Home Hair Coloring Help - AKA Am I Crazy to do this?

[vejemom]

I'm normally a chicken and get my hair colored in a salon I get highlights and a base color to hide my greys. I'm a classic Irish girl with pale skin and blue eyes. The base color is essentially the medium brown nature gave me, and I get caramel to dark blonde highlights. I was unhappy with the way my hair turned out the last time. The stylist didn't get the foils nearly close enough to the scalp and the highlights looked like they were growing out from the get go. I'd like to save myself the $150 and just do it myself, but I'm nervous.

Do I color just the roots? Or do I apply the color to the roots and then pull it down to the ends during the last 5-10 minutes of the processing time? I'm assuming that even if I pull the color though to the ends, the present highlights would stay a little bit lighter and add a little dimension to the color. Am I right? I don't mind it being a little darker than what I have currently, just don't want to end up with shoe polish-looking ends. Am I on the right track here? Help!

[AJP]

If you don't plan on doing the highlights yourself (I wouldn't either!!) and you're just doing color then yes, put the color all over your roots and just pull through the last 5-8 minutes. Your lighter strands should still look lighter but they should be much more blended and the contrast between root and growing out highlights won't be so obvious. Don't leave it on longer than about 8 minutes (the middle and ends) and it shouldn't end up very dark. In my experience box color always turns out darker on me than the picture that the box shows. I am naturally a med brown.
Now, as a FYI...I am NOT a hairstylist. I do have many in the family and have been alternating between coloring my own hair and paying lots of $$$ to trusted good friends in the biz for more than 15 years. I have been every color from blond to dark brown and several in between...highlights, lowlights, you name it!
Good luck!

[MamaMolly]

Dearest, your hair is already color treated. Take it from a she who has walked the path before you and DO NOT screw around with your hair color at home. I don't mean to take the wind out of your sails, but I have done some seriously ugly bad things to my hair over the years. Just don't go there. It takes a loooooong time to grow out an ugly mess of highlights.

The next time you don't like your color, it really is ok and go back to the salon and have them fix it. They may charge a nominal fee for the color (maybe $10-$20) but you spent $150 in the first place and deserve to like your hair! The salon would prefer you to come back and keep a customer than loose you to the competition.

Speaking of which, it is also ok to move on. I'd start checking out the hair of women you pass everywhere you go. When you see good color, compliment her and find out who does her hair. Write it down and try it out. Good luck, and sorry I couldn't be more encouraging about the DIY thing.