4 Common At-Home Hair Dye Mistakes

Changing up your hair look can be a fun seasonal shift, and many love to do this themselves at home. While there is often less risk involved in a trip to the salon, you can get stunning and healthy results at home if you follow the right steps and invest in nourishing products made with optimal ingredients. However, as important as following dying instructions is avoiding the most common errors.

Here are the top at-home hair dye mistakes to avoid.

Skipping the Strand Test

You should never rely solely on hair dye box images. While it’s a useful guide to give you an idea of what you can expect, everyone’s hair is different from its tone to its porousness, so the results will always vary. To get ahead of this and ensure you get the results you want, test a small patch of hair on the underlayer on your hair with the dye you’d like to use, and follow the instructions. Once the process is complete, you should get an idea of how your hair will react to the dye.

Ignoring Ingredient Lists

Dying your hair can always result in some level of damage due to processing, but there are certainly brands that are better than others regarding formulation. To protect your hair from sustaining damage as well as dry, brittle results, look for nourishing hair dyes with botanical ingredients that are ammonia-free with potent pigments.

Disregarding Hair Texture

Everyone’s hair is different, and one of the most defining characteristics is the amount of cuticle layers yours has; the more layers, the more product you’ll need to saturate each strand and the longer you’ll have to let dye sit on your hair to get the color you’re after. For example, some hair textures may have anywhere between 16 and 18 cuticle layers, while others may have 8 to 12 cuticle layers.

You can achieve the hair color you desire at home, but it’s imperative to know all of the best tips and tricks for beautiful results as well as protecting your hair health. Understanding this guide to common mistakes can help you avoid disaster and better understand how your hair works. Happy coloring!