Avoid Hair-Coloring Mistakes

Coloring your hair might be a decision you'll make at some point in your life. I colored my hair the first time when I was about sixteen years old, because I had dark hair with a lot of red streaks through it, and people thought I had colored it badly to begin with! You might want to color your hair to change your look, or color you hair to highlight it or add color or brightness, or maybe you're wanting to cover that pesky gray.

Learning how to color your hair is easy. In fact, the box gives very good instructions on how to color your hair. What the box won't tell you are the things you can do to mess up your hair. I've done these things, as have others I've known, so maybe you can learn from our mistakes and avoid making these hair coloring mistakes yourself!

Hair Coloring Mistake: Roots Showing

As your hair grows out, even when it's not color treated, your hair at the scalp will be darker than the hair growing that has been exposed to the sun, elements, shampoos, or colored. If you are planning to color your hair more than a shade different from your natural color, you are going to have to do root maintenance.

How frequently you will have to color your roots for a touch up will depend on how fast your hair grows.

Hair Coloring Mistake: Matching Hair Color to the Box Color

You don't know what color your hair is going to turn out being when you color your hair for the first time. Someone with black hair and someone with blonde hair both will not end up with hair the same shade as what's on the box.

When the hair coloring instructions tell you to do a test strand before coloring, they mean it. If you really want to know what color your hair will turn out, do the hair coloring test strand. If you don't like the color of the test strand, don't color your hair! It's easier to buy a new color and toss the wrong one than it is to fix the wrong color once it's on your head!

Hair Coloring Mistake: Going Blonde from Brunette or Black

If you are already blonde, using a blonde hair coloring kit will work fine to add shine and uniformity to your blonde locks. However, if you are a dark brunette or have red or black hair, using a blonde hair coloring kit is likely going to make your hair orange or yellow, and not blonde.

Going from a dark color to a blonde has to be done in steps and with special products, or else your hair will get damaged, dried, burnt and might even fall out in clumps. When I was younger I tried to go blonde, and it was a disaster. I wore a hat for two weeks waiting until I could recolor it!

Hair Coloring Mistake: Perming or Straightening Hair After Coloring

Once you've colored your hair, you should wait at least three days and preferably three weeks before you perm or straighten your hair. The chemicals for perming and straightening are essentially the same, and will interact poorly with the hair coloring chemicals. That's too much stress for your hair in a short period of time.

Hair Coloring Mistake: Leaving Color on Hair Too Long

You might think leaving hair coloring on your hair longer will result in a richer or deeper color, but this is not true. For dark colors, like dark browns and blacks, the longer you leave the coloring on your hair, the more likely it is your hair will pick up a green or blue hue to it. When I was in Jr. High school, I colored my hair black like this, and under the lights in the classroom, it was green! The cutest boy in class pointed it out in front of everyone!

All of these hair coloring mistakes are in addition to reading the instructions on the packaging of whatever coloring kit you purchase. Coloring hair doesn't have to be a hassle or leave you with strange looking hair, but it's important to take care to follow the instructions and keep your hair healthy!