Do It Yourself - At Home Hair Colouring

from bath and body

Most over-the-counter permanent hair colour is stronger than professional salon colour, which is usually not available to the public. It works more quickly, which makes you feel as if you're getting more bang for your buck, but it usually contains more ammonia, which means it is harsher on hair. Salon colour not only works more slowly but also becomes more diluted when the colourist mixes it to create just the right tone for you. At-home colour is premixed and geared to cover a more generic range of shades. Salon colour also tends to be better buffered with silicones or emulsion bases, which make it gentler on hair.

If you're going to use permanent colour, always look for products labeled "low-ammonia, low-peroxide,'' because they're better for your hair. When it comes to at-home hair colour, L'Oreal is one of the best. Also look for hair-colour kits with cream formulas that contain conditioning botanicals and polymers that bind to the hair shaft to condition it. Semipermanent colour coats the hair shaft, which makes it thicker, and opens up the cuticle, which gives the hair body. A good product can also add shine, which gives an optical illusion of thickness.

You may not want to drag yourself into the salon every few weeks for touch-tips. Once you've become friendly with your colourist (after a few visits), ask if she will mix up a bottle of the colour—or colour-enhancing shampoo—she uses and sell it to you for in-between touch-ups. Or ask her to recommend the commercially available product and colour that would work best for you in between visits to the salon.

01Choose it. A bad colour match can turn your $15 box of hair colour into a $100 trip to the salon for colour correction. If you're new at colouring your hair, my advice is to start with a temporary hair colour, because if you screw it up, it's easier to wash out right away— or in the worst Case, it will wash out in six to eight shampoos. Next, narrow your choice down to the colour category you want—black, brown, red, blond. Then zero in on that section of the drugstore shelf. Look at the back of each box, where most kits show "before" ("natural") hair colours next to "after" hair colours. Ignore the lustrously shaded locks of the model on the box; she probably didn't start out with your colour, and you won't end up with hers. Instead, consider your skin tone. Hold the box up next to your face, look in the store mirror, and see how the colour looks against your skin. (It isn't easy under fluorescent lighting, which is why I strongly recommend asking your hairstylist for guidance, if you can.)

If you're trying for a match to cover gray, be honest with yourself. "Look at your natural colour and stay within one or two shades of colour," says Wendy How, co-owner of the Oscar Bond Salon in Malaysia. The most important thing to know in choosing colour is that most companies make their shades too dark. Choose one that's one or two shades lighter than your natural colour.

If your natural colours are "warm"—in beauty-speak, that means your makeup palette has yellowish undertones (rusts, bronzes, greens, apricots)—look for warm hair-colour shades with golden undertones. (It's easier for women with "warm" skin to go blond, because they already have warm skin tones to complement the warm blond tones.) If you're "cool" and look better in blue-reds, look for cool, ashen shades. For a refresher in determining "what colour you are.".

Next, consider the colour of your eyes. If your eyes are brown and your skin has yellow undertones, look for colours with a touch of gold (golden blond, chestnut, orange-reds). If your eyes are blue, green, or gray and your skin has blue undertones, choose from the burgundy-browns, ash blonds, or red-violets. If your skin has red undertones, be careful. The more red you put in your hair, the redder your skin will look. When in doubt, start subtly. Remember, you can always pump up the intensity later on.

02Test it. Before you dive in and colour your entire head, do tests strand first to see how the colour really looks on your hair. Take a half-inch-wide section of hair from the nape or bottom, where you can see it but no one else can, and colour it from roots to ends. Leave the colour in for the right amount of time, rinse it, dry it, and check to make sure that it's the colour you want.

03 Wash it. Follow the directions on the box, and use a timer to track the time carefully. Make sure not to leave the colour on your head longer than necessary and rinse thoroughly. Then condition and rinse again.