We love the salon—we really do. After all, who doesn’t enjoy being pampered? But if you’re like most of us, big-ticket salon prices don’t always cut it. And besides, waiting six months to be “squeezed in” for your next color appointment can be disappointing. Luckily, you can get a beautiful hair color from the comfort of your own home—as long as you follow a few simple tips. Dyeing your hair at home doesn’t have to be intimidating. To start with, though, make sure you’re using the right at-home hair color kit to fit your needs. Use our Superior Preference tool and Excellence Creme tool to find your perfect formula and shade match. Then, keep scrolling for our best at-home hair color tips.
At-Home Hair Color Tip #1: Take Your Time Before Deciding on a Shade
When you walk down the hair aisle at your local drugstore or beauty store, you might think that just because you like a shade means that you should give it a go. As much as we advocate coloring your hair whatever shade you’d like, there are certain hues that will complement your skin tone better than others. So, take a few extra minutes and read the next slide to help find the best hair color match for your undertone.
At-Home Hair Color Tip #2: Find the Best Hair Color Match for Your Undertone
Here’s the sitch: You walk down the hair aisle and there are boxes upon boxes of hair color to choose from. What do you do? While there are tons of trendy shades to consider, it’s always a good idea to take your undertone into consideration so that you end up with a flattering dye job. Flip your wrists to determine your undertone and follow our guide to complementary hair colors below.
You have cool skin if…your veins appear blue or purple. If you have cool skin, you can balance your look by following the laws of the color wheel and rocking a warmer hair color. Just don’t go too warm or your hair color may end up appearing unnatural
You have warm skin if…your veins appear slightly green. Warmer skin tends to look best with slightly cooler hair colors. Just don’t go too cool!
You have neutral skin if…you can’t really tell a determine one color. You’re super-lucky if you have neutral skin because that means you can rock any hair color and have it look flattering on you.
Now that you’ve decided on a pretty hair color, it’s time to think about which at-home permanent hair color kit to use to get your new signature look. Luckily, we’ve got plenty of options for you! Pick up a box of the L’Oréal Paris Superior Preference, L’Oréal Paris Excellence Creme, or L’Oréal Paris Féria to create your new hair color. Each of these at-home hair color kits is available in a wide variety of beautiful shades, so finding your perfect match should be easy!
At-Home Hair Color Tip #4: Manage Your Expectations
So, you’ve picked out your perfect luminous hair color: What’s next? When preparing for a hair color transformation, there are a few things to keep in mind. For starters, if you have a dark base color and are hoping to go significantly lighter, you’ll need to lighten or bleach your hair in order for your new hue to show up. If you don’t want to deal with bleach, your best bet will be to stick within a couple shades of your current color to create a seamless transition. Try the L’Oréal Paris Colorista Bleach All Over for at-home bleaching.
If you have gray hairs peppering your mane, you may be wondering what you can do to cover them. Of course, gray hair is actually a trend these days (just take a look at recent runway photos), but we get that you may not want to sport them. Look for an at-home hair color kit formulated to cover grays (such as Excellence Creme) and try dyeing your hair a shade that’s one or two levels lighter than your hair color, as this can help prevent a harsh contrast. Coloring gray hairs is about to get a whole lot easier.
At-Home Hair Color Tip #6: Be Prepared for Touchups
When you color your hair (whether it’s at home or by visiting the salon), one thing’s for certain: Touchups will be inevitable. Keep your bathroom stocked with hair dye so that you can touch up your roots whenever needed in order to maintain your shiny hair color.
At-Home Hair Color Tip #8: Keep Your Color Shiny in the Shower
After coloring your hair at home, it’s not just about switching over to hair care products formulated for color-treated hair. How you shower matters, too. Super-hot water can strip your strands of essential oils, which can leave your hair feeling dry and looking dull. Turn down the dial in rinse off in lukewarm water instead the next time you hop into the tub to help maintain the look of a healthy hair color.
At-Home Hair Color Tip #9: Change the Way You Style Your Hair
Want to blow-dry your newly-colored mane? Make sure to use a heat protectant, like the L’Oréal Paris Advanced Hairstyle SLEEK IT Iron Straight Heatspray. Additionally, pay attention to heat settings on your heat tool—use the lowest temperature that you can while still only having to make one pass over each section of hair.
At-Home Hair Color Tip #10: Temporarily Hide Gray Roots
You already know that touchups will be inevitable—but that doesn’t mean you’ll always have time to cover up your roots. If you’ve noticed gray regrowth, you can temporarily hide this with the L’Oréal Paris Magic Root Cover Up, which comes in shades of blonde, brown, red, and black and lasts for one shampoo. Just spray color onto new growth and partly through the rest of your hair to blend it in.
