Colouring Your Own Hair Over Salon Highlights

Seasidegal58

Hi there
Are there any hairdressers out there who could give me some advice on home colouring my hair?

I have naturally dark brown hair but for years have been having highlights at a salon so my hair normally looks honey blonde with some lighter strands (The highlights are a mixture of mainly light blonde with some reddish darker tones).  I also have grey around my hairline where I use L'Oreal's root retouch which washes out.

As all salons are now closed and it's getting near the time when I would have my usual 8 week highlights appointment, I was wondering whether it would be safe to home colour. 

I'm not thinking about trying to highlight my hair myself (disaster!), but rather putting on a colour to tone it down as the darker regrow the appears. 

 

I have had advice from a hairdresser (albeit who has been out of the game for some time) as to using L'Oreal Excellence colour, opting for blonde with ash tones so it's not too yellow.  However this is a permanent colour and I've read conflicting reports on the internet that you should use a semi permanent colour with more golden tones.
 

Thanks in advance - any advice would be appreciated. 

Spoonie_Turtle

There are quite a few tea rinses you can try to darken it a bit - though I wouldn't recommend black or green tea as they can be drying. Catnip is supposed to be quite conditioning, and if it doesn't help then you've not done any harm or lost anything. 

Another option is deposit-only vegetable dyes, again not permanent so no harm if it doesn't turn out quite as you'd like. I think Adore do natural colours? With these types of colour you also have the choice of doing a full-strength application or a 'gloss', mixing some colour in with a conditioner so you can go even more gradually until you're happy with it. I don't know how these dyes compare price-wise, but they're guaranteed to be better for your hair than dyes that use developer.

Seasidegal58

Thanks very much @Spoonie_Turtle. I'll do some research. 👍

kasqueak

A semi perm colour such as L’Oreal casting creme would work to blend some of the grey away into the natural regrowth. 

I also have similar sounding hair which is dark but I have blonde highlights. I’m not sure how long the salons are going to be closed and I feel once they open the waiting list could be until Christmas! So I’m thinking of attempting my own highlight root touch up. There’s loads of useful videos on YouTube to help. But not sure yet if I’m brave enough lol. 

Seasidegal58

Thanks @kasqueak. I read positives on the L'Oreal casting creme and bought some. Unfortunately, like you, I've now got to gather enough courage to do it!

belfastgirl23

Casting Creme is quite easy to use and as it’s semi-permanent is unlikely to do any real harm. The way to approach it though is not to measure it against what your hairdresser would normally do, but to look at how your hair is now (and what it’s likely to end up like with no action!) and compare against that.

A couple of tips. Be sure to shake it really well before you start, it should feel gloopy in the bottle when it’s ready. Focus first of all on the bits that are easiest to see - around your parting, hairline, temples if you are inclined to put your hair up - these are the bits you most want to get right. Also be really careful around any paintwork while you’re using it, one touch of your head against anything and it’s marked for life so have everything out and ready before you start. I tend to rinse it out kneeling over the bath to minimise how far the mess spreads. My experience with a darker colour is that it does come off on the towel you use to dry your hair so use an old one, ditto with pillowcases until you’ve washed your hair a few times. The conditioner that comes with it is actually pretty good and you should have some left over to use again.

Good luck!

Seasidegal58

Hi @robert77wade - what do you mean by a spotter?🤔

Thank you very much @belfastgirl23 - that's very helpful. Can I now brave it out.......?!

belfastgirl23

I’m guessing a spotter to tell you if you missed a bit
Go for it. It’s only going to get worse in the meantime! 

Seasidegal58

No spotter I'm afraid - I'm a lonely soul in lockdown!😂. Will give myself a good talking to.....

flissh

Hot and flashy on youtube has a video about redoing her highlights and roots during lockdown. It's worth a look.

Ibizafan

I was lucky to have had my usual highlights done at the end of February, so they look ok at the moment. I’m also lucky to have little grey at the age of 67, so as I’m not going anywhere, it can all last for the time being. I found a good way of cutting my fringe on YouTube, although the rest can grow as long as it likes!