Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:nooooo!!!! It's horribly messy and you won't be able to color your hair as evenly as a stylist. Go to the salon!!

So this is my problem. Some people are great using box. I’m not one of them. I have a few grays but they are stubborn and not easy to color. Also I guess I am the only one who gets dye in a lot of unwelcome places - bathroom, clothes, me, etc?

Saturate the grays with dye, put on a shower cap and ideally a heat cap, then let it sit for 2-3x as long as the box says (for demi). It takes some practice to get used to the mechanics of it, but it looks no worse than when I had it done at the salon. And they often missed grays, @$100/pop!

The problem is that you cannot see all of your gray. If say to saturate all roots, that’s one thing. But you cannot specifically target what you can’t see.

Anonymous wrote:I do box dye at home and it's fine.

Same

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Boxed dye gives you a brown helmet.

Not if you use demi.

What is demi permanent vs semi permanent? TIA

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Boxed dye gives you a brown helmet.

Not if you use demi.

Ok ... but then good luck getting it to cover gray, which is what OP is after.

Anonymous wrote:Boxed dye gives you a brown helmet.

Not if you use demi.

Boxed dye gives you a brown helmet.

I generally used boxed dye and then do root touch up as needed. But as I get grayer I worry I’m not covering the underneath hair as well, so I’m going to the salon for that maybe every six months.

I use Clairol Age Defy and their root touch up, both in the most boring sounding shade called medium brown, but it actually gets highlights in the sun.

Anonymous wrote:nooooo!!!! It's horribly messy and you won't be able to color your hair as evenly as a stylist. Go to the salon!!

It's just too expensive here. I buy the boxed Madison and Reed.

It can be done and look nice, but most people do not do this very well at home.

It is harder to cover grays with demi than permanent, but I recommend giving it a try. It's a prettier, more natural looking result imo.

I've been using Revlon Colorsilk for years and it's excellent at covering grays. I use the dark brown color (#30) because my hair is very dark brown, but their medium brown is also pretty dark. I find I have to leave it on longer than the recommended time - usually about 25 minutes - but since you're just covering a few grays you might want to start out with 15-20 minutes and see how that goes. Worst case, it washes out quickly.
I used to spend $100+ to have it done at a salon but this is almost as good. (Truthfully, the salon color is nicer but $$$.) The Revlon Colorsilk is a whopping $5 per box.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:nooooo!!!! It's horribly messy and you won't be able to color your hair as evenly as a stylist. Go to the salon!!

So this is my problem. Some people are great using box. I’m not one of them. I have a few grays but they are stubborn and not easy to color. Also I guess I am the only one who gets dye in a lot of unwelcome places - bathroom, clothes, me, etc?

Saturate the grays with dye, put on a shower cap and ideally a heat cap, then let it sit for 2-3x as long as the box says (for demi). It takes some practice to get used to the mechanics of it, but it looks no worse than when I had it done at the salon. And they often missed grays, @$100/pop!

I use Madison Reed. You have to keep it on a little longer if you have coarse hair.

Anonymous wrote:I use Clairol Natural Instincts dark warm brown to cover grays and it works well. I have to leave it on for 45 min though, not the recommended 15 min.

I do the same. It takes way longer than the box says. They just have to cover their a$$.

Anonymous wrote:nooooo!!!! It's horribly messy and you won't be able to color your hair as evenly as a stylist. Go to the salon!!

I have been doing it for years. This is not true. I mean, keep paying if you don't want to deal with the mess (not that bad) but I promise you your hair doesn't look 10-15 better than mine (which is how much more you pay).