Go to Karen at PR&Partners in Shirlington VA, she is the best, her prices are fair and she listens

I usually just do my roots or color over a bit of gray, I am a brunette, so no need to pay a fortune at a salon for that. Haven't gone in years as I do not see a difference between the salons and my own work at home lol. If I color my hair I get compliments on how shiny it is, etc.

But if I wanted blond, or highlights, I'd go to a good salon.

I was doing it at home but decided my hair looked too dark nod too one dimensional. Now go to salon and I him it looks much better. I have medium/dark brown hair. I go to the chain salons and it's more like $50 or $60..

as a brunette, i think box colors can look too one dimensional. also, they turn out pretty flat and age your face. salons are great in that you can get highlights mixed in, which definitely look more attractive and don't age you as much.

-been there, done that

Right now the budget salons are farily inexpensive. If all you are doing is roots, it is not too expensive. I never mastered the roots only technigue that the salons do so easily. It is not good for the rest of your hair to color it over and over to cover the roots.

I do the salon every other time. I also have long medium brown hair, about 25% grey. I go to salon, 4 weeks later do root touch up at home, 4 weeks later go back to salon.

I found that when I was exclusively dying it ahome, I wasn't doing a great job with the back of my head or getting it as evenly as I'd like. They do a better job in the salon with that. Also getting it less two-toned. (If your a color brand slut and will buy any medium brown shade that's on sale, you know what I mean.)

OP here. Re: PP's post, I'm not sure I'd describe myself as having been fully "successful" in using the box. I hate how my hair color starts to get red tones after a week or two after I color it, and I usually miss some greys or they don't seem to be fully covered. The biggest problem is that my texture seems more dried out and my hair just isn't as healthy and shiny as it was before I ever started coloring it.

I figure it costs me $10 each time I color it it home, and it will add about $100 to do it at the salon. So I figure it will be a $90 experiment to see if I notice a difference. Based on the responses I read here, I'm going to give it a try.

I've been using the L'Oreal everpure line of shampoo & conditioner. I assume the salon will try to sell me Kerastase. Worth it?

I think if you've been successful at the process, and happy with the results, why bother with something else? (Maybe I'm just cheap.)

Actually, the stuff I buy in the box makes my hair super shiny. It is the first thing I notice after I color my hair.

I go to a hair school, and can get a color and cut for under $100 (Paul Mitchell has one, Aveda has one, look around).

The difference in going to a salon is that they put on a shine (Aveda doesn't have this but Paul Mitchell does - it's called PM Shines) that makes your hair shiny. I like that which a box can't provide.