Now before I ask this question: Let's just day....going GRAY is NOT an option

I usually go to the hairdressers and get my hair streaked. The last time I was in for a cut, she mentioned that I would probably have to do a whole dye next time and then put in the streaks. I'm 36!

So, I was thinking that to save money I might try one of those kits that you do at home. Has anyone used these? Do they turn out alright? Are they hard to do by yourself?

By Groovepickle on Thursday, February 9, 2006 - 10:31 pm:

It depends are you going to use the one color dye or the streak it yourself one? I dyed my hair for years and I always used the level 2 stuff, not permanent but takes forever to wash out. It has alwas been fine for me. Also I've dyed my sisters hair many times with permanent. My advice.. never mix colors like they do in the salon, not even if they are the same brand. I did this with my sister's hair when we were teenagers. Her hair turned out a nice color at the top, green in the middle and black at the bottom. My Mom flipped out and she had to get 8 inches cut off.
Groove

By Ginny~moderator on Thursday, February 9, 2006 - 10:37 pm:

I have used Clairol, and found it worked quite nicely, was reasonably easy to apply, and held up pretty well. It's not difficult, but you want to have a spray head handy, either over your laundry or kitchen sink or tub. Personally, I used my kitchen sink because it is stainless steel and I didn't want to risk any dye discoloring any worn portions of my porcelein (sp?) tub finish. The only concern I would have is the streaking on top of the dye, and you'd have to ask your hairdresser if that would be a problem. Remember, if you do a whole dye job at home and still want streaks, you are putting bleaching on top of dye (which the hairdresser would do also), but I don't know what the effects would be of a professional streak job on top of a do-it-yourself dye job.

Paula, my mother was a "decided" blonde for most of her adult life. And when I was a blonde, or had auburn hair, or was doing a brownish-red dye to cover my gray, I just borrowed from the corporation's slogan, "Better living through chemistry". At 67, I figure I've earned the few gray hairs I have, and I don't have a lot. Plus, I went back to getting perms several months ago, and my hair is really weird, and gets the texture of straw if I mix perms and dyes, even using a perm that is meant specifically for treated hair and is the only perm that doesn't turn my untreated hair into straw. (Again, better living through chemistry - I love my curls.)

By Christylee on Thursday, February 9, 2006 - 11:06 pm:

I have used at home hair color for years, I went through a phase where you never knew what color my hair would be! lol... I just RECENTLY started using the highlighting kits to cover gray (at 29!!). I have my sister help me with it and it always turns out great. The way we rinse our hair is just to hop in the shower and then make sure it's all rinsed out.

Good luck!

By Tink on Thursday, February 9, 2006 - 11:25 pm:

My hair is still damp from my at-home dye and streak job! I do it once every two months and it comes out great. I use the L'oreal Coleur Experte and really like the complimentary highlights that it gives. I don't have grey hair yet so I don't know how well it covers but I've heard that semi-permanent dyes don't cover grey well at all. I've heard the best for grey cover-up is Loreal Excellence (I think that's the official name) but it won't include highlights. You can just dye it and then go to your stylist for highlights since that's the trickier part. HTH

By Crystal915 on Friday, February 10, 2006 - 12:27 am:

I like Feria the best, but Nice and Easy does well with grey. Leave it on for a few minutes longer than usual, and you may want to try a highlighting kit as the others suggested. I recently used Feria color, and Herbal Essences highlighting kit, I didn't like Colour Experte.

By Vicki on Friday, February 10, 2006 - 06:45 am:

Paulas, I don't think her saying that has anything to do with your age or gray. I also get highlights and every once in awhile you have to do the whole head the base color and start over. The reason is because once you do the streaks so many times, they almost cover your whole head since you can't get them in the same place every time. You eventually get way too many of them and have to start over so to speak. If your going to go back to her to get the streaks, I wouldn't do the home hair color first. I would let her do both steps. I just don't think it would be a great idea to mix so many different products.

By Colette on Friday, February 10, 2006 - 07:31 am:

I'd leave it to the professionals. I wouldn't experiment at home on my hair! Treat yourself!!

By Karen~moderator on Friday, February 10, 2006 - 07:32 am:

First, age has NOTHING to do with it. I got my first gray hair at SIXTEEN. I've been coloring my hair since I was maybe 32. I had it highlighted once in my early 30's and loved it. But I was more concerned with covering the gray. So I dyed my hair at home for years and years and years and did OK with it.

But the more gray I got, the harder it was to keep it covered. Unlike Ginny, I have TONS of gray hair. So a couple years ago I started having it highlighted again. I'd do my base color at home and my hairdresser would highlight it a few days later. It just became too much to try to keep up with.

So, since getting it cut SHORT, I get it highlighted every time I go to her, and she does base color on the roots every other time. With short hair you don't really get the chance for it all to end up highlighted since you are cutting so much of it out.

By Kernkate on Friday, February 10, 2006 - 01:31 pm:

I started coloring my own hair at home a few years ago and still do it every 3 months. I have grays on the top and not just 1 or 2
I have always used Revlon Colorsilk and I like it. Its one of the cheaper ones, but works good for me. I am afraid to switch to anything else, because I am afraid it will be a different color. And I like to stay as close to my natural color as possible.

By Annie2 on Friday, February 10, 2006 - 07:41 pm:

I was successful coloring my hair at home for several years until last Nov. For some reason my hair turned GREEN. I will never color at home again. Unfortunately, this will hurt my pocketbook!

By Feona on Saturday, February 11, 2006 - 08:31 am:

You can get a slightly lighter color than your normal and you might be satisfied.

It is too expensive to get coloring and streaking and it takes too long to do.

I usually just get it professionally colored. I am taking a break right now and the grey doesn't look too bad.