Wondering how to dye your hair at home? These days, it’s actually one of the best things to be experimental with your hair — whether you want to dye your roots to touch up the color or try a brand new hue. Luckily, it’s also super easy once you learn how – here’s the best tips and tricks I’ve learned for how to dye your hair at home.
The first time I dyed my hair at home, I was 11 years old. I wanted to dye my whole head, but my mom only allowed me to do tiny blonde highlights. Together, we bought a box highlighter kit and she applied honey blond streaks all over my shoulder-length dirty blonde hair. Since then, I’ve dyed hair every color of the rainbow, from dark cherry red to slate gray. And I’ve developed a habit of walking away from hair color consultations with professionals, because I know I can do it myself.
It can seem scary if you’ve never done it before, but hair color is formulaic and the truth is, hair always grows back. There are a few basic things you need to know before you embark on this adventure however: If you want to color your a lot hair lighter than it is, you’ll usually need to bleach it, or strip the color from it. Then, you’ll usually apply a dye over your lightened strands depending on what color you want, or a toner if you want to stay blonde, which just subtly tweaks the hue of your newly-bleach hair from say, brassy blonde to silvery white. If you want to try a non-natural color, it’s usually always recommended that you bleach your hair, let it process and wash it out, then dry it first. Permanent hair colors (the natural-looking colors that a hair colorist would apply in a salon if you wanted a root touch-up or to shift your shade a few hues) are composed of two things: a dye pigment and a developer (more on that later) which are mixed together before applying to activate the chemicals. Non-natural looking colors (in the vein of Manic Panic) are typically considered semi-permanent (and begin fading the moment you wash your hair, unlike natural brunette or natural red dyes that are considered permanent) and act as a filler on bleached hair.
Many stylists I’ve encountered are scared to bleach out non-blonde hair and dye it another color (a double process) on the same day. One once told me I’d need to pay $400 an hour for a color correction when I had pink hair and wanted to switch to a warm brown shade. But despite the horror stories we’ve all heard, I’ve never had any major disasters; my hair has never fallen out.
If you do your research correctly (YouTube and employees at beauty supply stores are great for this), there’s no reason why you shouldn’t dye your hair at home. You save money and have more control over the look you want. My mom would agree –after years of her watching me dye my hair all the colors of the rainbow, she was inspired to try it too. She’s cycled through turquoise blue and pink, landing on sunflower yellow at the age of 63.
Here, the most important things I’ve learned about dyeing my hair at home.
Do Prep Your Hair Before Bleaching It
So your hair is one color (say, bright red) and you want it to be another color (perhaps a nice shade of blue?): You can’t just bleach it — that will leave you with an orange-y pink mess. The most basic way to think about it is if you wanted to change the color of anything else (the walls of your house, a black dress, for example.)
Instead, you need to fade the hair first. Here’s my trick: heat a cup of olive oil in the microwave for about 30 seconds, then apply it to your hair as a mask and sleep in it overnight. I measure whatever I think is enough to cover my entire head without totally soaking it.
Before changing out my hair colors in a major way, I usually do this for two weeks. I haven’t found any scientific knowledge that proves that olive oil will fade hair dye, but I swear it works–an older friend of a friend told me about the wonders of this when I was about 15. Of course, you can also use one of the many dye-removers or faders on the market–Color Oops is probably the most well-known one. I’ve used it and it does work, but the downside is that it smells like death and it’s full of chemicals. The olive oil solution is more natural.
If you have virgin (never dyed) hair or you’re going to shift your hair color just slightly, you usually do not have to deal with this step.
Don’t Use a Box Dye
The first couple of time I dyed my hair myself, I used box dye. Social media and YouTube weren’t nearly as big as they are now—and there was a lot less information out there on how to do hair at home.
It may seem easy, but there are a million reasons why you shouldn’t use a box dye. For one, if you have hair past your shoulders, you’ll likely need two or three boxes to cover all of it. Secondly, there’s no way to get the same kind of customization as you would from mixing your own recipe. Box dye comes in just a few different shades per brand, with instructions advising every person who uses the product to apply it exactly same way — even though people have different tones and textures.
