Are you wondering how to buy professional hair dye for your own at home use?
Well…you can’t. If you do find some online then it’s not coming from a reliable supplier.
Not only that, but if you’re not a hairstylist then you probably have no idea about what you’re doing.
This isn’t a “tricky” post to hook you onto my website…I wrote this post because the phrase “how to buy professional hair dye” is one of the most searched topics on this blog!
How To Buy Professional Hair Dye
Update: July 2017
I’ve seen a lot of comments from disgruntled readers about the intent of this post. Please read the comment and response below for a brief explanation about who this article is for and why.
Here’s a great reader Q&A about buying professional hair dye:
Hello-
This article is JUST A TAD BIT biased. I don”t know where you live, but there are many high quality beauty supply stores where you can buy all the products you need without being licensed.
If someone does their due diligence in researching everything they need to know, it’s not rocket science as you’re making it sound.
As others have mentioned, some people can’t leave their homes due to illnesses (physical, or mental), some people simply don’t want to spend hundreds of dollars going into the salon…the list goes on. It’s convenient to be able to do these things in the comfort of your own home for a fraction of what of the cost at a salon.
You can teach yourself anything you want, the internet provides lovely resources to be able to do so.
-Alex
Here’s my response:
Dear Alex,
Yes, you are right about a few things.
It may not be rocket science, but if you knew the difference between the results you get from an American Board Certified Haircolorist(or Redken Certified, Master Haircolorist, etc.) and a beginner stylist that just finished cosmetology school…imagine the difference in results from someone who is uneducated in cosmetology and chemistry/has no experience in the industry that is coloring their hair for the first time after watching some YouTube videos and reading blog articles online!
I wrote this post because I was getting so many comments and e-mails from people asking me how to buy professional hair color. Most of them think that professional beauty supply stores are open to the public, but they are not.
I wanted to explain to readers why “superior” hair color products require a license to purchase, and that professional hair color is immensely different from what you get at Sally’s Beauty or the basic box of hair color. Also, that most people don’t know how to properly formulate for the best results…that doesn’t mean they can’t educate themselves and try(I have posts that only blog subscribers can access which explain basics of hair color and how to do it yourself to get the best results….as well as color charts, formula substitutions between brands, etc.)
I am very understanding of those that cannot go to the salon for various reasons and I do help them(via the contact page/e-mail because chemical services are specific to each person and it’s difficult to give accurate advice without all of the information). I do the same for guests that are shopping in Ulta Beauty and ask me what they should use because they cannot afford a color service at our salon.
-Erika
You’re about to ruin your hair…just stop.
I’ll never say this again, but you might be better off using box color…for real. At least that’s a no-brainer when it comes to mixing. It might not be accurate, but it’s less likely to create a disaster than a non-professional trying to figure it all out on their own!
Here are the ONLY ways to buy professional hair dye:
- At a beauty supply store. Beauty supply stores are NOT open to the public. You may only buy their products if you have an active cosmetology license.
- From a beauty supplier. These are usually mobile and their representatives go to salons to take inventory and/or place orders on a monthly basis. They often have products that cannot be bought at beauty supply stores.
If you’re Googling “how to buy professional hair dye” then ask yourself these questions:
- Why are you trying to buy a professional product if you are not a professional?
- Did your Wal-Mart box hair color let you down?
- Do you think the results will be different if the color is “professional quality”?
If that’s the case then you’ve got it all wrong. The problem is not the product…it’s you. It’s because you’re not a professional.
I know that some people think what we do is easy, but it’s not. There are so many factors that go into creating beautiful hair color.
It doesn’t happen by chance…it happens when a professional haircolorist listens to your needs or wants and uses their knowledge to create the look you desire.
Erika
Professional Hairstylist | American Board Certified Haircolorist | Makeup Artist | Beauty Blogger
216 Responses to How to Buy Professional Hair Dye
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Hello. From extensive research and close analysis of the difference in contents between professional grade and non, it seems pretty obvious that professional grade anything is almost always better for your hair and scalp. That is why I would rather buy professional grade bleach, toner, etc. to best care for my hair.
It’s frustrating seeing how I can’t buy a single product that demonstrates any sort of protection towards my hair because they are all limited to professionals. I found myself further frustrated as I came to this site for the solution. I am still holding an ounce of hope that there might be a product out there that satisfies my needs.
If anything this comment is meant to be a cry for help for any guidance as I apparently have no liberty when it comes to what I want to do and how I am to get there in terms of my hair.
In this case…what’s important is that you are formulating for your current natural and/or artificial level in relation to how many shades lighter you would like to go.
Lightening kits from the drug store are more dangerous for your hair because they are “one size fits all”…I go in depth about this in another post – 10 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Use Box Color. In other words, the developer strength is very strong so that it will work on most people, but that also means that it may and probably will be more damaging for a lot of hair types and porosity levels.
Even though the professional products have a lot more variety/predictability/quality/etc…you can get some powdered lightener and cream developer from a beauty supply store that is open to the public. This will be soooo much better for your hair and you can lighten your hair at the pace that is best to prevent damage.
but don’t they sell shades eq toner at walmart ?
Redken Shades EQ is a professional product line that is only sold at pro supply stores or by a distributor.
Hi! So, I used to do hair way back in the day. I know the volume of developer to use. I know how to mix colors for the results I want. Unfortunately, they’ve stopped making the color I had used for years. Since I’m no longer a stylist my only option is Sally and their offerings of red shades are limited. So, now since I’m no longer licensed, I have to settle to working with shades that don’t quite do it for me or go to a salon and pay hundreds of dollars for something I know how to do. It may not be the typical background of the people responding, but it’s frustrating and I thought I’d share.
Luckily, you know how to formulate with what’s available!
Wow, there are some horrible comments! I’m a licensed esthetician so I get why you need a license to buy certain products. I just got a CosmoProf account and bought some professional color. I appreciate your blog and the tips that you offer. I wish you had more entries/articles, but I get that you are busy. You are appreciated out here.
Thank you! I hope you enjoy CosmoProf, and don’t forget about Salon Centric(they carry some brands that aren’t at CosmoProf).
I’m hoping to post a lot more this year like I used to! I have hundreds of saved drafts to work on, but I won’t publish something until I feel like it is complete(maybe I should stop criticizing myself so much and just put it all out there).
Try going to a salon and asking for strawberry blonde hair. My hair is platinum blonde base and their response is ‘oh it won’t hold’ then they show me several examples of colors mixed together that should produce what i want. End result is brown hair with a red tinge and it looks horrendous. My suspicion is they didn’t have colors on them that are needed for this color. I’d rather just buy it myself. So my story is that your industry leaves me with no choice but to buy professional products to get the look i want.
I think a lot of people get confused about what strawberry blonde is(you should bring some photos with you to make sure they know what you want, and if it doesn’t turn out…you can show that it was wrong). It is a more difficult color to achieve perfectly, but your hair should not have looked brown at all.
Personally, I think that strawberry blondes look best when colored with dimension(high & low lights with colors that are very similar, but not exactly the same). Strawberry blonde is not meant to be one flat color.
Good luck, and if you need help with taking a formula to a stylist or any other advice- just send me a message via the contact me page(it’s faster than commenting on a post).
Here’s my problem, Erika. I left a stylist whose color I loved because I didn’t like the cuts. After trial and error she used a professional color that worked very well for me, combed it through at the end of the time, cut, dried, I ended up with color I liked.
So I decide I want a better cut and I start shopping for stylists. First, nobody uses my brand of color, which is a very well known brand that everyone has heard of. Then, I decide to get color anyway and they don’t comb it through and I’m left with nice fresh roots and faded hair below. I ask them to comb it through and they act like this is a crime OR want to charge me a whole bunch extra just to make my hair color even. So I let one of them not comb it through and…well, faded hair the next visit. So her fix for that is to darken the hair color the next time. So then I have hair color that’s too dark.
Sooooo. I’m not allowed to buy the hair color I want. If I get it done professionally so I can get the good hair color, I have to pay extra to have the job done right. At this point I’m at a loss. Maybe I should go back to the old stylist with the good color and just cut my own hair until it gets long enough that I don’t have to worry about the cut and can just put it up.
I can understand your frustrations! It’s not uncommon for a stylist to be skilled in one area, but not as much in another. Often, in cosmetology school, students will really “take off” with either cutting or coloring(whichever the grasp best, feel most comfortable with, or excel at)- then the other skill will drag behind a bit unless they have great instructors or are truly passionate.
I was lucky to work with someone who was exceptional at cutting(although color wasn’t her favorite), and I watched her cut on my downtime. I learned from one of the best I know and that’s how I became a great colorist and stylist. We had a really great salon family and we enjoyed learning from each other/teaching each other when we could.
You may want to think about just being honest with her and asking if she can recommend someone in the same salon to do your haircut after she does your color. This is not uncommon and I think it’s the best option for you!
I appreciate you making this post. Though I was wondering do you know of any good brands to use for people with curly dark hair?
Thank you! If you’re referring to hair color- I would use something that doesn’t have a thick consistency so it will be easier to apply on curly hair. You can also use clear developer instead of cream for a better application(just don’t mix it in all at once- mix it like pancake batter, a little at a time so it’s not lumpy).
I just want to be able to refresh my pravana vivids between going to my stylist to get the roots done. Its obnoxious lol
I definitely understand that! Pravana is awesome, but it takes a few applications before it really “sticks”(and even then it still fades fast). The only place Pravana is sold is at professional beauty supply stores(you may be able to find a salon that will sell you some…ask your stylist). I don’t suggest switching from Pravana if you love your shade…it’s my personal favorite!
