Today, a booming 75% of American women reportedly color their hair, either professionally or with foam, mousse or box dye. Is there a difference? Why would you pay $150 for a service instead of dye your hair for $7 with color from the grocery store? Find out the differences between the two so you can make a well-educated decision that meets your needs best.

You’ve seen the commercials with celebrities endorsing box haircolor. These idols have vibrant, luminous locks that we all desire, but just sit and think for a second. Do you think these women opt for an experience like this: bathroom mess, risk of an unwanted color result, stained towels, ruined shower liners? It’s more than likely that they are opting for a fabulous, guaranteed color service by professionals who create amazing haircolor every day in a relaxing salon/spa. Discover your options to see which would be best to dye your hair.

What are the advantages of professional haircolor?

• Your hair’s integrity is protected and softness and shine are added because it’s not just produced from the pigment; the ingredients help maintain the high percentage of what the hair is actually made of: protein and moisture.
• Every day, we hear from our clients that their hair feels healthier after repeated use of professional haircolor with more body and less frizz.
• The application is thorough. Have you ever dyed your hair at home, to end up with a blotchy, uneven outcome? Your Stylist can see your hair from a 360 degree view and knows exactly how to apply it to ensure a blended, even color.

-If you’re looking for a big change in your hair, black/brown to blonde, or blonde to brown/black, there are certain haircolor rules. As professionals were taught, “Color doesn’t lift color”, which means you cannot put a lighter hair color onto hair that has been previously colored. It will not give you the results you expect. Professionals know how to do this in a predictable manner with processes that cannot be replicated at home.

-Have you ever seen “brassy” blondes? Or “orangey” or green-ish brunettes? These are natural undertones that are exposed in different colors of hair, which need to be taken into consideration when formulating haircolor. With a box color, you’re unable to mix in the correct colors to counteract these yellow, orange, red undertones… professionals are.

-There is incredible technology nowadays with no ammonia haircolors that actually strengthen your hair and add protein, instead of deplete protein.

-Think about the 6 year old little girl who plays about at the playground, in your neighborhood or at the beach. Her hair is naturally highlighted from the sun. With box color, you cannot achieve a naturally dimensional look as you can with professional. You’ll get a solid, opaque, sometimes drab color.

-Unique techniques can play up your best features by counteracting dark circles, making your eye color “pop”, refreshing your skin tone and even creating the illusion of a thinner face or more volume! Do you know how to do that at home?

-At-home touch-ups are difficult since you’re only supposed to do the “roots”. Pulling permanent haircolor through your ends repeatedly will cause your color to build up on the ends, resulting in very porous hair (which the color will fade out) or black ends. Demi permanent haircolor needs to be used, which is not found in box dyes.

On the contrary, box haircolor do not have these immense benefits. While it may seem more economical to you from a price perspective, the opposite could end up being true. More time and money could be involved if your color comes out undesirable and you end up going into the salon to get it fixed, for a price that could easily exceed $300! With everything taken into consideration, going into the salon may be a better choice than reaching for that box of hair color at the drug store.