Wednesday, May 19, 2010

It's that time again...

Haircolor time!! Yes...that time comes for me way more often than it should...but there's no turning back now. I've been doing it for so long that it's like second nature to me. I was born with dark brown almost black hair and had it up until around the 7th grade when I begged my mom to let me try that dreadful Sun-In. Ever since, I have been lightening, darkening, streaking, paneling, low-lighting, high-lighting...you get the idea.

Nowadays I have developed quite a few gray hairs on top and my haircolor fades into a mousy "see-through" brown color. I know "see-through" isn't a technical term but hopefully you know what I mean. I love my hair to be dark and rich. It makes it look longer and healthier. I have been dyeing my hair and my friends' hair since around the 9th grade. We have been through a couple disasters but nothing that wasn't fixable. I went to cosmetology school about 4 years ago and learned about professional color. We used Wella haircolor at my school so that's what I know best and what I still use. You can find it at Sally's. I use the demi-permanent because it is less damaging to your hair and it fades in a way that doesn't show roots.






For the color scale think of 1 as black and 10 as platinum blonde. I chose a mixture of 4 Natural, 5 Natural, and 6 Red Violet.






You will want to do 1 part color to 2 parts developer. I used 1 oz. of the 4N, 3/4 oz. of the 5N and 1/4 oz. of the 6RV. I wanted just a hint of red. Then I used 4 oz. of the Wella Color Charm developer which is what needs to be used with the demi-permanent color. Mix it up, slap it on for 20 minutes and voila!









Here is my before picture. Notice the mousy and "see through" brown. LOL





And here are my after pictures!








It looks just as good as professional and only costs about $5.00 per tube of color and about $4.00 for 8 oz. of developer! You can't beat that! What about y'all?? Do you color your own hair? What's your go-to haircolor???

22 comments:

  1. Your hair looks great! I love the hint of red in it. I am all about my hair. I lighten it in the summer and darken it in the fall.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Your hair looks fantastic. I have to admit that I've never colored, highlighted, or done anything else to my hair. My hair is just as it was when I was born, although it has changed color on its own throughout the years. And my hair is SOOO high-maintenance anyway that I'm so glad I don't have to worry about keeping up highlights or color or whatever else. But, I can always appreciate a good color or good highlights on someone else! :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. First of all your hair looks GREAT! And goes well with your complexion too! I go to a hair salon to have it colored though I do not trust myself to color it! Loving the new hair!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love it, it's so pretty! I am going to have to try this next time I color, which is every six weeks because I have premature grey too! Is this easy to do for someone who normally uses box color?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wow - it looks great. I'm definitely not talented enough or patient enough to color my own hair. :) Thankfully the blonde is natural and lightens during the summer.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Looks amazing!! Such good secrets, I should try that next time...I also began messing with my hair color in high school and did highlights forever, then dyed it dark brown and now I alternate between a professional dying it and Loreal Preference...aaa, some days I regret every messing with it, now that I'm essentially back to my natural color.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Okay, first of all, I feel like I wrote this post, because it sounds exactly like my hair color journey. :) You are so brave to color your hair yourself. My hubby wishes I would do that, to same us some money. I go for the experience too though.

    Love your hair, it looks so smooth and silky, like in a commercial. By the way, your before doesn't look bad at all, but I know how it is, YOU know your hair more than anyone. I agree with that. Glad you found something that works so well!

    Great post! Hope you have a great Wednesday!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I LOOOVE IT!! So cute!! And as you can tell by my posts, I change my hair a lot! (Thanks for the advice, BTW... I think I'm actually gonna go in the direction!) I do color my own hair too, when I go darker, but I leave the hi-lighting to a real pro. I think of it as a fun learning experience -- its just hair -- you can always change it and it will grow back!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Wow! It looks great! I recently had my mom use one of those home highlighting kits on me because I was so sick of spending $150 on highlights every couple of months. The results are...interesting. That's awesome that you've got some cosmetology school under your belt so you actually know what you're doing when it comes to color.

    PS- Hello from your newest follower.

    ReplyDelete
  10. You did a great job because it looks fantastic! I don't dye my hair myself or otherwise but I think I'd be WAY too scared to try it at home. You did great though!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Looks great!!! Hope your Wednesday is fabulous!!!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Looks great! I don't color my hair anymore. (I stopped when I was trying to have my first child.) When I did color it, I wasn't brave enough to do it myself. You're much more talented than I!

    On another note, stop by my blog today for your award!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Your hair looks beautiful! I have dyed friends' hair before (we've had a few disasters), but I've always been too scared to do my own and leave that in the hands of my hairdresser. You are a pro though, doll!

    ReplyDelete
  14. I dye my own hair. I use L'Oreal light reddish brown. I like it, but it doesn't have as much red as I was hoping. Not sure if I will continue to use this color or try another one. I love dying my own hair because its inexpensive and I change my hair color as often as I like! :)
    Your hair looks great btw! :)

    ReplyDelete
  15. I just colored my hair today too...hehehe...I went for dark auburn red shade this time...from my usual medium dark brown...unfortunately there is no way I could color my own hair it's very thick and coarse and unmanageable...

    That color really suits you...and your hair is so shiny too...:)))

    dee

    ReplyDelete
  16. Wow, your hair looks fabulous! I'm so impressed that you do it yourself. And you can't beat the price! I get highlights once in a while, but try to stretch it out between visits because my hair gets so damaged if I highlight it too often. So I'll go every 3-6 months and get haircuts every 6-8 weeks. Getting it done in a salon is expensive though! I wish I could do mine myself.

    xo
    Valerie

    ReplyDelete
  17. Dang girly! Your hair looks fabulous! I use to be a receptionist in a salon and some of the stylist didn`t even understand the Wella system. Your hair turned out amazing though!!

    xo

    ReplyDelete
  18. Your hair looks amazing and soft. I can't believe you did it yourself. I love it! I need to color my hair and I really like this color.

    :) Marcie

    ReplyDelete
  19. Looks great! You are so brave. I am afraid to touch my hair but you did an AMAZING job. Love it!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Your hair looks gorgeous! Wish I could dye my own. Mine is so thick, wavy/coarse and in some parts it's really light while in others it's dark with red highlights. I've tried in the past and it's turned out so awful. I wish I had your skill!!!

    ReplyDelete