Hey dopers (I’m assuming women, but the guys are welcome to chime in too)! I’ve decided I want to go from my natural dark auburn to a true brunette–just for a change of pace. However, money’s tight, so doing it at the salon is probably not in the cards just now. Since this seems like a pretty simple dye-job (no highlights, no other haircolor, my hair is healthy and has only a few greys), I thought I’d try it at home.
So, any advice on brands, suggestions on technique, or overall “No, don’t do it” sorts of things? I’d love to hear from anyone who’s tried it at home and survived.
One thing I’d like is a semipermanent dye that will wash out gradually and not leave me with root issues. I know those are healthier for your hair too.
I’ve had my hair colored at a salon, and I like my home results better.
I use L’oreal, and I try to go just a shade lighter or darker than my natural color. When I was younger, I’d be more adventurous, but when you start to sag and wrinkle, dark hair looks fake.
Wear an old shirt and use an old towel. Wipe up any drips right away – the stuff stains like crazy.
For semipermanent you might like Natural Instincts. However, brown hair color with no highlights can be really monochrome. If you are willing to go permanent, L’Oreal Couleur Experte is a do-at-home kit that includes highlights and gives (IMHO) good results.
I use L’Oreal myself - it’s permanent, though, so it’s not what you’d be looking for. Does a good job, though.
Like the poster above said, make sure you wipe all drips off with a wet cloth or paper towel. Dye comes with plastic gloves - if you can get a pair of latex or better-fitting disposable gloves I suggest it. I’ve also used dollar-store rubber gloves that people use to do dishes with good results.
Start at the front but don’t forget the back. Make sure you get everything that you can - massage it in, trying not to stain your scalp, like you would conditioner or shampoo. If you can work out a way, put something over your ears - I’ve gotten better but when I first did it I had black ears for two days.
Use an old towel you don’t want and drape it over your shoulders and neck. You can ignore your shoulders if you’re using an old shirt, but you want something to cover the back of your neck if you can. If you can spare some old clips, once you’ve done a chunk, clip it back and start with the next so you know what you’ve done, and when you’ve done everything let it out and massage it in.
If you know any hairdressers personally, ask them. They know all the tips. It’s how I got so good doing my own.
I don’t dye my hair, but one thing I’ve learned from helping others is that you need to leave it in for as long as the box says. A lot of first timers don’t. The box will say 45 minutes and after about 30 the lose their nerve and rinse it out (hoping it will be dyed but not a huge change) IME it ends up looking some odd ball color half way between where you wanted it and where it started.
I agree with Harriet’s recommendation of Natural Instincts for semi-permanent. One thing I would mention is that the Natural Instincts box looks incredibly similar to Clairol’s permanent home dye box, so don’t just grab a box without reading it. L’Oreal also makes a semi-perm home kit, and I find the color is richer, but doesn’t last as long.
How long is your hair? Mine is long, it hangs just above my elbows, and one box barely covers it. I dye my hair the same color as my natural hair, to cover gray, but if I were changing the color of my hair, I would go with two boxes just to make sure.
I’ve also found that the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser is great for cleaning up any drips in your bathroom, even the next day.
To avoid staining your skin, you can rub Vaseline on anything you don’t want stained. I suggest the tops of your ears and along your hairline on your forehead. You can also do it to your eyebrows if you’re concerned about dying those.
I just dyed my hair today with L’Oreal permanent dye. I go for the deep burgundy (originally black) so that it looks black at first, then gradually fades into a nice dark reddish tint. The last time my mom dyed her hair a deep brown (from black) with L’Oreal, and it slowly faded so it looked like she had just re-dyed her hair a lighter brown. I must say that the fading actually looks good because it’s so gradual and the color is multi-faceted, which makes it look pretty real.
I don’t know about everyone else, I usually leave my dye on for about two hours which ensures that the color is totally absorbed into my hair, and the color doesn’t fade as fast. My hair hasn’t fallen out and the color is definitely more lustrous.
Oh, and ditto on the whole old shirt, junky hairclips (so you don’t mind possible staining) and vaseline if you don’t want to look like you’ve been beaten. I also want to add that it might be good if you put some cut-up garbage bags underneath you in case your hair drips or if the squirt bottle gets wacky and makes a mess. You’ll look silly, but you’ll look the better for it, and your housing won’t suffer for it.
Good luck and enjoy the pretty new hair color (I know I am!)!