The good thing is, if you’ve ever tried a box dye, you know the essentials you need to dye your hair: gloves (you definitely need to put these on), either a bottle with a nozzle to apply the dye or a bowl and brush combo and a deep conditioner that comes in most boxes to use post-dye.
If you go to a beauty supply store (like Ricky’s or Sally’s) you can get the exact same ingredients as you’d find in a box dye kit, just customized. I learned this from a top stylist at Serge Normant a couple years ago. I was getting a blow-out and he asked me what bleach formula I use (Wella Color Charm Powder Bleach and 20 volume developer) it turned out to be the same thing he used to take his clients white blonde. The famous French colorist Christophe Robin also once told me my at-home bleach job that I learned from YouTube was so good I could work in his salon.
Usually in these beauty supply stores, there are entire sections devoted to hair color and employees who specialize in it. What you’ll want to do first is to choose a color or bleach level, usually showcased with little loops of hair to show you what the color would look like on pure white hair. If you choose the most common: a permanent dye or bleach (eg not a semi-permanent non-natural color like purple, or a henna color or other unconventional dye which often involves an entirely different process) you’ll then have to choose a developer.
A developer is a substance with hydrogen peroxide that helps to lift or bleach the color out of your hair). Beauty supply stores will be able to advise you on what color might work for you personally, as well as what developer you should use, but in general, developers come in only four different strengths: 10, 20, 30 and 40. 40 is the strongest (it has the most lift and is therefore the most damaging) and 10 is the weakest and what you’d use if you were freshening up your color and didn’t really need lift. The difference between the levels of developers is the amount of hydrogen peroxide in each–for example, a 30 developer is about 9% hydrogen peroxide.
Just like the box dye, the dye pigment you select will have thorough instructions on how to mix it proportionally with developer and will also specify how long to leave it on. Likewise, if you want to bleach your hair (either for a really light look or in preparation of applying a pastel semi-permanent hair color) the bleach you select will come in a powder form and will have detailed instructions. If you are seeking a non-natural hair color, it’s a completely different process (more on that in the ‘Don’t Spend $500 for Pastel Hair’ section).
Do Use a Bowl and a Brush
Typical box dyes usually come with a bottle with a long nozzle. You mix the dye and developer in there and then use it as an applicator. But I’ve found that it’s actually a lot easier if you purchase a brush (like this one) and a bowl (I like to use a clear Pyrex measuring cup so I can see the color and proportions clearly).
I usually mix my dye, developer, bleach or neon pink (sometimes it’s a two-step process) along with anything else (more on that in the ‘Do Buy This Dream Product to Stop Itchiness and Pain from Bleach’ section) together in this bowl.
Don’t forget to wear gloves. I’ve found that a bottle is a lot messier, and doesn’t allow you to paint the roots close to your scalp like they do in professional salons. I part my hair and go section by section, painting the roots and/or the entire strands depending on what I’m doing. There are plenty of bloggers both well-known and unknown who make fantastic videos of themselves during this process, but I highly recommend Brittany Balyn’s videos because she shows everything from mixing to sectioning hair.
Using a bowl instead of a bottle is also great if you don’t want a single color or if you want streaks of rainbow colors. Set up multiple bowls and brushes if you’re doing highlights or little strands in different tones. When you’re done applying the color with a brush, my favorite thing to do is take the leftover dye in my (gloved) hands and smush and work it into all the ends of my hair which are usually the driest and therefore least absorbent parts of my hair.
Do Ask Your Friends for Help
Trust me, I’ve tried to bleach my roots alone and it’s not easy. I recommend finding a friend who can devote an hour to splitting your hair into sections and applying the color, whether it’s just a root touch-up or an all-over color change.
Then, you can later help them dye their hair when they need it. There’s something about sharing the experience of dying someone else’s hair that bonds you together. A friend who can dye your hair is a friend for life.
