Glamour: What are the rules of thumb to coloring your hair at home vs. in a salon?
Marie: The time when you can really do your hair at home is if you want to go darker, redder, or just a little bit lighter or golder, for more subtle changes. My rule of thumb is that if you are staying within two shade ranges of your natural color—going lighter or darker or redder—permanent color is an excellent option and you will get the results that they are showing you. If you are going more than two shades lighter or darker, see a professional. And then once you see a professional, they can tell you what to use at home to retouch.
Also, if you are going darker or redder at home, I would recommend to do it in stages. Don't start with the color on the box that you think you want to go. Pick the one that's at the halfway point, because that might be enough for you and not as shocking. And then you can always build on that without messing up.
Glamour: How do you choose the right color at the drugstore?
Marie: A really nice simple trick I like to tell people is__gauge it based on the jewelry you wear.__ If you're someone who can wear gold jewelry, you can probably wear reds and golds and caramels. If you're someone who looks better in silver jewelry or even cooler makeup, then generally a cooler hair color would look nice on you too. So look for tones that say "ash," "cool," or "beige." If you can wear a lot of rose gold, then your skin is probably more neutral, so you can wear a lot of different colors.
With all permanent hair color, usually the color on the box isn't the only representation of what that hair color is. On the side or back of the box, there are several different colors they will show you from where your starting color is to how the color is going to react on it. This is really important, because hair color will react differently based on what your natural color is.
Glamour: Can you talk us through the hair dye options out there? What's the difference between semi-perm, permanent, demi-perm?
Marie: Permanent is for anyone who has more than 25% grey. So if you're having more greys than you can hide, you're ready for permanent hair color. Our Nice n Easy Color Blend Foam is great for someone who's coloring their hair for the first time. I tell people to put the foam in their hands, rub it into their hands, and then massage it into your scalp and then pull it out through the tips. When it touches the natural oils of the hair, it collapses into a liquid, so it distributes evenly and is pretty fool proof.
And once you use it once, unless you were exposed to harsh elements like the sun or chlorine, you can generally just retouch the roots from there on out. Then after your retouch application, you run it through to the ends for the last couple minutes to refresh and to give it shine.