Here are some links I found for purchasing Pravana on Amazon, although colors vary:
Pravana Vivids Violet
Pravana Vivids Red
Pravana Vivids Wild Orchid
Pravana Vivids Blue Topaz
So not going to lie at first when I read this I was like seriously? All I want is to be able to buy some Redken to do my hair myself. <– Also not going to lie I watch YouTube video Ellebangs and been trying to learn how. Trust me, I've had many ok that didn't turn out the way I was hoping moments and other times I was pleasantly happy. None the less, I think a lot of people that watch videos on how to dye hair forget that the people they are watching in the videos are licensed professionals hence why they have the professionals colors. I guess I had a aha moment and to put it simple if you want the professionals colors either go to a salon or go to school and get your license to do so.
I see all the hateful comments and its it's unnecessary as you're not the reason why they can't buy the products they are looking for you're just stating the facts. Keep doing you lovely.
Thanks so much!
A lot of people get upset because they think that this post is “click-bait”. I got the idea to write this post by looking at reports of the most searched topics/phrases on my website. So, I had to give the post this name so people would find the information…no one wants to read about why the can’t buy professional products. I do offer advice and help with what’s available to the public, and if I could do more I would!
Iām sorry. This blog is ridiculous. Itās not like an all over color is that hard. Iāve colored many times with a box. I donāt know what the formula is in there. At least when I go to Sallyās I know what Iām getting. I can apply a basic color. Im not going to hope I myself can do a bad ass balayage. But neither can most colorists. You act like a professional is always going to be better. Iāve wasted plenty of money in a salon for terrible color and service. Even with people who can recommended in the community. If itās the person and not the product, why use different products than what we have access to to begin with
It’s which product is used on a specific hair type(level, undertones, porosity level, chemically altered, etc.). These days most people are not applying color to virgin hair- they’re putting a box color on top of color that has grown out or has been permed, for example.
There are so many situations and variables that most people don’t take into consideration when coloring their hair, and that’s when things happen. For example, if someone uses a different color than last time they won’t understand why they got hot roots because last time it turned out fine.
Sometimes you don’t need a professional colorist, but many times you do.
Um im sorry but I have been buying professional hair coloring etc products from my local Sally’s Beauty Supply store for years now without a cosmetology degree. Or am I? Isn’t Sally’s only stock prof hair items
Sally’s does not sell the same products that people with a license can buy.
So we wait until salons are open in six months? How does this help us when we donāt have a choice to make an appointment but want to dye our hair ourselves? Good dye isnāt available for hair. I dye silk which is a protein fiber similar to hair and get get any color I want from primaries if I need to including earth tones.
I agree with others who have said the issue they have is good dyes arenāt available.
The quality of the color is less important than the skill of the person using it. If you know how to formulate for the results you desire then it is possible with generic products from Sally’s. The problem is that those products aren’t consistent and may require some trial and error to get it right. For example, some color lines at Sally’s will turn out a shade darker than their professional counterpart.
I ran out of the will to live in reading all the comments…so I just skipped down to the bottom to say it is AMAZING that you are willing to respond. I’m 48, my sister owned her own salon for the first 15 years of getting my hair colored professionally and then I have had at least a dozen stylists since then. Paying $350+ typically as I have a darker burgundy base, cranky grey roots to cover, a peekaboo underneath of fashion color, blonde streaks on the top. Covid made me face a fear. First, I let my hair grow out for 6 months. The world did not end. (Felt like it sometimes!) Then I went and got my $400 hairdo in June. I did not hate it. But I was in the chair for 8 hours. My stylist (owner of the shop) insisted I come back a month later to fix the blondes, even though I had not complained. She “fixed it” for free. But I spent another 7 hours in the chair, often forgotten, and a deep well of F this came over me.
Fast forward to 9 months later. I have made a LOT of mistakes. I have also had lightbulb moments of WHY on earth it took so long. My hair was/is so freaking complicated but it’s part of my trademark. I now can only tackle the imperfect tasks (such as bleaching roots, toning, pink underneath, elumen to liven up the base…eeetttcccc. My husband thinks I’m nuts. I have semi, demi and permanent colors and an entire salon hiding in my closet.
I just wanted to say, it required me making the mistakes to understand just how complicated the science experiment on my head is. Things are clicking. I never knew what toner meant, developer, yadda yadda. And I really don’t care to learn much more! I have seen how wrong a box dye can be. I have felt how damaging the wrong bleach can be. I have cut my own hair only to hate it 3 days later. I’ve done homemade masks, olaplex, glosses.
I have had 5 spine surgeries. This makes it very difficult to sit in a chair for so long. I have tinnitus and hearing loss, making it difficult for me to hear my stylist over the music and busy salon. And I have learned I am a bit of a hermit…I don’t always feel like being in a thumping salon, being chatty and shelling out $400. That said, there is NOTHING that can compare to a professional, truly. My hair never feels **as good** as it does when done in a salon. My DIYs work *for me* but they’ve been hard earned over the years when I was so dirt poor I could only afford a $5 box. Now, I could go to a salon..and am choosing not to. I have given myself permission to play, obsess, learn, make goofy decisions and accept consequences. It has been an empowering thing.
Keep being amazing…do your magic…and let them make mistakes! We might not learn for 10 years down the line. We might have aha moments and understand why professionals ARE professionals. I still say it’s incredibly thoughtful of you to care, and to respond…because the possibilities are endlessly frightening once you understand what can and does go wrong. Thank you!
I appreciate your comment! I get A LOT of hate and I reply to most of it. There are many people that I know just don’t understand the world of hair like I do(or they are unwilling to be open to ideas other than their own)and it would be a waste of time to respond.
Many commenters accuse me/other professionals of trying to take advantage of clients and say that I write these posts bc I must be scared that everyone will realize they don’t need me(lol). What they don’t realize is that I’ve spent thousands of hours building this website and keeping it going because I’m passionate about hair, I have a lot of information to share, and I like helping people…especially when a mistake is prevented! I don’t spend as much time blogging anymore(that’s why my responses may take a while), but I’m certainly not concerned with what people choose to do with their own hair when they think they can do what I can do. And yeah, it sounds cocky but it’s true!
Omg you are ridiculous! Anyone can mix color. Literally anyone! Stop being rude to people who know better than to pay 300 dollars to get hair done. We have done our research and practiced enough. We just want the better quality without the cheap ingredients!! Suck a lemon
Get a license. If you’re so good then that’s the price you have to pay to shop at professional supply stores/order from distributors.
Oh my Erika has been far from rude. She has been calm, professional, educational and blatantly honest. She doesnāt need to do this, but she chooses to inform by the grace of her heart. Unfortunately the comments from readers like yourself, ruin this process, and keep negativity spewing. It may be your opinion, anyone can mix color, no they canāt, as much as much as I want to, I would for sure jack something up. You obviously have no respect for the profession. Do you feel this way about a chef, a plumber? They are professionals in their trade for a reason, just like an accountant or a firefighter. Your disrespectful comment bothers me and I donāt even know Erika. I would have to assume that when you see yourself, you donāt absolutely like what you see so itās easier to attempt to put someone else down, maybe itās a bad guess? Possibly try a little sugar with the lemon, itās actually very good and sweet!
Thank you
How rude!! Suck a lemon really? As a licensed cosmetologist I feel ofended no we donāt use cheap products we use profesional product, and itās not just about the products we useā¦ and as Ericka said get a licenseā¦I am sure 1,000 plus hours required by many states in order to have a license would be nothing to you since you know so much and if you knew any better you would know that quality products are NOT CHEAP like the box dye I am sure you buyā¦and itās not just about using professional products on your hairā¦why? well depending on your hair level, porosity, undertones, gray percentage, stubborn grays, chemicals (including old color, perms, relaxers, bleach, henna color) and the color you want or if you want to lighten your hair to. 10 or lift it a only 2 levelsā¦based on all mentioned we determine what to use (Demi? Just a semi? No wait a perm?) developers (lift and deposit? Lift and color three levels? Perhaps fourā¦No just depositingā¦ btw since you know so much I take it you understand the lingo) perhaps you have a red undertone, would you happen to know how to cancel it out so your hair does not come out orange? If the answer to some of these happen to be no then please I suggest you think about who needs to be sucking on a lemon here cuz I will be damned if anyone who does not know how to differentiate a no-stem, half-stem, full-stem talk to me about color
Do to my disability and scheduling, with an already over booked Styliest, Iāve opted to chance the box! However, before doing this I researched everything I could find on hair coloring. Itās been a long and challenging 4 years.
My first attempt was with a LāOrĆ©al blond box and I actually wasnāt to bad. Then a month or so later I decided I liked all those fun pastels so I bought another box of color and weaved it in. It also wasnāt to bad. Now gaining confidence at believing I must have some amazingly health hair as I didnāt see any damage from the 2 colors I had experienced with, I ventured out to buy another platinum blond color. This time I went to Sallyās. I bought the quick blue and 20 proof and home I went. I followed the directions given and I bleached my hair. To my superseded it turned out orange! So what did I do… well, I bleached it again. It was still orange. I hated it but decided to let it rest l. Inn be only waited about4 Iām 4 days before I did it yet again! Orange sis not make me happy at all so I decided to dye it a dark color to get by.
This is when I not longer had that strong beautiful hair but instead, I had woke up to almost NO hair. I had very long hair all one length up till this morning. It was awful. My a hair was gone and what was left was so dry it broke every time I touched it.
