Should I home-colour?

I'm not sure how colouring works if your hair is basically grey, I'm sure others will know. When I'm colouring mine I do try to make an effort and clean up any spills and splashes as I go and remove most of my clothes and cover the rest with a dark towel!!! Messy? Me???

I home-colour NotTooOld . I simply couldn't afford to pay a hairdresser. It costs me around £9 for 2 months worth of colour which is a fraction of what it would cost me at the hairdressers. I have got the process off to a fine art now. 2 old towels.(1 around my shoulders fastened with a grip and 1 on the floor on top of a plastic decorating sheet, a carrier bag hung on the taps for the used bottles and an old cloth or disposable wipe at the ready for any drips. Good luck

Is there a home colour that doesn't come out as just one block of colour, does anyone know?

Yes N2O the one I use is a shaded (multi toned) colour. It's advertised as being "a natural blend of 3 salon tones" (Clairol nice'n easy) and I have to say that it does what it says on the tin box.

gilly I have been a N&E user for many many years also,it is just the best on the market I think,NotTooOld it goes on just like a shampoo,you start from the sides where your hair is greyest and just gradually shampoo the colour over your hair,just do it gently and you should have no splashes or mess.

OOh, 'a natural blend of three salon tones' sounds good. It was N and E that I was thinking of trying, too. I'll give it a go as soon as I am feeling brave.

When you feel brave enough choose a shade from the light blonde range if that is the colour that you want to achieve I use 95 (I think) in cool blonde but there are a few which would work well.Anyway you have just reminded me mine own mop needs doing soon so will have to visit Savers as their prices are best on market.

I'm another fan of N & E I've been using it for years. I have an old T-shirt style nightie which I always wear when applying it.
I also found the brush that hairdressers use to apply colour makes it easier to. You can buy them in most chemists Superdrug do them.

Been doing it for years. A large old towel over pretty much everything. Vaseline around the hair line so you don't get your face dyed and a jolly good clean up while it is waiting to come off. Sometimes the drips don't show for a while so be careful around anything which is wood or whatever. Bathroom is all tiles so it comes off easily.

Thanks for all the tips. Is it ok to put N and E on hair that is already salon-coloured, does anyone know?

Feeling smug as I have continued with letting the grey grow through and apart from a few darker bits at the back, am very pleased with the overall silver/dark ash look. Glad to be grey!!
My "colours" have to be revised and anything beige or green consigned to the charity bag, but clear red, French navy, silver grey and white look much better than before.

I use nice & easy shade 9b. It has several tones and I've used it over salon colour regularly. Old shower curtains on the floor and old nightie. The solution does not drip. Start at the hairline. Be careful to not get Vaseline on your hair or that bit won't colour. I don't bother with Vaseline and just rub off any dye on my skin. I think instructions say about a half hour but I leave it 45 minutes, even one hour on occasion

First time I did it I reckoned if it went wrong the hairdresser would soon fix it...... It was grand.

Good luck.

I have home coloured my roots for years and now am " growing out" my grey colour, so I no longer am doing my roots! I am having ash highlights and some slightly darker lowlights put in by my fab hairdresser ( not cheap but worth it) but it does mean I just go to the hairdresser every couple of months and don't have to do the roots every 3 weeks or so and I love it. The different colours in the hair really give me a lift! ( without a facelift) .

I have just cancelled my last appointment for the same reason,fed up with paying through the nose and sitting for hours at the hairdressers. I am 45 and I have decided to go grey,or whatever my natural colour may be. I feel strangely liberated but also a bit scared (mainly of what people may say?!) Can't wait to see the outcome of my new adventure.

All very encouraging. Thank you.

Guess what? Further to my recent post (maybe on another thread) saying that my hairdresser is demanding a 25% deposit for booking an appointment (due to no-shows), I had another text yesterday saying she wants a 50% deposit for booking appointments in December! It was not even worded politely - just a flat statement.

I've used N&E in the past and DH was very adept at applying it! He did have trouble with the teeny gloves and resorted to his box of latex gloves from the garage. My kit consisted of old zip up jogging top and equally old bath towel, I sat in the kitchen for the allotted time so as not to drip on the carpet and then jumped in the shower-just keep head forward until worst is rinsed off. It doesn't stain as it comes off dilute or I would be a fetching shade of 117b!

Change hairdressers NotTooOld, that's not acceptable. I asked around after your last post and nobody had ever experienced this practice.

Hmm, I know I should, Katek. It's taken me years to train this one up, though. I will definitely ask around.

I home colour using commercial products that hairdressers use - you can buy them online or in some local wholesalers.

I use Wella Colour Touch which is a semi permanant. It puts a coating on the hair but isn't harsh. It gradualy washes out and your hair is really shiny and healthy. You mix it with the Wella Color Touch Emulsion. It's as easy to apply as home colours and better in my opinion.

It won't be as good as highlights but isn't one deep un natural looking block colour.

Home hair colours have improved so much that the days of messy bathrooms are over. As the products are applied to dry hair, there is much less to drip! Make sure you do a colour test though. My hairdresser often compliments me on my colour. Helen Mirren advertises a range too !

i gave up going to the hairdressers to have a colour when the price went up to about £60!! no way i could afford that on my pension.
so it was home colour for me after that.
i wear an old sarong and use a dark towel which doesn't show any stain [although it seems to wash out anyway].
i don't use those silly little gloves they supply but my "bathroom" marigolds and, when the colour is applied, i cover my hair with a plastic carrier [suppose i'll have to pay 5p for one now and again] as my hairdresser used to cover my hair with a special plastic cap. it works and you can use a clothes peg to keep it tight.
mind you it's not a sight for anyone else so i pick a time when there's nobody around!
i use garnier nutrisse 3.6 - crimson promise - which leaves my hair in fantastic condition. it's not one that's got shades in it but looks good anyway - until my roots grow out grey nobody knows i colour my hair.
maybe one day i'll stop colouring my hair, especially as my daughter is greyer than i am, but i'm vain enough to keep colouring it every couple of months. and thanking goodness that someone invented home colouring kits!!!

NotTooOld - Like you I go to the hairdressers and have a base colour put on and highlights, about every 3 months or so. In between I do my own roots with L'oreal Excellence, I always do a skin test, although a block colour, IMO my highlights still stand out. My husband does the back of my head. I do stay in the bathroom covered in an old dressing gown and towel which I use exclusively for this purpose. I don't venture out of the bathroom during the process because the colour will permanently stain a carpet but it's fairly easy to clean off tiles and anything that isn't porous. However, I have recently discovered a product called Colour Wow, which is similar to a block mascara which you can just brush on roots and does a great job in disguising grey. I use it a lot now and put off doing my roots the messy way for an extra couple of weeks.

I decided to go grey but it turned out to be an odd mix of brown and grey, with white at the front. Back to the n&e.....

I have home dyed my hair for around 20 years. Around 15 yrs ago I decided to try going blonde. My natural colour is dark brown. I usually do it around every 5 weeks or so and every other one I use a pre-lightener followed by a light blonde usually a L'Oreal product like Recital. This works well for me and I have never had any problems. Now that I have a lot of grey in the front the back is a little darker but I have been assured it looks good. Having said that it helps that my hair is very short and spiky. I use an old towelling dressing gown with an old towel round my neck and don't have any mess. I have just sent off for the new esalon product which has had extremely good reviews, you have to answer a few questions online and if you can send a photo that helps. It is £14 + £3.95 p&p. I half filled it in on Friday but came out before finishing and on Saturday they offered it to me for half-price. So I decided to give it a go. Hopefully it will be good!