Box Dyes Vs In-Salon Hair Colouring: A Celebrity Stylist Gives His Verdict
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Michael Douglas is a celebrity hair stylist with a passion for empowering beauty fans to feel more confident with their hair. He is also a regular Live That Glow columnist, answering readers questions on all things hair care. Here, he advises on whether box dyes can ever be as good as in-salon colouring.
Are box dyes actually worse than getting your hair done in a salon and can you please recommend any box dyes for curly hair that’s following the curly girl method?
Michael says:
In a simple answer, box dyes essentially contain all the same ingredients and work in a very similar way to the colours that are used in a hair salon.
The main difference between getting your hair done at a salon vs at home is the actual skill of the colourist. A colourist in a salon can do a more accurate job of assessing the quality of your hair and then making changes or concessions in the mixture of the colour to best suit your hair and get the best results.
This can include mixing more diluted versions of the peroxide and also mixing different shades together to get something that better suits you. They can also extend and reduce the development times based on the condition and porosity of your hair. They also will have the experience of applying the colour more thoroughly and more accurately. This can include applying the colour to different areas of your hair, depending on the condition to achieve a more even result.
When you buy a box dye you’re generally just buying one colour with one level of developer and applying that colour to your hair.
There is a saying in my business that “a product is as good as the hair it’s on” so the results of the box dye can occasionally be a bit unpredictable depending on the quality of the hair it is being used on. So, to answer the question; no, box dyes aren’t particularly worse than getting your hair coloured in a salon, however the result can be more unpredictable depending on the quality and condition of your hair. In a lot of cases, if people are wanting to colour their hair a similar colour to their natural colour, or want to cover their greys or are happy to go either one shade lighter or one shade darker and are happy to have an all over colour, then box dyes can work brilliantly.
If you want a more specific predictable result and perhaps you want a variation of colours put in your hair, then I would head to the salon.
There are no particular recommended box dyes for curly hair though. Curly hair and straight hair, from a hair colouring perspective, are exactly the same.
Curly hair can behave differently when it comes to being styled but there are no specific changes I would make to the products I would use or the technique and colouring of curly hair.
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