So, without undermining your expertise on this subject I must agree with the many others here and agree with the idea of allowing the commercial products to be purchased without having a license. If mot all products then just some of them.
Had I had access to better products I wouldnāt have had so much difficulty coloring my hair with those harsh boxes, and wouldnāt have had the need to repeat he color.
The problem in your situation is NOT the products. As I have mentioned before…the product used is not near as important as the skill of the person using it.
I actually thought that you were agreeing with me until I got to the end of your comment. If you over-process your hair then it WILL break off, become porous/damaged, and it won’t look healthy anymore. You can’t just keep lightening your hair/going darker without damage, but there are ways to do it more safely.
Every time you chemically process your hair(lighten/darken/perm/etc.) you are “opening” the cuticle of the hair and either adding or removing pigment. Hair is delicate and it can only take so much of this before it breaks. “Low and slow” is the best way to process your hair multiple times(this is not always going to work). Lower volumes of developer oxidize more slowly, where higher volumes oxidize rapidly-this causes more damage too.
I’ve been just reading these comments for laughs as I’m a future cosmetology student who has also done her own hair at home (I have alopecia so it’s just styling and coloring wigs) and am pretty shocked by the ridiculous comments here.
I’m almost speechless that this person oveeprossessed their hair in a very short amount of time and then had the gall to blame what was their lack of know-how and expertise that cost them their hair, not the products. NO stylist in their right mind would do what this person did to their hair and expected good results.
For those of us non-professionals who decide, whether though arrogance, curiosity, or a lack of funds, to do our own hair at home, we go through a lot of trial and error, which is something that a stylist does not get a chance to do. Going to a go stylist you know that your hair is going to turn out right because there isn’t room for error. Not saying thing some stylists don’t sometimes mess up, but usually you go in and get what you want. Doing it yourself at home you’re going to mess up before you get it right, if you get it right at all, or you’re going to get lucky. But the skill and precision isn’t there and thats why we don’t need access to products any better or more “professional” than what can be found at Sally’s- it would be wasted on us.
Just my thought on the persons comment and your wonderful response. I could be you and deal with the numbnuts who dye their hair pink with splat from Walmart one time and think they’re cosmetologists.
Also, one can often tell an at home job from a pro job, especially when dealing with creative colors.
Thanks for your comment! It’s nice to hear from a future professional for a change!
The best hair colorists have made MANY mistakes along the way…that is why they are so good at what they do! Keep that in mind as you go through school and start your career. Hair stylists that are afraid to try new things and do what they are uncomfortable with never reach their full potential. If you study and know all the aspects of hair color forwards and backwards you will take those risks and it will be worth it!
Your are probably much better and have great technique from your license but I have been coloring my own with professional not open to public sale products for well over 5 years. Most donāt even question the sale . I would never try something crazy but highlights and a color , yesss ! Highly recommend ā¤ļø
Where do you buy yout products Ashley?
I’m a licensed massage therapist, and I have no problem with people buying pro-grade massage lotions, because they’re not getting the pro help. I used to be a pro chef, and the tools can help home cooks, yet they usually prefer to go eat out, because they want the service and the experience. And they usually decide it’s way easier to pay someone.
Why are cosmetologists so concerned that public access merely to the tools you use is enough to end your profession? If it’s so complicated (which seriously didn’t seem to be the case when my cosmo friend did all of the steps in front of me), wouldn’t the public causing hair disasters give the pros more business in repair work?
The job seems like knowing where to find a recipe chart and having the right tools, plus the patience, practice, and dexterity to use them. Why deny people their right to even TRY?
You can get a license at age 16. It can’t be unlearnable to someone dedicated to knowing the details of the process. At least admit it’s mostly about worry over a dying industry, especially now that COVID taught people to be resourceful or to just go long periods without such services.
I have never once liked the work done on my hair by others, since they never listen to me and insist on going rogue against my wishes. I would happily study cosmetology textbooks if it meant getting to use pro products myself, especially at a much saner cost.
It’s not that cosmetologists are concerned with what the public has access to, it’s the industry. We have NO CONTROL over how products are regulated- it is the professional product companies that are concerned with how products are distributed and sold.
We are simply taught the differences, benefits, etc. so we can educate our clients. It is the way it is, and if you think it’s the cosmetologists trying to control everything then you probably don’t have a firm grasp on how industries really work. Most things in our society are not there for our benefit- it’s all about profit and that is why products are regulated…NOT because we are “concerned”.
No one is “denying” anyone their rights…like, are you being serious? Blame the big companies that produce the products- not the hardworking stylists in the industry because they are not the ones controlling the product.
I paid for an education in an exciting trade that allows me to purchase products because I know how to use them. Hate me for that? Okay.
I’m not even going to touch on your “recipe chart” reference- you literally have no idea and I’m not going to waste my time explaining why you are wrong.
Here are a few stats about our “dying” cosmetology industry:
In the U.S. alone there are more than 80,000 salons(95%) and barbershops(5%) operating today with over $50 Billion in annual revenue.
The demand for professional hairstylists has grown over 16% since 2010 and is expected to grow at least another 12% by 2025.
More than 15.5 million Americans get their hair professionally colored an average of 4 times every 6 months.
I agree with you! The last time I had my hair done and loved it was 25yrs ago. Since then Iāve been to a salon maybe 5 times. And HATED every time. One time was for my wedding, I flew home in my car ripping Bobby pins out of my hair. Had to redo it myself because she didnāt listen.
Then the last time I had my hair done was in oct. I wanted sunset hair: the ācolouristā didnāt even know the colour wheel. She asked cheerilyāwhat colours do purple and orange makeā as she was mixing for my hair. Me āum. Brown, so donāt do itā.
The end result was nothing close to what I wanted. I ended up paying way to much fir a garbage job.
Since then the colour has faded, obviously. Except for one vivid strand of fuchsia, which I love. So now Iām on a hunt to find this brand, but since I donāt have a license, I canāt buy it. Which is unfoobexause I know I wonāt eff up my hair like some āprofessionalsā have done in the past.
Sounds like you’ve had some bad experiences, but that doesn’t mean that all “professionals” are the same.
Doesnāt mean that they are. But most of us donāt have the funds to continue testing out different āprosā every few months to find one that isnāt.
I know it can be difficult to find the “right” stylist for you, but I do have some tips to help you lessen the chance of having a bad experience:
1) Schedule a complimentary consultation(most salons offer this) before your hair appointment- not the day of. Come prepared with some questions to ask the stylist as well as your expectations. Don’t be afraid to challenge him/her…the more you guys talk the better. After the consultation you will know if you want to make an appointment with that stylist or not.
2) Browse Instagram by searching your area along with relevant hashtags(#balayage, #haircolorist, #certifiedhaircolorist, etc.). Most really great colorists share their work and you will get an idea of their experience level. You can also search by salon(this may be easier)- check Yelp or Google for top rated salons to help narrow your search for a stylist. When I was out of town and wanted someone to do my color I spent a lot of time reading bios to find someone I would like.
3) Ask people who they go to(when you see someone with hair color that you love). Sometimes this is the best way to find the right stylist!
I agree with you! I have asthma and I need a hair dye without ammonia. Iāve tried many dyes from Sallyās and I canāt use them because of the harsh smell. Iāve been to so many āprofessionalā hair stylists that ruin my cut or color even when I show them pictures! I have wasted so much money on these so called professionals. Iām a single Mom I donāt have money to keep wasting. Iāve asked strangers who they go to, Iāve been to consultations that went great and my hair still turned out badly. I believe you shouldnāt have to have a license to buy professional products.
Lizchetty01@gmail.com
Hi Erica . it’s clear that u discriminating . u don’t have any knowledge when it comes to communication . u feel u have the right to say whatever u want to . but u not belittling other’s but yourself. All I can say is I feel sorry for u .In life we are constantly reminded how we mist live .each one has his own path u need to relacks the way u say things make can be painful .if u think of the pain people are going through. Think of what u can achieve . if u are helpful kind loving respectful humble .life is a gift don’t risk it by insulting or looking down on others .
Sounds like you are judging me without knowing me. Have you read all of my comments/posts? Did you know that I have helped thousands of people one-on-one with their hair struggles at home? I do all of this because I’m passionate and I want to help people/prevent disastrous mistakes from being made.
Yes, I am quite abrasive with some subjects/people. That is because so many people discredit my profession and being “soft” about it doesn’t get the point across.
Also, YES, I do have the right to say whatever I want. This is AMERICA and this is MY BLOG. I can say whatever I want and anyone who wants to read it can do so. I don’t know about you, but when I come across an opinion on a website I don’t like I move on…not gonna waste my time there, but there are plenty of people reading my posts that don’t agree and can’t help but keep on reading. That’s their choice and what I say is mine.
Lastly…you think I’m discriminating? I literally don’t have the time to respond to respond to this one.
I believe the real reason for the public not able to buy professional products is because of business and not skill.
I have coloured my hair for years and the only challenge I have is availability of good products.
What is the difference between allowing someone to have a ready made product that you can buy from a drug store or asking a hair stylist to make up a package for you so that you can do your own hair?
I was able to buy Wella in the UK which looked awesome on my hair but we are not allowed to buy it in SA directly. I think each country have their own rules.
If chemicals and skills are the only problem why can one not go for a consultation and after that have a made up package which you can stick to?
I guess business is business and some countries needs it more… PS: I haven’t met a hairstylist that could do my hair the way I want right the first time…
Thanks for your comment! You mentioned a lot of different topics that I’ve explained in various posts, so I’m going to touch on everything. If you have time I hope you’ll explore my site a little…there’s so much information on the topics you brought up!
