your hair 2-3 per week.

Another way you can pamper your hair and help prevent some of the over-processed hair frying is to apply a protein conditioning treatment (i.e: some type of hot-oil treatment – you can buy these or make your own at home with olive, jojoba or coconut oil!) to your hair immediately *before* coloring it. In fact, back in my hair-dying hey-day when I was changing colors 2-3 times per month, I’d actually apply my hot oil treatment, let it penetrate for about 30 minutes, and then immediately apply the hair dye *on top* of the oil treatment (i.e.: I didn’t rinse the oil out before applying the hair color) and I’m sure that played a significant part in the fact that my hair didn’t start breaking off or falling out because I was coloring it so often!!

It turns out that I was a genius ahead of my time doing this because not long ago I found out that the Phytolagie hair care line (very big among bleached-blonde celebs like Pamela Anderson and all the other “Baywatch” babes) had recently introduced their own pre-coloring heat oil treatment product which they sell for a pretty penny....

Anyway, I hope this answers your question and didn’t serve to merely muddy the waters even more! Embarassed

free skin care · Tue Sep 13, 2005 1:10 pm

Wow....thanks for all the info Very Happy

I am going to an Aveda salon for a consultation, so I will see what they have to say. The only reason I am worried about the damage and want a gentle dye is because I am going to Mexico on Saturday and don't want my hair to be fried....but want to look pretty for my holiday Rolling Eyes

May have to wait until I come back to do anything!

I am still confused about one thing....Will a dye without ammonia lighten my hair 2 shades???

free skin care · Tue Sep 13, 2005 1:30 pm

cbrooke wrote:

Wow....thanks for all the info Very Happy

I am going to an Aveda salon for a consultation, so I will see what they have to say. The only reason I am worried about the damage and want a gentle dye is because I am going to Mexico on Saturday and don't want my hair to be fried....but want to look pretty for my holiday Rolling Eyes

May have to wait until I come back to do anything!

I am still confused about one thing....Will a dye without ammonia lighten my hair 2 shades???

Honestly, I think you need to be more concerned about the percentage of peroxide (10%, 20%, 30%) rather than the ammonia, as that is the ingredient that really causes the hair color to penetrate and lighten so I would think that a no-ammonia brand would get you the results that you want.

As for getting your color done at an Aveda concept salon, I can tell you for sure that there will be no damage caused to your hair whatsoever because Aveda uses vegetable-based colorants and the most gentle color developers. It is for this reason that Aveda color jobs tend to fade out very quickly, because they mostly use the demi/semi-permanent colors that I lectured about earlier, which means that the Aveda dye jobs aren’t really chemically-altering the hair’s cuticle structure.

On the other hand, getting your color done at an Aveda salon might turn out to be a complete waste of money if you’re going to be swimming and frolicking in the sea because the salt water – not to mention the sun!! – will cause the color to fade away VERY quickly. Regardless of what type of color you end up doing, make sure that you use a color protectant/leave-in conditioner product that has built in sunscreen to help prevent fading. Yes, your hair needs to be protected from too much sun exposure, just like your skin! Besides – have you ever gotten a sunburn on your scalp?!?! Shock

Also, make sure to rinse the salt water (or chlorine if you swim in the pool) from your hair each night because both salt and chlorine water can be drying, as well.

free skin care · Tue Sep 13, 2005 2:34 pm

Thanks again!!!

I will follow all your tips. What leave-in product would you recommend, are there ones specifically for sun protection (??have SPF??) Confused

That's what burns me about hair colors from the drugstore, I can't find any listing of the ingredients....where should I be looking on the box to find out the peroxide content hmm

free skin care · Fri Sep 16, 2005 7:01 am

Is Annato the coloring conditioner you like best? I saw you added that link to another post.

free skin care · Fri Sep 16, 2005 7:09 am

cbrooke,

Quite a few Frederic Fekkai leave in products have UV protection. Smile

free skin care · Fri Sep 16, 2005 8:37 am

Someone mentioned they did not want to become a slave to colouring their hair and that hit the nail on the head for me. I like being blonde but hate having roots all the time.
You girls who have naturally light blonde hair are so lucky Laughing

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