Do you colour your own hair?

I colour my own hair, but in a more unconventional way, with henna. It takes much longer than chemical dyes (like 4 hours plus!) anyway you shouldnt need any help to dye yours at home, its quite straight forward and lots cheaper

I've coloured my hair at home for years. I love henna (used Lush's henna for years) but have lots of grey and it tends to turn it red or orange (it used to look brilliant with a sprinkling of grey but I'm past that stage now!)

Just browse the shelves, look for something that colours grey and find something really close to your natural colour to start with. Follow the instructions and you'll be fine - they're pretty much foolproof.

La psycho, wanna come over to mine and help me? ?

I'm not going down the henna route, for a start I don't have 4+ hours spare every six weeks!

Think I need to go for a browse in Boots and just give it a go!

I've been dying my hair at home for yonks. Since I was 13 maybe? Always just grabbed whatever dye took my fancy at that particular time and went for it. At the moment I like the ten minute one because .. it only takes 10 minutes. I've got pretty thick hair so need to make sure I get all of it if the change is too drastic but I've never had any disasters. If you get the 10 min one don't go for dark brown unless you want black hair.

I generally colour my hair every 6-8 weeks, usually just after I’ve had my hair cut. I have a fair amount of grey, so always look for something permanent, that offers 100 per cent grey coverage. It’s best to choose a colour that’s pretty close to your ‘real’ colour. I don’t stick to any particular brand – I try whatever is on offer and takes my fancy! Most of the ones I’ve used require around 30-40 mins developing time, but I like the idea of the 10 minute ones! It’s pretty easy to DIY dye at home, from my experience. I have a couple of old towels I use, and an ancient dressing gown for slouching around in while the colour mix develops.

Do any of you have long hair? do you need more than 1 carton?

how do you avoid dye down your forehead? ?

I always use Boots own brand permenant colour, usually on a 2 for £5 deal, but even when they're not they are only £3ish each. I used to use 2 when I had long hair but it's short now so one is plenty.

Smooth a thin layer of vaseline round your forehead, ears and back of your neck before you start and the dye will not stick to your skin. It just washes off when you rinse the dye out.

I've been doing my own at home since we had two kids and can't afford the hairdressers anymore ?

I tend to stick to one brand just because I know and like it but I doubt there is much in them

Old towels, old t-shirt etc to wear and vaseline for round your hairline to stop it getting on your head

I also sometimes use babywipes to get odd bits off as soon as the colour has gone on

I quite often use the root touch up kits inbetween doing my whole head as they cover up the grey bits without having to do all your hair

My hair is shoulder length and thick and one box is enough for me

And i always pick up the shower caps at hotels to cover my hair when I've got dye on to stop any drips

Yes,I do. I have completely grey hair so need an all over colour, and don't see the point in paying a hairdresser to slop it on for me.

I only use 1 colour and whenever I've deviated from it I've hated it. A lot depends on your natural colour and the result and how different they are. Mine is realtively simple as I'm grey ? going back to a colour similar to my natural colour. I'd hesitate to go from black to blonde at home, but other than that I think you're ok.

Interestingly, I worked for boots for a while and one of the most common hair dye queries they get is people asking them to sell the conditioner that comes with the dye in big bottles so they can use it all the time. Apparently its not viable as the conditioner is the mos expensive thing in the box and a bottle of it would cost far too much to sell.

What everyone else said.

My favourites are Feria - leaves my hair really shiny. Last time I used the new L'Oreal 10 minute one (can't remember what it's called), and it was blooming brilliant (I'd tried another 10 minute one before that and it was rubbish).

Even if I do get drips, TBH they wash away fairly quickly, so I'm not that bothered.

I've been using home dyes for years and my mum has always done it for me, but being short on time the last few times, I have done it myself and found it much easier. I put the dye on then sit in the bath (Ikilling two birds with one stone). When its ready to come off I just stand under the shower. Saves so much messing about. I used Superdrugs own brand one last time. I hadn't realised until I got it home I had picked one up with separate highlighters. Now that I don't fancy doing by myself, so I just used the base colour, it was fine. Going to try one of the 10 minute ones next time.

I've used the highlighting ones too - they're good as well.

My top tips:

Remove ALL towels, clothes, bath mats and anything else that could stain from the bathroom. Add dye to hair, sit in bath during developing time with a magazine (check every couple of mins in a mirror to check for dye streaks sliding down your face ?), then rinse under shower. Dry your hair with a dark towel (I use old towels as well just in case).

In my many years of home dying (um...nearly 20 years - YIKES!!!), I've never had a colour disaster (unintentionally - sartorically, black probably wasn't such a good colour for me, but it was what I wanted at 15), but I have spilt dye on the carpet, and not realised for a week (amazingly, the beige carpet came up perfectly clean from my brunette dye!!), stained the grout in the bathroom with splashes, and stained pillowcases if I sleep straight after dying. But nothing's been a disaster.