Hair dye at Home Kits HELP!?

jtlane25

Cathlete
Okay...here is the deal. I have been dying my hair for about 3 years with a Garnier home box kit. I love the color and all. But, after about 2 weeks I notice some split ends on the ends and along the shaft of my hair strands. I don't know if that particular kit is too strong for my hair or what. I have considered using a different kit but I know it will be a gamble at what I do...will it make it worse...or improve my hair health. I cannot afford going to the salon to get my hair dyed. I have 4 kids...so the time to take away along with the money to spend on that...can detour me from that salon trip. Well..my issue is that I am in the process of growing my hair out...and split ends become a big issue because of the constant trims and cuts....short hair and split ends were not a big deal. Now, for my age...I have a lot of grey hair in the front. I am looking for someone/anyone that has advice. I have very thin and fine hair! HELP!!!!

Tanya in Texas!
 
Well first of all your hair looks just gorgeous in your avatar pic! Lately I've been using Loreal Excellence, which I think is targeted towards people with gray hair; I use it because my hair's really thick and coarse and I don't have to leave it on for twice as long as I'm supposed to for the color to show up. Anyway...it comes with a little tube of pre-coloring protective treatment that you're supposed to apply to fragile areas i.e. the ends before you apply the all-over color. I don't think there's anything particularly special about it though- maybe you could just try applying a bit of regular conditioner to your ends before applying the dye.
 
Until recently, I had good results with both Loreal and Colorsilk. I could color my hair less than every 3 months, and it still stayed in great condition.

However, I'm graying to the point where the color washes out too quickly. I finally broke down and had my hair stylist color it, which worked out beautifully. Instead of red with streaks of gray, I now have red with streaks of blond. Hasn't faded either.

The price sucks though. I figure it's either that, or march around at 38 with skunk streaks in various stages.
 
Have you tried Root Touch Up by Nice and Easy? You only put it on the the roots that show (like part lines or around your face) so the ends are not effected. It helps extend the time between regular colorings. The one problem with it is since you are not doing an all over coverage, the roots underneath are not getting colored. So when I pull my hair back in a pony tail, then a lot of my grey shows.

Jean
 
Tanya - I use the semi-permanent dyes. They don't last as long for the greys, of course, but they seem to be very easy on the hair and the price is good to every 3-4 weeks, I give it another go. My greys are at the front of my head too. Also, do you do any straightening, lots of drying, etc? Could that be causing the splitting ends? I have to really protect my hair or it gets damaged quite easily. Good luck -
 
I use Loreal Color Expert and love it! I have a lot of gray and it works great. The kit includes a base color and a highlighting kit. I'm not an expert at this stuff by any means but my hair looks as good as if it were done professionally. BTW, I had my hair professionally colored/highlighted for 20+ years as I went gray very young and only started doing it myself last fall. The color stays in without fading either and the base color isn't matte which I found to be a problem with Nice and Easy.

I highly recommend it. I pay about $14 per box at Target or Walmart so it's a bit more expensive than some others, but a deal compared to the $130 (plus tip) I paid at the salon!

Jonahnah
Chocolate IS the answer, regardless of the question.
 
Shana, the hair dryer is a great point! I go out of my way to avoid using the hair dryer most days, using it only when I need to style it super nice. Plus I wash my hair every other day (which I can get away with because I work at home).

Jonahnah, thanks for the tip. I've seen Color Expert on the shelves but just figured it was no different.
 
Also, do you give your hair a deep conditioning a day or two before you dye it? There is also a sealer that Sally Hanson sells that might help. I think it seals the hair shaft.
 
Some additinal info FWIW: The Loreal Color Expert recommends not coloring freshly shampooed hair and you're not supposed to shampoo it for 24 hours after coloring it. (The base color dye really foams up when you rinse it out, like a shampoo almost.) After you rinse out the base color dye, you put on your own regular conditioner for 2 minutes then rinse it out. Then you do the highlighting. After you rinse out the highlighting stuff, you put on a hefty amount of this deep conditioner that comes with the Color Expert kit and you leave that on for 2 minutes. My hairs is super silky after I rinse this out, but not greasy. They recommend using the deep conditioner once a week to help maintain the color. They give you PLENTY so I've never run out between colorings. HTH!

Jonahnah
Chocolate IS the answer, regardless of the question.
 
I love the Color Expert too, but don't use it anymore b/c I wasn't good with keeping it up when it started growing out. Wasn't sure what to do at that point. At first, I ended up with all highlighted hair because I couldn't use their little tool that well, so I thought, why not use my fingers. Well, here's a little hint (you would think it would have been obvious to me, but alas, it wasn't!)...every time you dip your fingers into the highlighting solution, the gloves are, of course, covered in it. Then you go to part the next bit of hair to highlight, touching all hair around it, and voila, total highlighted hair. Not exactly what I was going for!! I finally figured that out, and got better at it, but now I've decided total brown is just easier! BTW - last night, after reading this thread, I dreamed I colored my hair and left the stuff on too long and it turned it blond, and not a pretty blond either!
 
What a timely topic. I decided a month ago to stop spending a fortune at the salon on cut and color and I'm due for fresh color and a cut now. I'm going to one of those little chain joints and hoping they can follow the cut I have and I've been debating how I'm going to handle the color. Use the stuff in a box or use professional color? I used the stuff in a box for a year but got tired of watching the red dye go down the shower drain. Red is tough to hang onto. Then I made the mistake of coloring it about every two weeks to try to hang onto the color. By the time I began using professional products my hair was already breaking off. Now that I know not to wash my hair for at least 24 hours (48's better) and not to color it all over every two weeks I think I'm going back to professional stuff... Sorry I'm babbling, I'm just thinking out loud and praying the savings are worth it...
 
Thank you you all for your suggestions. I strolled through the hair dye isle today. I am sooo scared of highlighting my hair. I have never done it...and I can only image me making a wreck of it. I think on the Colour Expert boxes...the highlights are sooo pretty. But, I don't have enough confidence that I can duplicate it! Sigh.... Of course, I couldn't talk my hubby into helping. He told me that he could see it now...that at future family reunions...everybody talking about spousal mishaps.

I'll keep ya'll posted! Thank you all for your help!!!!

Tanya in Texas!
 
Hi again Tanya,

Just wanted to offer some more encouragement.

The highlighting thing with the Color Expert kit is actually really easy and they give VERY clear directions. They even have diagrams on where to position the highlights. They tell you to start with like 5-6 total (2-3 on either side of where ever you part your hair). And, you can control the intensity of the highlight by how long you leave the stuff on your hair. (shorter time, less intense) Really, if I can do it, anyone can. I can barely tweeze my eyebrows (or chin, but that's another thread-LOL!), but it's no way as complicated as those kits with caps you pull hair through--I could never do one of those!

Jonahnah
Chocolate IS the answer, regardless of the question.
 
Wow...is it really that easy??? I guess because I know I can't work on the back of my head. I just know I cannot afford going to the salon. ChaChing! I will work up my confidence today...and see if I can get one! I'm still a nervous wreck though.

Thanks for your encouragement Jonahnah. I'll keep ya posted!

Tanya in Texas!
 
hmm. I've thought about doing highlights at home but have been scared to also... hmmm. maybe I'll work up the courage. I do use the semi-permanent kits to color my hair just cause my color is so blah brown normally. I can't afford a salon either.
I remember my mom saying that semi-permanent is better for your hair for some reason too? She used to use them alot to cover gray but I think now that all us kids are gone she can afford to get her hair done in the salon.
 

Our Newsletter

Get awesome content delivered straight to your inbox.

Top