Do Buy This Dream Product to Stop Itchiness and Pain from Bleach
Bio-Kur Care & Comfort Packette Treatments is an amazing product that is meant to be mixed into bleach (or dye formulations with high level developer) to prevent that itchy, painful feeling that comes with bleaching your hair. I usually stir three packets in with my bleach before applying it to my strands (each packet cost less than $1!) and I never feel like itchiness or pain associated with bleaching. I’ve been using it for as long as I can remember. Some colorists will tell you to use a couple of packets of artificial sweeteners like Splenda or Sweet ‘N Low do the same thing, but I tried it once and it did not work.
It’s also worth looking around your beauty supply store (or asking the knowledgeable employees) or on Amazon for other niche products that you can either mix in with your custom color or bleach. I will never stop mixing 20 drops of Ardell Hair Color Corrector in Red and Gold into my bleach recipe–this genius product eradicates the brassy tones that can sometimes come out after bleaching, for a pure white color.
Don’t Spend $500 for Pastel Hair
I’ve had every pastel hair color under the sun, and they all fade—sometimes completely, in as little as one wash. It doesn’t matter if you go to an uptown salon in New York City or a cool indie one in Seattle–sadly, unnatural hair colors will fade fast. This is because they’re semi-permanent and usually vegetable based.
There’s absolutely no product that will make your pastel hair last a long time. I’ve seen friends go to expensive salons and spend hundreds to have their hair bleached and then dyed pastel, only to last a week. Others salons are afraid of having customers get angry if their hair fades too quickly, so they’ll dye it darker and tell people to wait for it to fade—which means you’ll be stuck with a color you didn’t want. Instead, DIY. The easiest method is to mix nine parts conditioner (buy the cheapest one at the drugstore, or use one you don’t care about) and one part color and apply it for 20 minutes before washing it out. Using only 1/10 dye versus conditioner will give you a surprisingly bright color on occasion, but you can always increase the dye to condition proportion it if you want a more saturated look.
Another important tip for getting that pastel or unnatural hair color: you do have to have bleached or natural blonde hair for it to show up, since semi-permanent dyes simply act as a filler on hair rather than penetrating the hair shafts and chemically altering them, as a permanent dye would. Pastel or unnatural dyes aren’t able to be mixed with developers to lift hair color, therefore, you have to prep the hair if it isn’t already light.
If you are afraid of doing a harsh bleach job, there is something you can do to prep your hair beforehand. Most salons call this a “bleach bath.” I’ll mix a 1/8 portion of what I usually use for bleaching my hair (powder bleach, developer and maybe a packet of the aforementioned anti-itch serum)—with about three times as much shampoo. I’ll shampoo my hair and leave it on for 10-20 minutes before washing it out. It’ll gently bleach your color out. This step can be repeated every other day or so for a week or as long as you want (unless it’s not working for you or damaging your hair, obviously) before you commit to doing a full bleach, or in place of a traditional bleach if the desired effect is achieved.
Do Use a Deep Conditioner Every Day
This is mostly true if you bleach your hair or make it lighter. Find a deep conditioner mask you like and replace your everyday conditioner with it. My favorite is the Kerastase Masquintense Fine because it’s not too heavy for fine hair, and I also love the Keratin Recovery Treatment from indie, natural brand Context.
People consistently ask me how my hair is so healthy, and this is what I credit it to. An oil based primer, heat protectant or other everyday product can also significantly help: I’ve been using Bumble and Bumble’s Hairdresser’s Invisible Oil Heat & UV Protective Primer religiously since it came out a few years ago.
Do Use Conditioner to Make It Last, Too
Whatever color you dyed your hair, unless it’s an ice-y shade of bleach white, you can either save a little bit of the dye or mix a new batch for shower touchups. Mix one part dye with three parts conditioner in an empty bottle and use it in place of your normal deep conditioning mask once or twice a week, depending on desired intensity. Even if you only leave it on for a few minutes before washing it out, it’s a good way to brighten the color overall.
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At the end of the day, it’s just hair. Sure, I’ve concocted colors I’m not crazy about without realizing it, but the great thing is that it will eventually fade.
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