Please help with hair dye info (lots of gray hair)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am italian/very dark hair. Probably 70 percent gray now. I go and get a single process color every 3-4 weeks. And I've done it for 20 years (except during covid and it looked awful).

I found a salon that is relatively cheap ($95 per process) plus blow dry ($55) and I like the dye they use (Vitality from Italy). My former salon was almost double that and they used INOA that made my scalp itchy.

Dying your hair sucks. It's a lot of upkeep with dark hair. It's a commitment - time wise and financially.

I’d lose the blow dry. It’s throwing away $55 each time.

I know, but I prefer not to leave the salon with wet hair. I've just budgeted for it. And the single process is much cheaper than the last place I went to, so I don't mind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm similarly low maintenance and around your age and use Clairol Beautiful Collection Semi-Permanent Color from Walmart. I wouldn't dream of spending that much money. I started getting greys in college, and, like you, did not care until I was late 30s and people started saying stuff to me about it and I decided I had to.

People can tell.

So what?

Well, you don't want that. If you look like you used a drug store bottle dye you look like you are wearing a helmet. It's ugly. You don't want to dye your own hair.

What are you blathering about?

Is this the default insult from those of you either on the bell or to the left of it? When you disagree with someone? Where did it come from -- an episode of The Golden Girls or something? Clearly I'm not "blathering." I'm telling the OP that drugstore dye looks terrible. Which it does. Box dye has no dimension, so OP will end up with a flat brown helmet of hair. Not good.

But that’s just not true when you are coloring grey hair. Grey hair won’t absorb the same depth of color because the follicle simply cannot, the structure of the hair is different. Do you will always get variation in the depth of color when you use a box color on greying hair, and the amount of variation will depend on the percent grey in the hair.

[Anonymous]

The Madison Reed color bar is a good solution.

[Anonymous]

I have similar dark hair and amount of grey.

(Think Tina fey or Salma Hayek.)

I would go to a good salon the first time and ask for their suggestions. Then ask them how you can maintain it between times on your own.

I do L’Oréal excellence Creme in 5 or 5AB in winter every 3-4 weeks as root touch up. I’ve been doing it for years though. It’s pretty easy. Ive been to the salon though, and they will do the back and everything well the first time you do it. My hairdresser says I do a good job and you can’t tell it’s not salon. My teen daughter would definitely tell me if it was bad. 😎

Ps I recommend Eclips salon in mclean. I love them.

[Anonymous]

IMO salon color varies in quality a lot. I've gotten bad dye jobs I paid a lot for. Also a lot of colorists just don't know how to work with gray hair. Some do, some really don't. There aren't enough good colorists out there, and they know it, so the good ones are $$. Sometimes you luck out and find a good one who is still young enough to not be charging high end, but they you will get priced out on them.

For this reason, I'm box dye only at this point. Agree with PPs that the key to making box dye work is:

-- demi-permanent dye so that it fades instead of getting a harsh line

-- stick to one or two shades lighter than your natural (not gray) hair, and don't go darker

-- consider using a purple shampoo or gentle toner (Madison Reed actually sells one you can use between dye jobs, I think) to prevent/avoid brassiness

If you have thousands a year to spend on your hair color, you can probably ensure your hair looks best by finding a great colorist and making regular appointments. But it's going o cost a lot and it IS time consuming (I can dye my hair at home by just adding 30 minutes to my shower routine on a Sunday once a month -- the salon is going to be 2 hours). I think for many of us, it's not worth it. I'd rather put that money into an index fund or go on vacation. I just want to look a little better/not so old, and move on with my life. A monthly box of hair dye does that for me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve been greying since my early 20s and coloring most of the time since then too.

At times I paid for salon color but I really think it is entirely unnecessary, I got as many if not more compliments when I was coloring with demi/semi permanent for $10 from the CVS - I typically have used Clairol but I’m sure they’re all fine.

The bonus of using a semi/demi applied at home is that the grey won’t absorb the same depth of color so you’ll end up with free ‘highlights’

This exactly. Use the shade or two lighter than your natural color. I have medium to dark brown hair and use dark blonde Natural Instincts. I end up with a lot of color variation. It’s also easy, fast, and cheap!

This. This option isn't for everyone, but i use henna and Indigo (a mix from whole foods) and apply every 6-8 weeks. You'll improve on the application process every time you do it. henna+indigo makes the hair look nice and healthy. Agree that it's messy, and that it can be hard to do the back of your head properly.

