BEING YOUR OWN COLORIST

Coloring your hair at home is absolutely possible.But it’s important to understand what you are taking responsibility for when you do it yourself.

Professional hair color is not simply about choosing a pretty number from a color box.

A professional colorist has to look at the entire canvas:

• Your natural hair color and underlying pigment

• The background created by previous lightening

• Color that has accumulated through the lengths

• Gray hair and how it absorbs color

• Porosity and the condition of the hair

• Previous color treatments and chemical history

This is why I so often see the same situation:

The roots are orange or copper, while the lengths have become very dark.

Or with blonde hair:

The roots are orange, while the lengths have turned gray, blue, or purple.

Then the thought is often:

"My colorist can just mix a different color and fix it."

Unfortunately, it isn't always that simple.

When too much artificial pigment has accumulated in the hair, the solution may require color removal, lightening, correcting the canvas, rebuilding the hair's condition, and only then applying the new color.

And sometimes the desired result simply cannot be achieved in one appointment—because hair has limits too.

I am not against coloring your hair at home.

But if you decide to become your own colorist, remember:

A coloring mistake may take only a couple of hours to create.Correcting it can take several appointments.

Beautiful, healthy color is not just about the color you choose.

It takes knowledge, experience, and an understanding of the hair underneath the color.