Today I had this message sent to me:
“Professionals and stylists always insist that box color is bad for you hair, but I have never heard why. What’s the big deal? Isn’t it the same stuff as you guys use, but cheaper?”
The answer to that question is no, it isn’t the same at all. I have a question for you guys. We all have different hair right? We have different hair textures, lengths, density, wave patterns, history, and damage levels. So doesn’t it seem like someone with platinum blonde and damaged hair would need something different than someone with light brown virgin hair (never had a chemical texture service or a color service before)? The answer is yes!
Box companies use the most oxidation and the most pigmentation in each box to achieve the closest result every time. But this also achieves the most damage every time. And the more damaged your hair is the faster your color will fade. It will also cause you to get split ends, excessive oils or dryness, and often dandruff. A professional will asses your hair’s current state and history and create a color formula using your specific hair’s needs that will achieve the best result with the least amount of damage possible.
Plus the color we use has a lot of vitamins, antioxidants, and conditioners in them so we can give your hair a little TLC even during the coloring process. While box colors use a lot of cheap ingredients that leave harsh metals and alkaline deposits IN your hair even after you wash the color off! Because the color used on your hair actually stays in your hair, it is important that it is made with good and healing ingredients! Not the other way around. %75 of box color has metal in it, METAL! Do you really want metal shards in your hair. They do it because it helps open then cuticle layer of hair so that the hair color can penetrate the cortex (middle) layer and deposit the color. Professionals do lift the cuticle layer of hair using chemicals, but those chemicals will also be neutralized and then smooth the cuticle and allow it to lower down and lock in the color. Box color can’t do that.
On top of that it’s the know how. As stylists we go through thousands of hours of training to learn how to formulate hair color. We literally look at everything from your percentage of gray, existing tone and level, natural tone and level, and target tone and level, to your hair history, porosity, density, and more to decide what to use on your hair. And I promise you every single one of those things (and a few others) plays a massive role in how and what we formulate. You simply wont get that from a box color. If you come to me and tell me you’d like me to dye your hair exactly like another one of my client’s most likely I won’t use the same formula at all to achieve the same result.
Most people who dye their hair at home do so to save money. If you are trying to save money try going to a hair school instead of a salon. They usually charge much less and all students are trained in what they are doing and are being supervised and guided by industry professionals! Is it a risk? Yes. But it is a smaller (and healthier) risk than box color. Plus if they mess it up, usually the school will fix it for little to no charge. Although when I was in school I never had a problem with it. It does take A LOT longer though. A typically 3 hour process is a 5 hour process at a school, so be prepared for that.