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Style > Beauty

What to Know Before You Dye Your Hair

Her Campus Placeholder Avatar Madeline Rains
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Belmont chapter.

Are you going professional or DIY? 

If you are going professional you need to have some idea of what you want and be able to convey that to your stylist. They can’t read your mind. It helps to bring in pictures but be careful because a lot of pictures on Pinterest are photoshopped. So that purple color you’re pining after might not even be attainable, at least not in one go. If you can’t find a picture that you are in love with then talk it through with your stylist. They usually pad in some extra time, especially if you’re a new client, so they can get an idea of what you want or don’t want. 

If you’re going DIY you also need to know what you want but you especially need to consider what type of dye and what shade you want. 

Going DIY: Understand what colors will be flattering on your skin

It’d be great for every hair color to look good on everyone. But that isn’t how life works. You have to take into consideration what you’re working with already. Figure out what colors you look good in, and if you want that on your head. Take into consideration your skin’s undertones and your eye color. For example, I dyed my hair super dark brown in high school and it made my eyes really pop but overall it washed me out and made me look like a ghost. So be careful what color you’re choosing, do your homework, so you can choose the best shade. 

 

Going DIY: What kind of dye are you going to get? 

There are basically three main options here: 

  1. You can go to a store like Sally’s, which I would recommend if you are going to do it yourself, and get developer and dye there. Sally’s has swatch examples of most of their colors so that you can tell what it might look like in real life. Their staff usually is helpful too and can help you figure out what shade you would look best with. 
  2. You can go with a box dye which is something like Garnier, Revlon etc. which you can get from places like Target or Kroger. These can be great but make sure you look at the box and figure out what color it will turn out given your existing hair color. They usually have a guide on the side of the box. 
  3. You can go alternative with dyes like Henna color. For Henna you mix the dye with different kinds of tea and then it becomes a mud-like paste that you apply the same way you’d do any other color. 

Going DIY: Have someone help you! It is hard to dye your hair yourself so have someone help you out! You don’t want to end up with a splotch that didn’t get included. Also, pro tip that sounds obvious but wear gloves! I dyed my roommate’s hair with Henna and it didn’t come with gloves, which meant my nails were orange for the following four months. 

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Madeline Rains

Belmont '19

Madeline is a senior at Belmont University in Nashville and a lifelong Tennessean. She is majoring in Entertainment Industry Studies with a minor in Business Administration. She loves binge watching dramas on Netflix, going to Predators games, and spending time with family and friends.