What do you do for a living? What do your children, siblings, friends, etc. do for a living? Does your field require any “skills”?
I don’t think that you are implying that being a hairstylist/colorist requires no skill(if you are…then I am wasting my time even replying to your comment). That’s another topic that I’m not going to touch on right now because there’s so much about it throughout my website.
There’s no hidden agenda around restrictions when it comes to buying professional supplies. Everything is a business…everything, and there is always a benefit to an industry that has a certain amount of “control” over how it operates in society. I get a lot of comments from people who are kinda angry about this topic, but in my opinion, this is just how the world is. Everything we do- the places we shop, eat, seek wellness, etc. are controlled and meant to keep the consumer coming back for more. It doesn’t matter where you live…it’s the way of the world.
Are you saying that you’ve never made a mistake coloring your own hair? No challenges at all? If so, then good for you- but I don’t think it’s the case.
Speaking from experience as a professional stylist that graduated from one of the top cosmetology schools in the nation with 14 years behind the chair- it is not possible to be great(or even just good) as a colorist without making some mistakes along the way. That is how you become an exceptional haircolorist…trying new things, learning from mistakes, and constantly improving.
Professional colorists that aren’t awesome after spending a considerable amount of time in the salon will most likely never be great. It’s because they are afraid to take risks, so they never truly master the skills as they have stopped practicing and expanding their mind.
Redken offers a “take home” option from the salon, and I believe there are some other brands with similar products. The only people this option works for are those that need a single color retouch or all-over single color(there may be some other cases, but those are the main ones).
I explain a lot about “drugstore” hair color in my post- 10 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Use Box Color. Basically, most people at home do not have the skills necessary to formulate on their own. Therefore, box color is made so that it will work for most people.
Each country does have their own rules. Luckily, with the internet, you can literally buy anything from anywhere that your heart desires.
Kinda touched on this above…they do have that option now.
I’m sorry that you’ve never been happy with your hairstylist. Remember that your experiences do not reflect on the professionals in my industry as a whole.
I’m almost 62 & have been using Fanola professional grade for over 10 years, after being tortured by a number of hairdressers where the industry standard now has reluctantly approved training of 2 years as an apprentice to perfect their craft, much to the dismay of the Australian Hairdressers Association.
I use to work for an Apprenticeship Centre & realise there was a 60 – 80% non-completion rate.
Looks like I’m about to become grey as I can no longer buy products. Yesterday I was told buy a retailer “they’re pretty strict with the rules of selling to non-professionals” “THEY” can only be the industry peak body.. AHA, protecting business concerns of their members… how about a bit of protection for the public who trust qualified teenagers to ruin their hair & burn their scalp….never again, I’d prefer to be natural grey…I guess š
Professional products are usually made by professional hair dressers. Professional products are not sold to the public Because the maker doesnāt want the public using it. They want only professional hair dressers to use it. Thatās why they made it. And they donāt sell it to the public because they want to protect other professionals and the industry they paid a lot of money to work in. We charge based on our experience level that we put the time, money, and work to make sure you look good. You didnāt do that for us. So respect the laws of the Industry please.
Itās like your Apple phone. You can only get Apple certified repairs through the Apple company otherwise itās not covered under warranty if you go somewhere else. So you have to pay more to take it to Apple . It protects the company and ensures great product Apple intended it to be. Itās just the way the cookie crumbles. Stop asking to buy stuff youāre not supposed to buy. Thereās a reason for it that you wouldnāt understand until itās you using that product to make a living. This is how we make our living. If you want to do your hair yourself at home then thatās your prerogative and use the products you are allowed to buy otherwise leave it to the professionals to buy the professional products that we pay $20,000 to get licensed to buy. You didnāt spend that so you shouldnāt get the professional products. get the box color that you are allowed to buy. That simple.
You can also be your own doctor, but that doesnāt mean you can buy needles. You have to have a prescription from a licensed professional.
It’s really about providing an “exclusive” to salon professionals. I know you all feel your livelihoods are threatened by DIY’ers but comparing it to buying needles? That’s just silly? Crazy? I don’t have the right word for it. Your attitude is arrogant and get this -license or no license – UNPROFESSIONAL! lol but true. Anyone who reads your website would never book an appointment with you
You’re wrong- I can’t speak for all hairstylists, but I’m not at all “threatened” by the fact that people are doing their own hair at home.
I started this website to help people who get into a pickle when trying to do their own hair…they don’t understand WHY it went wrong or HOW to fix it and there isn’t a lot of information out there/professionals willing to give FREE advice.
I’m going to share something about myself that I haven’t talked about on my blog(only because it seems like a little perspective is needed for people like you who make assumptions about someone they don’t know at all).
I currently only book wedding parties and regular appointments for my longtime clients and family. I do not take new clients except on the occasion that someone I know could benefit from my talents.
SO…is my livelihood being threatened? No. Do I need to spend my precious time responding to comments, doing complimentary Skype consultations to help strangers with their hair, writing about all of the things I’ve learned along the way, etc.? Definitely no, but I do it because I started something 12 years ago and I’m not about to leave everyone hanging…people who need advice, like ASAP and I give it to them because no one else is going to.
I’m here to give my time even though most people don’t deserve or appreciate it. I keep going despite the fact that internet trolls like you are constantly trying to bring me down.
I’ll never understand why people have/spend time writing mean, unnecessary comments like yours…but either way I certainly won’t let the hate get in my way. Maybe you should spend your time on something you are passionate about instead.
You want to know why the public canāt buy āProfessional Hair Products?ā Because youāre not professionals that know how to use the products. And…because you didnāt spend $20000 to get licensed to buy these products. We did. You want professional products to do hair at home yourself, then do like we did, get licensed. We didnāt do it to get it for you, and if we had to spend the money so should you if you want it. You get what you pay for.
I am coloring my hair by myself at home since I was 17 and I am 35 now and the color that I use it’s doing a great job.
This Laura Hughes is ridiculous. She’s clearly upset that she spent 20k to be able to buy ‘special’ products. These things aren’t regulated for the good of the public, in fact, hairdressers aren’t required to be licensed for the good of the public. State legislators are heavily lobbied by these group for the sole purpose of reducing competition to get more money.
We are required to be licensed because of health and safety standards. I know that’s not your point, but that is for the good of the public.
Our industry varies drastically when it comes to talent and experience, which is why it’s hard to regulate skills when it comes to licensure. Hairstylists develop and blossom over time with experience just as other professionals do in different industries…license required or not.
It’s kind of like a lawyer…they must prove that they know the law as we must prove that we know how to perform each specific service, follow proper health and safety procedures, etc. The license is a baseline, and it does help the public in far more ways than you can imagine.
I understand what you’re saying that non licensed people shouldn’t have access to all the things licensed hair stylist should because obviously they have had a lot more hands on training. I get that you think you’re “stating the truth” but i think the issue people have is the WAY you stated the truth. Its one thing to just inform people that only licensed people can buy salon products but the tone through out your whole article was just disrespectful. You don’t know everyone’s situation and especially during this hard time a lot of salons are closed or a lot of people are going through financial difficulties. Also you stating that products from Sally Beauty are the same quality as Salon products is false. The way i see it is Sally beauty is like off brand clothing and Salon products are brand name clothing. They may look similar but the quality may not be the same. I am in no way a professional but i stumbled across this article looking to buy some salon products that multiple videos and articles I’ve read have used. I am looking to dye my moms hair at home. WHY? Because we are stuck in quarantine and why not? She needs a touch up and I would like to try to do it for her and I know that salon products would work better. If people want to use these salon products then okay they do it at their own risk but you shouldn’t judge them so harshly for that.
well said
Jacklyn, I too came to her fish bait article same as you. But my situation is different. I have COPD and due to Covid I can no longer go to a hair salon. This may be a bit out of topic but maybe not, from December to now (we are now in April) my illness has advanced rather quickly and if I get Covid at this stage, it will kill me. So being that I just got diagnosed 4 months ago in the middle of a pandemic I am terrorized to visit a hair salon. I am a blonde and refuse to use box dye from a drug store being that I don’t want to end up with an orange head so I like you was also looking for some guidance and found this which was quite frustrating. So you’re absolutely correct that she doesn’t know everyone’s situation and I do feel that the article did come across as arrogant. It is true that there are great hair dressers out there & some with skill that can’t be compared to a civilians but unfortunately with a zillion youtubers, SOME BEING HAIR DRESSERS I MAY ADD.. it is just impossible at this day and age to keep this field exclusive! GET OVER IT ITS 2021 & we are in the middle of a pandemic and people ARE doing their own hair.
I named this article “How to Buy Professional Hair Dye” because it was one of the most searched topics on my blog. It was the easiest way to direct everyone to the answer, which is that you can only purchase professional products if you have a license. I have several other posts on my blog about the products you are able to purchase without a license and which ones are the most reliable.
I wrote this article SEVERAL years ago because so many people were searching for the “loophole” to buy professional hair color using the search term “how to buy professional hair dye”. There isn’t one(except buying second-hand, which is usually about double the price).
This article wasn’t created for clickbait purposes, and I think it’s pretty obvious that this isn’t that type of website. The chosen title was the easiest way to direct people to the truth, and it just happens to be a fact that makes a lot of people angry.