I may switch to a salon when i have a higher proportion of grey.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve been greying since my early 20s and coloring most of the time since then too.

At times I paid for salon color but I really think it is entirely unnecessary, I got as many if not more compliments when I was coloring with demi/semi permanent for $10 from the CVS - I typically have used Clairol but I’m sure they’re all fine.

The bonus of using a semi/demi applied at home is that the grey won’t absorb the same depth of color so you’ll end up with free ‘highlights’

This exactly. Use the shade or two lighter than your natural color. I have medium to dark brown hair and use dark blonde Natural Instincts. I end up with a lot of color variation. It’s also easy, fast, and cheap!

I’m guessing it looks brashly or orange tint. Dark hair is hard to get right and lighter often makes it get that brassy tone.

+100
Bet that PP's hair is a brassy mess.

I color my own nearly black hair with a level 5 demi-permanent color and low-volume developer. It never gets brassy because the low-volume developer doesn't strip color from your base. "Permanent" color (20 volume developer or higher) "lifts" your base and then deposits color on top. When this color fades, you see the underlying lifted color, which tends to go orange on dark hair. Semi and Demi- permanent color avoids this pitfall of box color. This isn't rocket science, coloring at home can be just as good as salon as long as you avoid a few basic pitfalls.

[Anonymous]

Also do esalon. I can afford the salon visits but can’t handle the time commitment and inflexibility of appointments.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve been greying since my early 20s and coloring most of the time since then too.

At times I paid for salon color but I really think it is entirely unnecessary, I got as many if not more compliments when I was coloring with demi/semi permanent for $10 from the CVS - I typically have used Clairol but I’m sure they’re all fine.

The bonus of using a semi/demi applied at home is that the grey won’t absorb the same depth of color so you’ll end up with free ‘highlights’

This exactly. Use the shade or two lighter than your natural color. I have medium to dark brown hair and use dark blonde Natural Instincts. I end up with a lot of color variation. It’s also easy, fast, and cheap!

I’m guessing it looks brashly or orange tint. Dark hair is hard to get right and lighter often makes it get that brassy tone.

+100
Bet that PP's hair is a brassy mess.

Lol. No, it’s not, but thanks for the support.

It’s a pretty low risk endeavor since it washes out if you don’t like it. I do specifically buy the ashy tone - look for the one with an A in it, like 6A or 6.5A or 7A, lest you risk the devastation of brassy hair. In fact, if you’re scared of running into the Brass Police, you can specifically buy “brass free” colors. But I find that ashy tones work just fine.

[Anonymous]

Same position as OP and I used to do a root rescue or whatever Revlon/Clarion was on sale at CVS and dye my roots at home. It works fine, but I hate spending time on this stuff and I inevitably don't do it as frequently as I should and have a bunch of white showing. I just started Madison Reed to see how that goes -- it's $50 for unlimited roots if you sign up online. They apply the dye, you sit for 45 minutes, and then they shampoo and condition your hair. It takes a bit over an hour in the salon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:IMO salon color varies in quality a lot. I've gotten bad dye jobs I paid a lot for. Also a lot of colorists just don't know how to work with gray hair. Some do, some really don't. There aren't enough good colorists out there, and they know it, so the good ones are $$. Sometimes you luck out and find a good one who is still young enough to not be charging high end, but they you will get priced out on them.

For this reason, I'm box dye only at this point. Agree with PPs that the key to making box dye work is:

-- demi-permanent dye so that it fades instead of getting a harsh line

-- stick to one or two shades lighter than your natural (not gray) hair, and don't go darker

-- consider using a purple shampoo or gentle toner (Madison Reed actually sells one you can use between dye jobs, I think) to prevent/avoid brassiness

If you have thousands a year to spend on your hair color, you can probably ensure your hair looks best by finding a great colorist and making regular appointments. But it's going o cost a lot and it IS time consuming (I can dye my hair at home by just adding 30 minutes to my shower routine on a Sunday once a month -- the salon is going to be 2 hours). I think for many of us, it's not worth it. I'd rather put that money into an index fund or go on vacation. I just want to look a little better/not so old, and move on with my life. A monthly box of hair dye does that for me.

+1. The very expensive salons I've gone to did a much better job on my hair than I could. The cheaper ones didn't, and I was still paying $60-$100.