Getting your hair colored at a salon can be expensive, so many people will opt to color their hair independently at home instead of making an appointment with a stylist. However, coloring your own hair means that you will need to take action and figure out how to color your hair yourself.
The hair color that you purchase will come with instructions to help you know the basic steps and how long they leave the hair color in your hair. However, it’s nice to have some extra direction and go into both the preparation and the aftermath of coloring your hair.
Table of Contents
1. Gather Materials
Before you start the process of coloring your hair, it is important that you have everything that you need.
Required materials:
- Towels that can be stained
- Hairbrush
- Mirror
- Two boxes of dye
- Bowl
- Lip balm or Vaseline
- Color brush or paint brush
- Disposable gloves
- Shower cap
- Wipes
When choosing your color, it is important to know that the color will typically end up being lighter than what is on the box. If you are using permanent hair color, buy the color darker than you want. If you are using semi-permanent colors, buy a color lighter than you want. You should buy two boxes of hair dye if your hair is longer than shoulder length to have enough color to cover your whole head.
2. Wash Your Hair the Day Before
Your hair shouldn’t be freshly washed before you color it, but don’t go days without washing your hair. If you wash your hair one day before you plan to color your hair and make sure that it is dry when it is time to color, you will be in good shape.
Related Article: Can You Dye Wet Hair?
3. Cover Nearby Surfaces and Your Clothing
Coloring your hair is a messy business. Color is a liquid that can drip and get all over the place. It’s important that you choose an area to color your hair that either makes it easier to clean up drips or can be covered up with an old bed sheet, towels, or some other material.
I cut up plastic bags and taped them so they would stay in place when I color my hair.
Helpful Tip
Make sure to cover tables or counters, the chair you are sitting on, and the floor around you. Also, make sure you have something to cover your clothes; there is a reason that you are draped with a large cover when you go to the salon. Protect anything nearby that you don’t want to get hair color on.
4. Brush Out Your Hair and Separate it
It’s important to brush out your hair completely before coloring it. Get out any tangles that may interfere with the hair color. Once your hair is brushed, separate it into a few sections, holding them with clips. This will make it easier and more manageable to apply the color. You’ll apply it one section at a time. The thicker your hair, the more sections you should separate it into.
5. Protect the Skin Around Your Hairline
Getting the hair color on your skin may not be particularly harmful, but it can be a pain. Hair color is difficult to remove by design, so your hair stays the color you choose. Accidentally, getting it on your skin can stain it or make it hard to wash out.
Before applying the color, you should make sure to protect your skin from the hair color. You can do this by rubbing lip balm or Vaseline on your skin around your hairline and on your ears. If you get the hair color on the gel instead of on your skin, it is easy to wipe off the gel, making your cleanup process easier.
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6. Mix the Dye
Some hair colors will be mixed already when you buy them, but many will require you to mix the ingredients first. Some hair colors will come with the developer or separate ingredients. If you are using two boxes of hair color instead of just one, you will need to mix the two colors together, as you don’t want to have to fumble with the packaging in the middle of applying the hair color.
7. Strand Test
Before you begin applying the hair color to your whole head, you will need to do a strand test. Color a small strand of hair that won’t be seen. A great place to do a strand test is at the nape of the neck. This will help you know if you like the color, and it will also know if you are allergic to the hair color.
8. Apply the Dye
It’s now time to begin applying the color to your hair. Make sure to wear gloves while you are applying the hair color so that your hands don’t become stained. The color will probably come with an applicator bottle, which you can use to apply the hair color. However, you might find it easier and less messy to use a color brush or paintbrush.
Use the bottle or brush to get the hair color on your hair, then rub the hair color into your hair with your gloved hands, one section at a time. It’s easiest to start at the roots, but make sure you apply to new regrowth of roots; also, once you apply the color from the roots to the mid-shaft, take a wide comb and saturate the hair. Take any leftovers and apply them to your ends. The ends will process the quickest, especially if your hair is porous. Make sure your entire head of hair is saturated in the hair color.
9. Cover Your Hair and Wait
Use a shower cap or other material to cover your hair once the hair color is completely saturated into the hair. This will protect your hair from getting messed up and keep the hair color from dripping onto anything. See how long the instructions tell you to leave the color on your hair. Set a timer to make sure you don’t leave it in too little time or too much time.
Leaving it in for less than the minimum time will mean that the hair color won’t have enough time to set. Leaving it in for too much time can alter what you expected in the hair color results.
10. Wipe Any Dye Off Your Face and Neck
Clean any color off your face as you let the hair color set. It’s best to clean your face immediately to avoid the color from staining your skin. Wait to scrape off the lip balm or Vaseline until the hair color is ready to be washed out. You can use a tissue or an old towel to remove the Vaseline from the hairline and skin. Wiping off the barrier may remove some of the hair color from your hairline, causing uneven color results.
11. Rinse
Once your timer has gone off and the hair color has been processed at its suggested time, Rinse your hair out in the shower. Don’t panic if you see some of the hair color wash out of your hair at this point, as there will be some excess color left in your hair that won’t soak into your hair.
You can apply styling products and blow-dry your hair. Its best to wait at least 48-72 hours to wash your hair, this allows the hair color to fully penatrare the cuticle of the hair. Use a sulfate-free or color-safe shampoo to prevent your hair color from fading.