How to: Color Your Hair at Home

I started this post looking for pictures of myself with different hair colors. Turns out, there was roughly a million. I guess I like to color my hair. But my big secret is that 9 times out of 10, I do it myself. And, thus far, I've only had two mishaps.

The first was during my second pregnancy. I'd received pretty much horrific news about what the rest of the pregnancy was going to be like and I had an appointment with a very important specialist the next day. To keep myself busy and to stop myself from having a nervous breakdown, I decided to color my hair. A dark, chocolatey brown. Yeah, it turned BLACK. Like, black as night. Like, black as the soul of Kim Kardashian. I panicked and made my little brother go to the drugstore for Color Oops while I hid and cried in the bathroom.

The second time was after I dyed my hair blonde the first time. I had it professionally done the first round because I'm smart and know that drastic changes should be left to your hairstylist. BUT I thought I was qualified to do the roots myself. They turned orange. Again, I cried in the bathroom and then called my hairdresser for an emergency appointment.

But other than those two times, I've always been able to color my own hair. And actually do a pretty good job. And I've learned some seriously awesome tips from my adventures and misadventures in self color, so I thought I'd pass them onto you.I'll just tell you how I do it. That way, if you color your hair and totally screw it up, I can be like "That was the instructions for ME!"

Step One: First, the most important thing is to get the color right. BE SMART or end up crying in the bathroom. If you want to color at home, stick to one or two shades lighter or darker than your current color. Anything more and you need to see a pro, STAT. My favorite at-home brands are: L'Oreal Preference for all-over color and a bigger change, Clairol Nice n' Easy for roots and touchups and Garnier Olia for freshening up your color each month. I'm using Olia right now and I'm a fan -- it doesn't smell AT ALL and it makes my hair uber-shiny. And, just as an aside, both times I botched my hair color, I was using Feria. Just sayin'.

Step Two: Once you've got your pretty little box, grab out the instructions and you know, READ THEM. Each brand of color is slightly different, so don't skip it because you've done it before. Also, that's when you get to find your snazzy gloves. Find one of your husband's old T-shirts and put it on. Then be prepared for him to give you a mean look when he realizes that his disgusting hunting shirt is finally destined for the trash. Huzzah.

Step  Three: Grab some Vaseline or lotion and put it around your hairline, your ears and your neck and literally anywhere else that you're prone to sloppage. Otherwise you're going to be left with some seriously gross stained skin afterward and it TOTALLY spoils the effect.

Step Four: Start with your roots. I use a gross old comb for this part. Some use brushes (my mom swears by a kitchen silicone brush for coloring her hair... uh, not that she colors her hair or anything). Start with your hair in a normal part. Now, here's where I go off the rails from the instructions. If I botch the color and it gets blotchy, I'd rather it happen where you can't see it. So instead of sectioning off my hair and doing all the roots first, I color my hair in my normal style first. Does that make sense? Like, I brush it out and cover all of the area of my normal hairstyle BEFORE sectioning with my gross comb. Don't be bashful with that color! Use it up!

If you're doing all-over color, do all of your hair at once. If you're touching up your roots, do them first and let it sit the prescribed amount of time, using up the rest of the color  on your other hair only when you have about 5 or 10 minutes left on processing. 

Step Five: OK, so you know when you have your hair colored in a salon and they pop you under the dryer? Do this at home! Your hair will take the color better, which is especially important if you want results like the box. I just stick my diffuser attachment on my hair dryer (that way you get heat without blow-age) and use that while I'm processing. Flip your head upside down and just make sure all of the sections get equal attention.

Step Six: After your iPhone timer goes off -- because that's the only way to time things -- it's time to rinse out. Now, you're inevitably going to look in the mirror. DON'T PANIC. Your hair probably doesn't look like its final color. Give it a few minutes before the crying starts.

Step Seven: Rinsed it out? Good girl. Now you can blowdry it. I always style my hair after coloring so I can get the full picture of how the color looks when it's styled AND to see if I missed any spots. If spots have been missed, wait a day and color again. Don't use the leftover stuff in the bottle.

Step Eight: Bait your husband and see if he notices anything different. When he gets it wrong, sigh loudly and make him feel bad.

Seriously, I color my hair every six weeks or so. And I've been doing it since I was 14. That's 14 years of color, people. And my hair is still healthy and a natural color, so I win!

So to break it down:
Good color
Lotion on skin
Color your hairstyle first
Heeaaaaat

... and you should have a color that you love.


Alright, two things: Do you have a hair coloring genius tip that you want to share. Or even better, do you have an awful but hilarious after the fact hair coloring story to tell? AND... GO!