Drugstore Versus Salon Hair Color

In 2003 the most popular brands of hair dye were L'Oreal Preference (15.7 million products sold); Clairol Nice 'n Easy (14.9 million); L'Oreal Excellence (13.2 million); Revlon Colorsilk (12.3 million); Just For Men (10.3 million); Clairol Natural Instincts (9.6 million); L'Oreal Feria (9 million); Garnier Nutrisse (7.6 million); Clairol Hydrience (5.3 million); and L'Oreal Couleur Experte (2 million). Although there are no similar statistics for products used in hair salons, the vast majority of women, whether they are hiding gray, improving lackluster natural hair color, or simply treating hair as a fashion statement, are using products from the drugstore rather than paying to have it done at the hair salon.

Beyond the difficulty of some popular but technically demanding services (such as highlighting), turning dark hair blonde, or getting rid of unwanted color from a poor dye incident, there are good reasons to do the simpler processes at home yourself, the most compelling of which are saving time and money. If you get your hair dyed 6 to 12 times a year at a salon, you could save $400 to $2,000 or more by doing it at home. What you might not know is that the hair colors you buy at the drugstore are superbly formulated.

The ways hair dyes function and the ingredients that create these products do not differ between inexpensive products and those found in salon products. The major difference, and this is fairly major, is that a professional colorist can custom blend a specific color and control the amount of peroxide used. Plus, through experience, they also understand how the dye will affect your hair color and how long or short to process the color.

If there are ingredient differences, no one in the industry, and none of the ingredient manufacturers or cosmetics chemists, seem to know about it. The myth that salon products are better than the ones at drugstores is asserted as a fact only by hairdressers and hair-care company representatives, despite the lack of evidence proving this to be the case. The same ingredients that change hair color are used repeatedly throughout the industry. In fact, makers of the major drugstore color lines also make the hair-coloring products widely used by salons.

However, there are many reasons to get your hair colored at a hair salon, including the mess (it’s theirs and not yours), the skill of the technician, and, perhaps most important of all, the benefit of your stylist's experience. It is great to just have the stylist make the decisions and do the work while you sit back and read a magazine. Professional hair-coloring products can be blended in myriad combinations and in multiple processes to create unique and attractive colors. Hairstylists can perform coloring techniques that would be impossible at home. For example, a talented technician can dye your hair a particular color then put in a corresponding highlight with a foil. I would never in a million years suggest a woman try that at home herself.

Regardless of whether you dye your hair yourself or have it done at the salon, achieving exactly the color you want can be tricky, even with the most talented colorist. It is so easy to make a mistake. Even at the salon, all it takes is misjudging how porous or nonporous your hair is, underprocessing or overprocessing the hair, choosing the wrong color so your hair is too dark or not light enough, or adding the wrong tone so your hair is more orange than golden. And you can make all the same slip-ups as the salon experts.

You may be pleasantly surprised to learn that statistics indicate women who color their hair at home are as pleased (or displeased) with their results as women who have their hair dyed at a salon. A quick review of any chat room or Web site bulletin board about hair care will find lots of people sharing salon horror stories. I have a few of my own! That isn’t surprising given how very tricky dyeing hair is.

To summarize, there are five major situations where a salon experience is preferred over dyeing hair yourself: (1) you want to lighten your hair more than three shades, (2) you have dark hair and want to dye your hair red, (3) you have natural red hair or blonde hair and want to dye it red, (4) you're trying to fix a problem, and (5) you have light hair and want to make it darker.

1. You want to lighten your hair more than three shades. Regardless of how dark your hair is, if you want to have significantly lighter hair, think twice, and then think again before shopping at the drugstore for a dye product. Even if your hair doesn't appear to have any red or copper tones in it, don't be fooled: all dark hair contains at least some red pigment and it can become evident in the lightening process if you don't know how to correct for it. It is also difficult to lighten your hair in a one-step process. Making hair lighter requires a "double process," first removing the existing color from your hair and then toning, or adding the shade of color you want it to be. Those two distinct processes are difficult to get right and your odds are far better with an experienced hair colorist.
   
   
2. You have dark hair and want to dye your hair red. This is one you shouldn't do at the drugstore or salon, but at least someone at the salon will tell you not to do it and give you some better alternatives. There is no way around this one: It is impossible to make black or very dark brown hair red or even dark red without ending up with a very strange hair color, usually some shade of orange. It even says so on the side of the hair-dye boxes at the drugstore.
   
   
3. You have natural red hair or blonde hair and want to dye it red. It doesn't matter what color you have or what color you want to be, it is hard to dye hair red. To figure out whether or not your hair can end up the shade you want or resemble some natural hair color, it is essential to discuss this with a professional colorist.
   
   
4. You're trying to fix a problem (whether you messed it up or your hairstylist made a mistake). You can always call the hair color consumer hot line at L'Oreal, Clairol, or Revlon, but you should also seriously consider getting help from a professional. The risk is that on your own you will only make matters worse. You can actually get to the point of no return, because the more chemicals you put on your hair the more damage occurs, and no matter the amount you can't fix overly damaged hair.
   
   
5. You have light hair and want to make it darker. In theory, this is not a difficult process to do yourself, as lighter hair will easily grab a darker shade. Rather, the difficulty is in trying to not end up with hair that looks like something from a Gothic novel or like Morticia Addams from The Addams Family. If you opt to try this at home, it is essential that you perform a strand test as indicated in the instructions for the dye, and note how long it takes your light hair to process to the color you want.

Paula Begoun