Hmmm…Penchan, that’s sounds pretty good. I’ve been looking for a decent red dye every since I went from black to red and they discontioued my preference for red hair dye. :<
To the OP, obviously I don’t have any recomendations but it’s pretty simple. I’ve never needed vasoline. Just slap it on your head, wait around for a while, make sure you’re wearing something you can take off easily, take a shower and you’re done.
I have done it for years just to keep my hair “fresh blonde”. Heaps of swimming and sport and product can make it dull. I’d say go for it and good luck.
Home dyer here. I’ve dyed my hair at home for 20 years and have always gotten compliments on it. This thread has a lot of good advice in it.
One thing that hasn’t been said, though. If I understand you correctly, you want to go from natural dark auburn to a true brunette, so a little lighter then your natural color.
If that is the case, you can get very good, easy, foolproof and natural looking results by dying just the top layer of your hair.
Through and through dye jobs are necessary with some colors (it looks ridiculous to be dark blonde with dark red on top) but if you go within shades of natural colors, try leaving you darker own haircolor intact in the under layers. That will look much more natural, you have far less problems with roots showing. Basicall you will get very natural looking highlights.
So imagine marking off a circle of about 1,5 inches below the highest point of your head. All hair within that circle gets pulled up in a ponytail and gets colored lighter brown. The rest is left as it is, and the lighter hair falls over it.
(Although you can try to massage the dye in the rest of your hair for the last five minutes, if that’s what the box says you can do when dying roots).
I home-dyed my hair black for a while and liked it, but one of the reasons I don’t do it now is that it was so messy. Do clean up any drips ASAP.
Also, at one point I had decided to grow it out, and had black hair with several inches of brown roots. A special occasion was coming up, so I dyed my hair black with a “temporary” dye. It didn’t wash out. When I asked a hairdresser about it later on, I was told that there’s no such thing as a temporary black, because it stains the hair. Don’t know if that’s always true, but it’s something you might want to consider.
Say betenoir, have you tried henna? I recommend the Mama Caca Rouge from Lush. It smells good and doesn’t require too much effort. Slap it on and wrap a plastic bag on your head for redder or let it air dry for a browner color. As an extra added bonus you get a nice shine. It works for me but I am starting with red hair so it’s really more of a color boost and a de-pigmenting cover (oh, alright, it covers the newly enwhitened strands.)
When I color my hair, I go for henna. Having moved about in the past year, it’s been tough to get a good bag of henna powder like I was used to in college. However, if Lush is as good as the giant bag of body art henna I got from the Indian store I used to shop at a year and a half ago, I’d definitely be willing to try it. I used to be able to get naturally RED looking hair from it, and I start out with a dark chocolate brown that tends to red and fade with sun exposure.
My suggestion is to very carefully check the walls and surfaces in the bathroom for spots of dye you might have missed. I have very long hair that tends to whip around, and you don’t always see the dye before it darkens.
After several times of missing a spot on the door or above the mirror, I now apply the colour in the shower, then step out and rinse everything off. 30 minutes later I hop back in and I’m all done!
The Lush henna is about $18USD for a block of 8 squares. I had waist length hair when I started so I used 2 full squares for the first colorizing and a bit less than a block every 6-8 weeks for my ‘root jobs’ so it lasts almost a year. I have not noticed any fading but I do tend to avoid long sun exposure (as a natural redhead I am always cautious).
My wife has dyed her hair for a long time, going from her natural darker blond to a lighter shade, so nothing real extreme. She went red professionally a number of years ago (eventually back to blonde) and decided she wanted to try it again. This time she chose to try it at home using one of the well known brands, I forget which one. She called me at work twice, once to say she was starting and again 45 minutes later in an absolute panic to say she was calling the salon for an emergency dye job. The red had only colored part of her hair, and was very splotchy. So, $100+ later, she’s a brunette now.
This was her only problem in many years of dye jobs, but lesson learned, be careful what you try at home.
It’s a little pricey, but that doesn’t sound so bad. Considering my hair is a lot shorter than it was when I was regularly dyeing it (by about a foot of length or so), I shouldn’t need more than 1/2 to 1 full square of the stuff. I’ll probably have to doctor it up with some paprika and lemon juice, though; it helps enhance the redness in non-redheaded types.
I want to add that when I say burgundy, it’s really burgundy! So it’s purple-red-almost black. When my color starts to fade, since my original hair color is really black, the color is a very dark red and eventually fades to a nice auburn. If your hair isn’t black, the red may be more red than you’re intending. Just wanted to warn you in case you didn’t want a head of flaming red hair in a few months!
But if you feel like trying deep burgundy from L’Oreal (my color), then good luck and I hope that you like the color as much as I do! I love the color so much that I haven’t changed it in the past 7 years!
