DIY Hair Color

Years ago, I used to color my hair at home (with Yaya's help, of course) because I was fascinated by all the drugstore brands available in the market. L'Oreal alone had several variants, depending on your budget or the needs of your hair. After trying several variants, namely : Feria, Garnier and Excellence Creme, I finally stuck to the latter because it works well even on the most stubborn greys. My grey hairs is the number one reason I color my hair regularly. Needless to say, there's also an aesthetic angle to this but that's purely secondary.

Going back ... I stopped this exercise some 2 years ago because I simply got lazy and wanted a change in hair color with advice from an expert colorist. I've been going to a salon since then to get it done. PLUS the fact that I had my hair rebonded and was scared of murdering my locks.

Lately though, I haven't had the chance to re-visit my colorist. My grey hairs were starting to show and one day, while organizing my dresser, I found a sealed box sitting in a corner. I was wary at first because I couldn't remember WHEN I bought it. I looked for an expiration date on the box and the contents and found nothing. I wasn't going to risk using it without knowing if it was still good. Anyway, a few days later, after trying my best to recall, I finally remembered when I got it and realized it was still okay. Yay!

So yesterday was DIY hair color day at home. The stuff is pretty easy to use, but I would recommend that you enlist the help of someone, to make sure it's evenly distributed.

Just follow the instructions inside the box and you're set

I followed the 2nd set of instructions for previously colored hair :

1 - I first used the Preventive Serum to prepare my hair for the procedure

2 - Without washing the Preventive Serum off, apply the color on the roots ONLY and leave it there for 20 minutes

3 - Distribute the color to the rest of your hair and let it be for another 10 minutes

Take care not to leave it on longer because the result can be very disappointing

4 - Wash your hair with warm water first to emulsify the color, then change to cold water to get rid of all the remaining product on your hair

5 - Apply the conditioner that comes in the box and wash off after 2 minutes

(you can re-use the conditioner on your succeeding shampoo sessions)

Bottomline? Follow the instructions TO THE LETTER and you can't go wrong.

Here's what my hair looked like after

I had some difficulty capturing the color (Dark Caramel Brown, # 435) because these shots were taken indoors last night. My eldest daughter said the shade is slightly darker than my old one. Dang! But anyway, the goal was to color my hair evenly and get rid of those unsightly and annoying greys and that's exactly what happened.

Bye bye for now, grey hair!

If you're brave enough to do this yourself, go to any drugstore and look for the L'Oreal hair color line and choose a shade that suits you. L'Oreal Excellence Creme costs around Php 595.00 a box. I usually shell out about Php 2,500 to get this done at my friendly salon.

Do the math :)