Covering Gray at Home B/t Salon Visits

just try the kit on a little patch under the hairline where it's not very visible. the whole time i colored i just did it myself.
khairete
S. (now happily gray)

I haven't tried it yet but my BF loves this stuff...https://www.madison-reed.com/shopping/root-touch-up

I have high hopes it will do as promised.

I got tired of paying about $120 with tip to get my hair colored. I find that the inexpensive hair color boxes (i.e. Revlon and the like) do a completely sufficient job. If you do it yourself, then touch ups are totally easy because you have the exact color at home. I actually will do a 2 step process. I color it dark, then I highlight it with Sally bleach (the one for facial hair works fine). The highlighting is easy...just pull a few strands of hair and cover them with the bleach...no foil or anything, comes out fine and one gal who cut my hair was surprised that I did it myself...big compliment!

Go to the hair color aisle or your salon. There is a powder you just brush on. I use it and love it. Looks like makeup.

I was scared too, but a friend has great hair and has been using the "Nice & Easy" Root Touch-Up product. I used it, and my husband (yeah, really) does the work! It looks fine! It's supposed to blend with a variety of natural colors, and I have mixed/matched depending on what else I've had done at the salon (natural color vs. matching highlights). It's actually pretty forgiving stuff!

You need an old towel or shirt to cover your shoulders, a rat-tail comb to part and re-part the hair, and a helper (I think - I'm not coordinated and I couldn't see the back of my head even if I were). The kit has 2 disposable gloves, but I find I need a third to help make new parts in my hair and separate the layers for my husband, who is even more klutzy than I am. Gloves are cheap in the cleaning section of the supermarket. Just remove them carefully, pulling the cuff down over the fingers to enclose the dye, and throw away.

I've used Medium Brown, Light Golden Brown, and Dark Golden Brown depending on where I am with highlights. I think they are 4G, 5G and 6G but you can check the box. We just paint the roots with the enclosed brush, not the entire strand of hair. But friends of mine do the whole shebang. Here's the thing - you can start with semi-permanent color - if you hate it, you just wash it several times until it fades. For permanent, it just grows out.

I have friends with beautiful gray hair, some with real silver hair. My gray grew in very unevenly - a patch here, a patch there. It just looked ridiculous. Now I'm committed. Don't apologize - do what makes you happy!

Color your hair more often. I had to move mine up to every 6 weeks instead of 8. And since that was getting really expensive, I started doing it myself.
I signed up with eSalon - which is salon quality hair color that you do yourself with their stylist instructions. And it's $20, instead of the $80-100 you pay at the Salon. It's really easy to get the hang of doing it yourself, too.

So. Much. Better.

My hairdresser found my first grey hair when he was cutting my hair. I was 17 years old....Yes, he's been cutting my hair for many many years. Anyway. I learned how to dye my hair in college from the drag queens I used to live with. Do it yourself works just great, especially if you find the right color. I've used Preference by Loreal for decades, and been a happy "natural" red head ever since. I've also used Garnier with great results. If you're simply thinking root touch ups, that could be tricky if you can't find a matching color. However, I know there are boxes out there designed just for root touchups. I also agree that, if you're going to have it done at the salon, more often is better ... i.e. every 5-6 weeks vs. every 8. And if you really want to shake it up...try some teal or fuchsia streaks. That always turns heads. :-) S.

I just don't understand why people go to salons to color their hair. They use the same stuff in the boxes you can buy for yourself. I think you should try a home color option. If it's horrible you can go get it redone in a few days. If it works out then you've learned a new thing and can save money too.

I was so scared to try a root cover up and finally had to give in when my hair appointment was cancelled. Well, it changed my world! I was going every 5 weeks to get my hair done and now, I go way less often. I use the Loreal Root Cover up and it works wonders. The Clairol root cover is good too. The first time I used it, I removed it a minute early - just in case. Now, I keep it on an additional 2-3 minutes and get fabulous coverage.

Try it, you'll be fine. I'm super pick about my hair and my grays never showing. Just pick the color closest to yours. Bring a friend to the store who can help you out.

I like Nutrisse and it covers gray very well. Actually like it better than salon colors!

My sister colors her hair in between salon visits. She does a variation - she only does the roots and then just pulls the color through at the end so the ends don't get too dark. It's doable (kind of like Diane mentions below) but it's still coloring your own hair, and she has to have her daughter help her. She gets her color from one of those salon supply stores (we have a stylist in the family so she has access to the salon color. Not sure if that makes a difference). Her stylist told her what color to get so it matches up.

Not sure if you can go back to this, but I just foil my hair for this reason. I have quite a lot of grey and I need to color so it doesn't look quite so drab. My grey is not silver, it's very dull so I like some color in there. My stylist mixes browns and blondes so that it's all a mix, and then when the grey comes in, it's not a visible line. Every second visit I get new foils done, but just half of my head. I go to the salon every 6 to 7 weeks. My mom did this method all along, she's 80. It doesn't look stripey if they know what they are doing.