For the most part, the U.S. is back to normal or swiftly on their way depending on what area you live in. We are no longer “in the middle of a pandemic”, so is COVID-19 still the issue here? I don’t think so. My fiancĆ© has COPD, chronic bronchitis, and asthma…he goes everywhere I do, just carefully, and now vaccinated. If you really want your hair done then I think you will be okay, if you’d rather do it yourself and need advice then I’m happy to give it.
There are several posts on my website that offer help with doing your own hair while there are also posts that talk about why many people choose not to do their hair at home. I UNDERSTAND that people have situations- that’s why I provide ALL of the information so that you can make an informed decision that’s best for your situation.
Anyone who has reached out to me since the initial lockdown(and long before it…like 10 years long)asking for help with doing their own hair has received my sincere and thorough professional opinion/advice. I offer help to anyone who wants it and include a link at least once in just about every article I’ve ever written.
Oh man from reading all these comments I feel really bad for you. Honestly most of these people have had bad experiences with people who might have been aholes first and hair stylists second… and then have turned into aholes themselves. I am not a licensed professional and have been dying my own hair with and without my licensed professional friend for about 10 years and I can confidently say that I am still not a licensed professional and don’t deserve the same respect or access to products that they do. All these rude people are out of their mind and I totally understand where you are coming from. I don’t mid making horrible mistakes on my own hair so I’m gunna keep doing it myself until I find enough money and self confidence to pay a professional to do it for me. Plus you can’t even find Brazilian bond builder second hand and half of the best products aren’t sold in the US. I know I’m not a professional even though I’ve watched a million different famous hair stylists work their magic on the internet. At first I was kind of offended by how this article originally sounded but the more you read you realize that you aren’t being pretentious and all of these aholes are. If you really think that you, a person with a different profession who has spent a maximum of 20 hours coloring your hair, knows more than someone who is a professional who has minimum of 1500 hours, you don’t know how to do simple math and you shouldn’t be playing with professional dyes if you care about your health and hair?
Thank you š
Hi Erika! I read through your article and I agree 100% with what you pointed out! However I do have a question. I took the cosmetology apprenticeship program at my highschool which in a nutshell taught us the same techniques/information you would learn at a hair school. I currently am waiting to take my hours towards getting my RedSeal until after i am further along in my univeristy degree but do not wish to loose the skill set i have learnt till that time comes. I have heads at my house to practice cutting and styling on but was wondering if there were any lightners or even colors you might recommend to get close enough results to the ones professional products give? Thank you in advance!!
Katerina-
Every color line is going to be different. What’s important is that you familiarize yourself with one brand while you are learning. Know all of the rules and try to break them/make mistakes. That’s how you learn how to be a great colorist.
Once you are confident with that color line you will have no problem switching(although you will have to get used to a new one depending on if the level system is different, for example).
I think that using non-professional products(like color/lightener from Sally’s Beauty) is fine for practice. It’s inexpensive and you’ll learn a lot…quality is not necessary when you’re using a mannequin.
You actually can buy professional hair color online without a license.
My friend does my hair and she is self taught, she is also the best stylist I have used from Florida to Maine in all.the moving I’ve done throughout my life. She only does a few heads of hair for personal not professional reasons but no salon owner has ever done for me what she does and she just orders online, she uses pravana & Wella Koleston.
You can buy SOME brands online, but not from industry approved retailers. That’s why it can be hard to find every shade/brand- it is second market.
Wow! This might be the most pretentious and absurd post I’ve ever had the displeasure of reading. As if I’m unable to understand color theory myself, unable to blend colors, and unable to apply said mix to my own hair. College educated individuals can’t possibly grasp the technical aspects of hair coloring through their own research and observations? No, a box dye didn’t go wrong for me and YES professional hair colors DO MAKE THE DIFFERENCE. You will not obtain the same pigmentation at Sally’s, the ammonia will be through the roof, and your tone/mixing options are limited. However, you already know there is a major difference and aren’t using those products in your salon. Yet, you attempt to chastise anyone attempting to obtain those highly sought after brands at home for their own use? Ugh, honestly….. It’s shameful really.
No, I am not attempting to “chastise” anyone.
One of the most searched topics on my website is “How to Buy Professional Hair Dye”. I named the article based off top search keywords so that people could more easily find the info stating that you just can’t buy professional hair color without a license. Most people don’t understand that you must have a license to buy actual professional color products used by salons, and unfortunately your only options are products from beauty supply stores and/or second-hand sales on Amazon/Ebay.
So, rather than letting people waste their time trying to figure out how to obtain these products, I’m telling it like it is.
If you came here for help with coloring your hair at home because of quarantine…I do have an article about that, and it includes links to some pro hair color products that are available on Amazon(the thing is that all colors are not always available and the age of the product is not guaranteed).
I agree Brenda.
I call bullshit on this post Iāve watched my hairstylist mix the color and apply it. And me and my daughter do the root touch up just as she does. Also Iāve had beauticians sell me professional perms as well as color and developer. Itās ridiculous that some beauticians charge $80 and $90 dollars for a root touch up every six weeks. And some beauticians donāt even get all the grey roots colored and want that kind of money. Hell no. I will do it my self and just pay for a haircut!
Believe it or not, there are people that pay a stylist to color their hair because they enjoy it. They love going to the salon- having their hair washed and blown out, being pampered, having conversations with their stylist and other clients, etc.
So, even though you think it’s “bullshit”, that doesn’t mean that there is no value or enjoyment from going to a salon.
It’s like getting a pedicure or a facial…people can do that themselves, but they don’t because they enjoy the experience and would rather pay someone to do it.
I had the same reaction. I was amused by the post because I came here after I just did my own hair with professional colors or the first time ever. I wanted to find a legit way to buy my color instead of having to go to eBay. My salon is still closed. It was a school so I knew what the mix and color was from all the conversations between my stylist and their supervisors. I found my shade on ebay and mixed it myself from YouTube videos. It looks great and Iām so happy. No trouble at all-actually it was a lot of fun. Much better than using the box dyes I felt stuck using during the quarantine. Iām planning on doing my own hair from now on.
There is no “legit” way to buy it without a license- only Ebay or Amazon type of sellers.
Not to mention when you buy off eBay and Amazon youāre not guaranteed itās the actual product. You could be buying Pantene in a wella bottle.
Lolā¦yeah ok
Pretentious? Because professional products are made strictly for professionals that put in the time to learn the how and why certain products work the way they do? The manufacturer of the products do not sell to the public because they only want their product associated with results that only a trained professional can achieve. Everyone thinks they understand chemicals and hair but if you have not been trained for them, you donāt know. And since you canāt know what you donāt know the manufacturers correctly limit who can purchase their products. Pigmentation and ammonia levels are not what you need to understand in order to achieve the results you want. You pay other professionals for their learning and experience when you have other things done. Same goes for your hair. If you havenāt been trained then you shouldnāt be able to use what professionals use. Nothing shameful. More people ruin their hair with color theyāve bought themselves. Itās for your own protection and the brands reputation. Iām not a cosmetologist. Just a open minded understanding consumer.
[…] How to Buy Professional Hair Dye […]
I am obviously bitter, and extremely angry with the way that I have been treated over the years by stylists. And every woman I know says they are sick and tired of stylist being so stuck-up and hateful like they are God’s gift to Earth. Your reply to Jamie who commented May 5th was the exact reason stylists are looked down on so much. No one wants to say it to their faces in fear of retaliation to their hair. Your 1500 hours definitely will never make you more worthy of buying any kind of chemicals from hair to chlorine for a pool more than Jamie. There’s got to be at least 200 hours of that 1500 that brainwash you guys into thinking that you are better then the rest of society because you were taught how to make hair look good. While it is good of you to try to help us out when it comes to these matters, your way of doing it was downright despicable. You degrading women that have already been lied to cheated and mistreated by every stylist they have ever paid is another reason why we will continue to do our hair ourselves and keep fighting for those equal rights. I’m going to help you but degrade you at the same time? So you are trying to tell me that in order to be able to do your own hair that you should dedicate 1500 hours to a career that you will never use? If we all dye and bleach and cut our hair just fine now then why would we need these 1500 hours? If we are so much beneath you then why do you care if we are going to mess our hair up in the first place? Is it y’all know one day you’ll have to have good customer relations and get that chip off your shoulder in order to have clients? When it is available to all of us 90% hair stylist will be without a job because they couldn’t appreciate and respect a client if they had to. I get that you guys have people walking in constantly that have destroyed their hair, but that’s why we advocates out here in the real world share as much information and knowledge is possible. We sure products we help educate and we are always ready to learn something new. Do you want to help people, then advised them not to do it themselves and then educate them on what happens when it goes wrong. Insulting and belittling us for not having your license just pushes more people away from professionals. I get your angered because you truly believe that without a license should do their own hair much less have professional products available to them because I’m sure you did work hard to get to where you are but there are plenty of professionals out there that have done the same and are more than willing to help others out without unjustly stereotyping them to be opprobrious because of driving ambition to learn something new
I think you are missing the point. Also, I don’t make the rules- the government does/individual states. So, maybe you should direct your concerns to them if you have a problem with the standards set for licensed professionals and the tools of their trades.
I’m not going to address everything in your rant because you have not read everything on my website…like the many people that I help every day that are trying to do their own hair(literally thousands over the years). It is people like you who comment with such hate that I don’t feel as compelled to help…I’m sure you understand that.
