DIY: Dye

For most of my life I've been battling the age old Betty & Veronica syndrome -- and by that I don't mean fighting over Archie! I'm talking about the debate between Blonde vs. Brunette.

I've been alternating between the two since my junior year of high school up until about two years ago, when I decided to take hair care into my own hands. I was going through a lot of changes at the time, editing nearly every aspect of my life. It was definitely a bittersweet decision (as I'd been going to the same stylist for over 12 years.) But I realized that I was simply not the blonde that I was in my youth. Besides the fact that it wasn't good for my hair, doing a full highlight every six weeks was incredibly time-consuming and expensive. Veronica won in the end and in an effort to time and money, I began dyeing my own hair.

Now I realize this post isn't for everyone. In fact, I reckon that very few of my regular readers have any interest in abandoning their hairdressers. Instead, this is for all of those people (like me) that Googled "dyeing your own hair" and mostly found horror stories or biased reviews.

I spent the past 22 months trying nearly every kind of boxed dye that Target offers. (Most were used at least 2-4 times, unless I really disliked them.) I wanted to write about this way back then, but it was important for me to do my research. Honestly, nothing drives me crazier than people that write hasty product reviews. "I tried it once, so you should buy it!" UGH. That said, my journey hasn't been all too exciting. I never had a really horrible experience with any one particular brand. However, I did find my favorites and I'd like to share them here.

{For a little background: I have thick, wavy, full of body, medium-long, dry hair. (I can go 3-5 days between washings.) Ideally, I wanted lasting and even color, complete grey coverage, a little tonal variety and the least damaging product. Last but not least, I was going from Golden Blonde to level 5-6 Brunette.}

Here is what I discovered about BOXED hair dye:

BEST FOR COVERING GREYS: Hands down, L'Oréal Excellence Creme Hair Color was the greatest at keeping my grey hairs disguised the longest. This is one of the most important factors for me. I don't have a ton (mostly in my part line), but let's just say that I'm not interested in embracing grey just yet. No other boxed dye camouflaged them as long as this one.

BEST TONAL COLOR: John Frieda Precision Foam Color. Truly, this dye left me with the loveliest,  multi-layered range of color. Using foam was a little awkward at first, but after the 2nd or 3rd try I was used to it. The only downside was it didn't cover my greys well enough. Kind of a bummer really! It would've been my favorite otherwise. Féria would be my second choice for this category.

BEST SMELLING: They all smell pretty horrible to me, but I found Clairol Perfect 10 to be slightly less obnoxious than the others. Ammonium-free Clairol Natural Instincts wasn't bad either, but since I need permanent color, I couldn't really count it as an option.

FASTEST: In my experience, the 10 minutes dyes only lasted about 10 days, so keep that in mind. However, if you are looking for speed, Clairol Perfect 10 was also my favorite in this category. In addition, I tried using root touch-ups, which were fine for a temporary fix (especially for those months where the color seemed to fade faster) but not something I'd want to use on a monthly basis.

MISC. FINDINGS: Almost every dye had faded substantially by week 3 (some earlier) and by week 4 it was always necessary to cover up those pesky greys again (some as early as week 2.) I didn't mind the fading color so much, because some of my natural gold and auburn highlights would show. I never found that any dye was more or less damaging to my hair. And unlike other "bad" reviews I'd read, I didn't have a problem with the ends getting substantially darker than other parts of my hair. I always left the color on my roots the longest and then pulled it through to the rest of my hair at the end. Like I said, pretty uneventful. I wouldn't say I'd reached salon quality, but it was good enough.

Stick with me now... after saying all of this, I've discovered something even better.

BEST OVERALL: Two months ago, I finally got even braver and went into Sally Beauty Supply. With the help of an associate, I purchased a Wella Color Charm dye, a big bottle of developer, a squirt bottle and a box of black gloves. Then I went home an dyed my hair like a beauty school dropout! YEAHHHH. All kidding aside, I've used this method twice now and despite my earlier disclaimer, I already love it most of all. But since it's still new to me, I am wary of raving about it too quickly. The color was the richest and most salon-like. The greys were covered the best and the color lasted the longest. My hair felt slightly less damaged and even though it sounds funny, the whole process felt a little more "legit." This past month I also tried Ardell's Gray Magic and Neutral Protein Filler. Both seemed great, although I definitely want to experiment with them more!

For now, I will continue to dye it this way -- that is until I start to get antsy and wonder if there is something better out there. Until then.... I hope that someone out there will find this info helpful.