Choosing Your Hair Colour

from bath and body

If you're thinking about colouring your hair for the first time, book a consultation with a colourist, or talk to a colourist at the salon where you have your hair cut. The consultation will be quick but free, and even if you decide to do the job yourself, the advice of a professional will help. Before you start, ask yourself what you want to change about your hair. Do you want to brighten your natural-born mousiness? Cover gray? Make a dramatic change? Your reasons for colouring will determine which products you should use, the best techniques, and whether or not you can do it yourself. I strongly recommend that you get your hair coloured at least once by a professional. A good colourist will lay out your options and tell you how to achieve the look you're after with the least damage to your hair. She'll also talk to you about the maintenance required for each option, an important deciding factor. (If your colour needs a touch-up every few weeks and you're not the disciplined type, you won't be happy with the results.)

There are definite advantages to having your hair coloured at a salon. The quality of the colour itself is better, and you obviously have the benefit of an experienced professional with a practiced eye to do the job. The colourist will custom-mix your colour, achieving a much more subtle result than you can get at home. But let's be real: you don't always have the time or money available; sometimes 2 A.M. is the only moment you have left in the day to colour your hair. Okay, go ahead, but don't try anything complicated (especially not at 2 A.M.!). At-home hair colour is best left for safe—not sorry—processes: touch-ups, henna, and covering gray. Anything more complicated than that should be entrusted to a talented professional at a good salon.

There are several different types of hair colour. Some simply lay colour on top of the hair strand like paint on a canvas; others require a chemical reaction that takes place inside the hair shaft. The amount of time the colour lasts—how strongly it cleaves to the hair—depends on the complexity of the colouring process and the firepower behind the chemicals used. Whatever your reasons for wanting to colour your hair, carefully consider the choices below—and discuss them with your colourist— because if you use permanent colour or henna and you don't like it, you could be stuck with the results until your hair grows out or you pay a colourist a pile of money to correct it.