Your point seems very clear. you opened by asking what seems like a sincere question to your audience. Followed up with a very short answer of āyou canātā. okay thanks for that answer,i guess thats that lol. Oh no wait thereās more she wants to share. Oh wow, not only can you simply NOT but apparently if you are not a āhairstylistā (im sure you meant licensed hairstylist), you āprobably have NO IDEA* what youāre doing.ā Unfortunately, your point was inherently redirected to the latter statement. Your expert answer seems to be a simple āyou canātā. That makes the entire blog post useless, leaving your assumption to be the random focal point of your message. If people want to try and do their hair at home with more complex products, it really is not your concern…this is the majority of the reason you can charge $400-$500 for color correction service. You should be thankful for these people tbh lol and obviously its not your responsibility to stop people from trying. You should try to focus more on the fact that you have clients & are talented enough to provide them with a service that can help them achieve their hair goals. Anyone can complete cosmetology school, lets be real..those 1500 hrs were never worth the time or money. Its your dedication to educating yourself through various ONLINE resources, expensive educational classes and hands on experience that truly separates the licensed professionals from your average woman. However, there is literally nothing on this earth that anyone cant learn and be amazing at. Your license absolutely does not make you a great hairstylist nor does it automatically mean you are actually qualified to use salon grade products. It just means you wasted 1500 hrs of your life and now you can buy products at salon centric. I wouldnāt have left a comment Like this if you werent communicating Soooo poorly with other upset people on here. Hopefully you can process whats been expressed by so many about your perspective and really hear how your words were a direct reflection of how you feel about average women wanting to purchase products that you feel only licensed prof. can figure out how to use. I cant imagine how you handle clients. Btw- i agree that these products are not easy to use and require lots of education but…āāļø No reason to belittle. Itās really just a disservice to yourself when you underestimate Others capabilities/talents. Maybe a new blog post with actual information would be a good read.
I beg to differ but not just anyone can complete cosmetology school my sister and I went together and only she was able to complete it you need drive dedication ambition and love itās and art and there are always new trends and unfortunately I did not have that nor the patience so no itās not a waste of time and money because when I went we had to be taught anatomy yes I said anatomy why to learn about scalp, nail and skin diseases why because not just hair is addressed nails and skin too law of color hair texture porosity so we should not degrade them itās their artā¦just lik how doctors go to med schoolā¦just because I know what cold and flu symptoms are and I go into a cvs to buy robetussein doesnāt make me a drā¦letās just be mindful of thatā¦personally I respect everyoneās certification and licensure whether it being plumber or neurosurgeonā¦your trying to make a point using such extensive vocabulary, but sounds to me like you are belittling her and her other Cosmetologist
There are so many products that are sold that people don’t know how to use but but anyways. People buy and own products for home improvements projects that can be quite dangerous but they’re perfectly legal to sell. Other beauty products are sold that people may not know how to use perfectly or could be used incorrectly but they’re still sold. Going to hair salons is extremely expensive and most people cannot afford to get their hair colored by professionals whenever they want. The people who color their hair at home are also not expecting perfect results, and expect that they might mess up and so are fine with that eventuality. Furthermore, semi-permanent color rubs off and I’m sick of my dye getting on my sheets and clothes. It’s frankly not fair that companies and professionals should decide for us that we can’t buy professional colors- what we do with our hair isn’t anyone’s problems but our own. Since when do other companies and industries do that?
I understand your points, but unfortunately that’s just the way it is. I wrote this article because I got hundreds e-mails and comments about how to buy professional hair color and many people didn’t understand that it’s simply not sold to the public(except for 2nd hand).
People get mad at me for writing the truth and the reality of how the beauty industry works, and that’s okay…I guess they need to take it out on someone.
I’ve spent thousands of dollars in salons having my hair colored and bleached by a licensed professionals since the age of 15. I’ve always been a huge believer in they’re fit for the job better than I because they are trained and have somewhat decent amount of experience before stepping out into the field and can only get better with more experience. As a woman my hair is so extremely precious to me that it wasn’t something I was willing to bargain or be cheap with.
Unfortunately now that I’m almost 30 and can only recall two hair stylists actually doing ONLY what I asked and ALWAYS being HONEST about what was achievable after paying $100-$240 plus a tip for my hair to be a disaster with every new salon visit and it really makes me sad and quite frankly angered. One of them retired after having her child and then YEARS later when I finally found the perfect hair stylist after about a year-and-a-half she decided to stop giving me my olaplex treatments but still charged me for them and swore up and down it was being used she just no longer mixed it in front of me and that I had been doing something wrong, changed my hair care routine, was using too much heat to cause all of the breakage and damage that steadily got worse with every appointment,it had nothing to do with the Bleach,toner or dyes she was using. All of my products came from her?? I’ve always let my hair air dry I do not own a blow dryer. I have beautiful loose curls, 3 maybe four times a year do I even use a straightener. She raised her price dramatically twice on me and when she apologized I told her both times that she deserved it and that I was more than happy to pay it because her talent and services where the best in the business and I’d follow her anywhere she went and pay whatever she asked. I never missed an appointment, and not one time did she miss out on that $25 tip every 4 to 6 weeks. The last appointment she cut 8 1/2in off of my hair and then had the audacity to tell me she thought I trusted her when I was in tears astonished that she would do something so vile and unethical!
So I finally decided to try it for myself what did I have to lose I’m sure I couldn’t do any worse than what all of these “licensed professionals” had done to me over the years. I researched and then research some more, I learned as much as I could for a couple months, asked as many questions as I could and took as many notes from the licensed hairdressers I knew and then I finally did it! And for the first time in my life I am completely satisfied 100% with my hair, it’s not dried out or fried after I’m done and I get compliments constantly. But the funny part? Everyone wants to know who does my hair now and wants her number! See this great country that we live in we are all consumers, and then there’s that whole free-enterprise thing. Oh yeah and the freedom of speech! So I guess I’ll sit around and listen to licensed professionals” complain about their customers learning to do their hair from YouTube, Google or a friend, because we are at least learning and getting the hair that we want now. It won’t be long and all of these products will be available for the general population whether it be companies deciding to really start making money and selling to everyone or a nice little generic that works just fine for us because it’s cheaper anyways and works just as good. And man do I hope they sell it in a box at Walmart! Let us not forget all of the family members and friends who are “licensed” and happily get us incompetent and low class our Olaplex and Pravana regardless of our status quo during the time being. One of my favorite things now is hearing someone talk about how Olaplex did nothing for them and I am able to share my story and explain to them that it either wasn’t being used, they were only using no.2, the little amount that was applied wasn’t kept on for long enough to even start the bonding process and her hair stylist is the culprit not Olaplex! It’s crazy what that stuff can do for you whenever you actually get a treatment and with the right products, amount and length of time.
What if you have a physics and chemistry degree, actively use topics such as thermodynamics, chemical reaction rates, electron transfer mechanisms, concentrations and ratios, oxidation reduction reactions, equilibrium, light wave transmittance and refraction, and other optics physics such as color theory in your daily career, have actively been dyeing your own hair for 15+ years with mostly Demi-permanent vivids that donāt even require developer, and only ever intend on doing your own hair. I respect the cosmetology industry, Iām not trying to say itās easy, Iām just saying I can definitely dye my own hair, understand how and why dye works the way it does, and should have limited purchasing rights for professional dyes based on my provable qualifications.
Professional hair color products are available for licensed professionals for a reason. You may know a lot about chemistry and the color wheel, but those things relate to hair and hair color in a very different way. Cosmetologists are required to complete an average of 1,500 training hours(varies by state) because so much of what we know comes from learning hands-on, making mistakes and correcting them, etc.
I’m not saying that there aren’t people who can color their hair, but that doesn’t mean they are worthy of the same access that licensed stylists get-who have gone to school, put the time in, taken state board exams, and earned their right to purchase these products.
Iāve definitely bought professional Hair Dye before and used it on my own. It worked really well, better than going to most professionals because they donāt know how to tend to my natural 3c, 4a hair. Iāve experienced using different products over the years. Professionals do have certain trainings but you can learn the stuff yourself tbh. Itās just like self-taught mua and licensed muaās. They are expected to know more but arenāt always best at it. Itās definitely harder to get professional hair dye but there are some websites that sell them. YOU know your hair best. Iāve learned that. As I started to care for my own hair years ago itās gotten soooo much healthier. Not knocking professionals but ofc theyāre going to tell them to go to them. Thatās how they make money lol. Iāve went to one professional years ago and she was so surprised and in shock that I dyed, cut, and looked after my own hair. Just make sure you know what youāre doing.
Can I buy Olaplex on eBay or should I call my hairstylist and see if she can sell me some?
You can probably get it on eBay, but the prices could be higher and you want to check the seller ratings to make sure it’s legit.
I would call your stylist first because she gets it at a discounted rate. I’m not sure if the pro beauty supply stores are open in your area…so if they aren’t then your stylist can order it online. If she can’t get it for you then let me know and I’ll see what I can do!
Yes please guide me since she is not able to help
Which Olaplex product do you need?
Shampoo conditioner and perhaps something for fine bleach processed hair as I grow out and cut off the bleach.
I found it on Olaplex website thank you.
You’re welcome!
You can buy it at Sephora.
I was just wondering can I buy professional stuff online with a license?
Yes, you will just need to set up an online account with the retailer of your choice!
Erika,
What would you recommend during this time that we are all going through? Coronavirus. I still have to go to work since I work in a financial institution because apparently itās essential.
It depends on your natural hair, artificial pigment, and how long this is going to last(which no one really knows). Also, are you comfortable with applying your own color/have you tried it before? If you want to go for it then I can help you figure out what to buy and give you some tips- just respond to this comment with your hair details(do you have gray, do you get a single application color or dimensional).
If you prefer to try and wait to go to the salon there are options, but whether these will be good for you or not depend on your hair and how you normally get it colored(and really only good enough to get you by for a few months). You can use colored hair sprays or powders to cover your regrowth. I have clients that use these in-between visits because they can’t come in as often. Works great, but really all depends on your situation.
Here are some products that my clients use:
Style Edit Root Concealer
Rita Hazan Root Concealer Touch Up Spray
COLOR WOW Root Cover Up
For someone looking to tone their hair, are there good options outside of buying diverted Redken Shades EQ (that would offer the same level of customizability, because I’ve already tried the Kristin Ess glosses, and it’s alright for a clear gloss, but the shade range is very limited).
I know what shades I would need to buy (I’ve discussed it with my stylist before), know the proper ratios to mix, have all the tools I need, etc (if I could go to school for JUST coloring hair and nothing else, I would have), but I don’t have the license to buy from Cosmoprof/SalonCentric.
I enjoy the “mad scientist” aspect of color theory and mixing colors, and finding a commercially available tinted gloss seems to be even harder than finding good standard dye (because I can totally wreck my hair with 40Vol from Sally, but can’t get a 7vol demi? womp…)
Just wanting to live my best, housebound, mad scientist life lol!
There isn’t a whole lot available for the public to buy when it comes to toners. I don’t want to say that there are no options because I’m not 100% sure, but I haven’t seen anything comparable.
Unfortunately, in this case, diverted product seems like the easiest option. It’s not always bad(and I hate that I’m saying this because diversion is a big issue), but it’s just a chance to take on whether or not the product is authentic, possibly expired, etc.
Maybe your stylist can order it for you(beauty supply stores are closed in most areas). Also, if you would send me what you normally use via the contact me page…I might be able to help š .
[…] How To Buy Professional Hair Dye […]
Erica as a fellow hair professional , i respect and appreciate your advise . I too agree with what you have said . Its always easy until something goes wrong , and then next thing you know were looking for someone to blame . Stay strong girl .
Thanks so much!
With the corona virus closing down salons, whatās the best option? I have natural dark brown hair that I get colored at a salon with black. I have white roots. Not all over but quite a bit. Iām 40. Iām going to need to do something very soon. But with salons being closed, whatās my best āsurvivorā option? Esalon? The Maddison option? Are those better than basic box dye? My hair is healthy. I get root touch up once monthly. I always get deep conditioning treatment and use salon color protective products and donāt over heat my hair. My hair is long and way past shoulders. What can I do?
Melissa,
I’m not sure about Esalon, but I know a little about Madison Reed(it came out when I worked at Ulta Beauty and a lot of the girls tried it). I didn’t like a lot of the results, but I think that was due to the fact that the company sent us a random assortment of the product for employees to try. So they were just choosing from a few colors that were available and going with the best one.
No matter which product you choose to use- make sure that the color is ONLY applied to the regrowth(scalp to demarcation line). You can lightly “feather” the color through the demarcation line(where the regrowth meets the last color application) if you want to make sure there’s no noticeable difference between the new and old color formulas. You can do this with a medium tooth comb after you’ve applied the color all over or with a color brush(just drag the color down while holding the brush vertically).
Also, just make sure you choose your color formula/shade carefully. Are you a true black, or more of a very dark brown that has a warmer hue? If you’re not sure maybe you can call your stylist and get the info, but if you don’t have she/he’s phone number you’re welcome to message me here and I’ll help you.
Yikes. I think what your readers are reacting to is your tone of voice. It’s kind of funny how serious you are about the whole thing. My mom is a certified “blah blah blah”, and she taught me to do my own hair as a 16 year old, and I’m now 40 and still rock at it. And am also good at weaving others hair. So it’s laughable how arrogant you are about your fancy smancy certification. Makes me kind of giggle. Just sayin’
Maybe step off your high horse for a hot second and explain your point in a kinder and less haughty way and then people will listen instead of be offended. I think you make quite valid points but your pretty harsh about it and a little over the top.
I have articles that are expressed in many tones because some people need to hear it in a different way.
I talk about how there are exceptions- someone like yourself is probably one of them. You learned from a professional and that makes a difference. I am not claiming that no one can do their own hair, but that the majority of people will not be successful and/or will damage their hair and need professional help.
Like your reality and putting it there.
I used to color my own hair years ago. Now with the CORONA Virus I need my roots done and then Balham &highlights. Either one or the other.
I’ve used frost and tip…long time ago. I need to do m roots that are gray…mousey color. I will find a way. If we have patience we can do it. Good for you and thanks for being real.
What a bunch of shit and this article should be removed. It is rude, condescending and attempting to make people believe theyre incapable of achieving salon quality results. My hair has been every color of the rainbow, currently a white silver and ive done it all at home myself and my hair is healthy and long. This is basic chemistry and color theory and common sense. Ive done a better job than my friends stylists to where they now come to me to switch their color, and I dont charge $300! This author is another bitter stylist upset people have figured out how massively overcharged theyve been in salons for years for very easy procedures. Get off of it, snobby bitch. I look better than you and you couldnt so what I do. Your license means squat.
Remove an article from MY own website? That’s funny. You know…I typically do not approve comments that contain bad language, but I made an exception because I don’t want the comment section to be biased(you sure have a lot to say for someone that hides behind a fake username and e-mail address). I’m not going to “stab” you back because I’m a decent person, and clearly you have a lot of maturing to do.
Maybe you are the one that is bitter because you had a bad salon experience? As I have mentioned before- my goal is to educate others and prevent people from doing further damage to their hair.
Question. Is our diy hair color not turning out because we are not allowed to purchase salon quality hair color without a license or is it because we are not master mind proffesionals like Erika?
You can have success with non-professional products(although some may be more harmful), but if you don’t know what you’re doing there may be a lot of trial and error involved(or worse).
I literally have dyed my hair since I was 16 and I’m 21 now, NO DAMAGE. my hair is as soft, long and volumed as much as it was before I even bleached it, and I have dark brown hair almost black. You don’t always need a professional
My advice save the money and learn yourself for free!
Like I have mentioned before- it is possible, but the majority of people damage their hair. It all depends on the products used, how it’s applied, existing damage, etc.
The point of this post is to explain that buying second market professional hair color will not guarantee professional results. Just because you had success does not mean that everyone will.
It all boils down to, are you willing to take the risk of killing your hair off completely because you believe you can do it?
Sometimes, yes! It’s not always that serious though. The worst outcomes could be anything from a result that’s too dark to having to double process for correcting and ruining your hair.
Thanks for the article, Erika!
I first have to applaud you for taking the time to reply to the comments, I truly believe you have nothing but well intentions to educate non-professionals.
I am a broke high school kid trying to bleach and colour her own hair. Iām glad that Iām consistently indecisive and paranoid because otherwise I wouldnāt have done hours and hours of research online (and stumble upon your article). I know it would not to the slightest compare to professional training but, fingers crossed, nothing too disastrous would result.
I would only be coloring the last few inches of my hair, so if I really mess up bad, I can just chop it off without being heartbroken. Iām going to backcomb and bleach then use 2 vibrant cheap direct dyes like Manic Panic or Arctic Fox to make a ombrĆ© at the tips (I really like how colourmelts look but canāt commit to the full head).
I have black hair (and was told itās fine) so bleaching myself would be pretty dangerous. That was why I was trying to see if I can get my hands on a professional bleach that Iāve heard lifts really well with minimal damage, and some Olaplex. I thought since I didnāt have much to work with it wouldnāt be impossible to handle. I would consider to get bleached professionally once Iām able to support myself, but right now itās just not really an option.
Would bleaching over several sessions really be less damaging? It would certainly be easier to control, but I was skeptical combined with the whole back coming situation. Do you have any recommendations for affordable products available in Canada?
Thanks! It’s so refreshing to hear from someone that sees the big picture!
The look you’re going for is a little more difficult to achieve(especially on your own), but at least you seem to have a plan. Is your hair naturally black? If not, then I definitely wouldn’t do it at-home or professionally. The damage that would result from doing this on previously colored hair would be immense, and the process would be difficult!
You should definitely lighten in stages(you may be able to do it in 2 applications, but it’s hard for me to say without seeing your hair…also depends on the vibrant colors you want). I would use 10 or 20 volume even though 30 would lift more/faster(because of your speed of application lower is better). In the salon I would use 30 volume for something like this(or two mixtures, one of them being 40 volume- but a lot of details to share about why) because I’m fast and familiar with the product and how it processes. People always want to go for the higher level of developer because you see results faster, but the quicker your hair lifts- the more damage you’ll do. That’s why lower and slower is much better.
Olaplex is great, but remember that it isn’t a miracle product. Some people think that if you use it then your hair won’t get damaged, but that’s not true. It only makes it less damaged.
I’m not a huge fan of backcombing, but it’s the easier way. The best way is to feather and use foils, but this technique isn’t easy to master. A lot of it comes from experience with coloring and consistency of products…knowing how much product to apply and where. I do think that lightening in sessions with backcombing could be a good thing for you considering you’re going for an ombrĆ© look. You won’t be able to perfectly reapply to all of the areas that you lightened the first time, so ideally the lighter areas would blend up into the darker hair.
I don’t recommend Manic Panic(and can’t speak for the other brand)- I like Pravana Vivids and Joico Color Intensity the best. Here are some links:
Pravana Vivids
Joico Color Intensity
Good luck and let me know if you have more questions!
Erika
I just ran across your post and I want to say that I have been having my hair highlighted since I was 17. I’m now in my mid-30s and wanted to try it for myself. I’m tired of running to a salon to have another person up-keep my hair for me. So, I tried highlighting it myself a few weeks ago and it turned out great! really loved having control over my own hair and it felt so exhilarating foil highlighting it myself. After 20 years of other people fixing my hair, I felt like it came natural as I was completing the task. I loved every minute of it! And, it turned out beautiful!
Good for you! I can tell you that even as a professional hairstylist…I still prefer to have someone else foil my hair(even though I’m very picky). I’ve foiled my hair plenty of times and it takes a while to do it correctly, it’s very difficult to properly foil the crown to the back of the head, it gets harder to see the farther you go back, etc. So, even though you claim to feel “exhilarated” and everything is just awesome…you don’t have me convinced.
I taught myself over the course of 5 years, minimum. I’m “better” at color cut and style, than my cousin, whom graduated from cosmology school a few years ago. I would often retake tests she would being home and pass with high grades than she got, just for fun. I don’t do this for a living, I just help out homeless around my town sometimes and friends whom really can’t afford to get things done – for free. I go with her to Salon Centric and the ladies there know what I do, our local shop, along with my cousin, do not mind. Stylists I come across are 99% of the time extremely rude and snotty about what I do. If someone was a ābetterā elementary teacher than I was, I wouldnāt be a bitch to said person. I would try to better my skills in my own profession.
Everything is circumstantial when it comes to skilled trades, and that can be said for many professions. Just because you are “better” than your cousin does not mean that you can compare yourself to a skilled professional in cosmetology. Perhaps she has trouble test taking, but is excellent with hands-on skills and learning.
This post is not meant for the likes of you(those that have taken the time to learn before doing), but rather for those that think buying professional haircolor will give them professional results. There is no substitute for experience and a credible education, which is what you get when you go to an American Board Certified Haircolorist(I say this rather than “professional hairstylist” for one reason…just because someone is a hairstylist does not mean they are good).
It’s difficult in our society not to stereotype people, and whether it is intentional or not, it happens all the time. Not all professional hairstylists are going to stick their nose up at what you do. Maybe it’s how you present the information that brings on such reactions. It’s insulting to insinuate that you are just as good if not better than someone who has dedicated years of their life/spent thousands of dollars on their trade. That doesn’t mean that you are always wrong or they are always right…it’s all circumstantial.
On what you said about elementary teachers…comparing two people that have both completed the same educational requirements in order to practice is NOT the same as comparing someone who is self-taught to someone who has successfully completely the educational and licensure requirements to practice a trade.
I think what you’re doing is wonderful and I would never be “rude” or “snotty” towards you for wanting to learn and help others. Just don’t get it twisted…there is a place for professionals in every industry just as there is for amateurs.
I want professional hair dye because the stuff at Sally’s or the box dye is too thin and runny. How do I get the thick stuff without using a powder?
Consistency varies from brand to brand as well as by type. The thickest hair colors are cream colors in a tube mixed with cream developer(make sure the mixing ratio is 1:1).
There is also a hair color thickener that Redken makes and you can add it to just about any hair color formula. Good luck!
*Redken Hair Color Thickener
Wow this was a SUPER b*tchy article.
Thank you
I’m gonna start a blog and title it DIY LANDSCAPING then when you click on it I will make you feel like a dumbass piece of shit for not calling a proffesional and trying to landscape your own yard!!
That’s kinda funny! But really- I used this title because there were so many people searching “how to buy professional hair dye” on my website…and none of them understood that you can’t without a license.
Maybe I should change it to “The Reasons Why You Can’t Buy Professional Hair Dye”, but that wouldn’t satisfy anyone either.
I have been drying my dirty blonde locks red and it costs so much. Wish I could get a home of the salon redkin dye used on my hair. Having four kids makes it hard to spend 100$ every 4 to 6 weeks on color
Do you have grays? Maybe you can try a different color technique that requires fewer touch-ups. My hair is dirty blonde and I do highlights(sometimes lowlights in a dark blonde or very light brown) and I do mine every 3-4 months. It grows out a lot more gracefully than single process color!
What about Keratin treatments. I have colored and cut my hair since I can remember, due to costs. However, I am now over 70% gray in my early 50’s and feel its the right time for me to treat myself to having a professional take care of the hair. Its so wonderful and I value the colorists. Gray hair is very tricky. My issue is, I would love to buy the Keratin products to do my own treatment at home. I have had it explained to me and it seems much less invasive than color. $200 for color upkeep on my hair every 4-6 weeks is the max I can afford. Can you suggest a good keratin treatment product that is formaldihyde free that I can get without a lisence? I really wanted to try the Keratin complex. I do not understand why Keratin treatments are so costly.
I wish I could, but honestly I do not know of any such product. Keratin treatment supplies are very expensive, even for a stylist or salon to buy from the distributor. It costs anywhere from $300-$500 for a salon Keratin treatment kit.
I would suggest shopping around and getting some price quotes from different salons(chain salons are your best bet). It’s not as expensive as it was at first, so you may be able to find someone to do it for about $150 depending on your area.
Yes, keratin is not as invasive, but that doesn’t solve your problem if you do not want grey hair. You shouldn’t pay more than $100 for a cut and single color(that’s how it is in my area). Some places charge much more, but single color isn’t really specialized so if you’re paying more than that it’s just overpriced.
Listen, I come from latin America, we’ve been using keratin treatments since we were born basically lol. I used to do the treatment on my highschool friends and they would then do it to me. You dont need a professional to do it, you jus need a lot of TIME, patience and someone to help you. Amazon or ebay are your friends on this, I can recommend you a really good brand that I dont think its very popular in the states, but you can get it. The name is SOTFLISS, its the best one I’ve ever used so far, and trust I’ve tried so many….
https://www.amazon.com/Generaci%C3%B3n-Soft-Liss-Botox-Gel/dp/B00J8NAPC8/ref=sr_1_4_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1540103149&sr=8-4&keywords=softliss
That may be true, but product availability varies greatly depending on what country you live it. The industry is regulated in the U.S. to prevent non-professionals from chemical burns and other accidents.
Hi, I totally get why some products are salon only (because of the damage they may cause) but others not so much. I’ve bought a few direct dyes or demi dyes that require no mixing through my hairdresser just to play around with on my own or refresh my colour. I recently bought the Pravana mood colours through her because they’re only good for a single wash which makes them too impractical for a salon visit (wait list is 6 weeks for my hairdresser). Also, the last time I was in I had an ombre of 2 fashion colours put in which cost me $350 (much bleaching)so she sold me the remainder of the tubes of demi dye to freshen up the colour because my hair is very finicky with holding colour.
Other things people have managed to burn or make all their hair fall out using department store items. It seems arbitrary to allow a permanent straightening system (which can easily be screwed up even by professionals) on general retail shelves, but not no mix demis or direct dyes. Similarly, why is box dye black, a colour every hair stylist rues because of how hard it is to remove, so readily available? You’d think the products available to general consumers wouldn’t be so hardcore?
Hello! Those are some great points!
Here are my thoughts on direct dyes and why some products are available for the public to purchase, but others are not….
Direct Dyes(like Pravana Vivids/Neons/Pastels, Paul Mitchell InkWorks, Redken City Beats, etc.):
1. Only work on very naturally light or pre-lightened hair(for best results). There are similar products available at Sally’s Beauty Supply, but they are not “name brand” and/or may not be as good of quality as professional brands and/or last as long as professional brands.
Why some products are available for public purchase and others require a license to purchase…
1. Some of it is about control and protecting the cosmetology profession/industry.
2. Liability probably plays a major role in professional products vs. drugstore brands.
Something people forget about our society…
I hate to say it, but some things are meant to keep our economy going. Everything ties into it…marketing, availability, purchase requirements, price points, etc. It keeps balance and many industries are similar to cosmetology in this way.
[…] How to Buy Professional Hair Dye […]
So my sister is in cosmetology school.. and is too lazy to help me find a good professional hair color remover… she wants me to do research myself… but with so much out their.. I donāt know what best to use…Iāve been platinum blonde for years… like a dumbass I died my hair this dark blue then a red black… eeehh… i hate it!!!I want my blonde back.. but I donāt want to go to bleach first I need to take the black out… Please help me
Oh btw… the hair dye I used has this color locking agent… does that mean a color remover wonāt work?
I went to the Carsten institute for Aveda in Manhatten and I also had to continue hours for my license in Florida at Paul Mitchell the School. I also went to the Joe blasco school of cosmetics. I definitely understand why you should be professional to access many of these products from a business stand point and for the integrity of the hair. Could you imagine if one of these non-beauty-educated people decided they wanted a straight or curl perm. and then decided to lighten their hair?! There would be lawsuits. I’ve also seen so many non professionals think that the level of the developer and the lift only applies to lightener and they don’t have any understanding how the developer affects the lift and deposit of a professional color. Unfortunately, I moved to California where you need something like 2,000 hours of school and an apprenticeship to be able to obtain a license, so when I moved here I decided to just go get a college degree since the UC system in the state of California is the number one job provider. I figured getting a degree and going for a career in academia would be beneficial to being successful here. Anyway, I find it really frustrating that I can’t buy professional products to do my own hair, but I understand it.
I don’t want to do my own coloring. What I would like is to have an idea how much the Redken hair dye costs my stylist at the beauty supply store. I have to have my course gray short hair dyed every three weeks. She does roots once then 3 weeks later, she colors, and does a few highlights in front. I just feel I am literally paying her apartment rent each month. She pays her salon around $150 for her chair rent. Can you just give a general idea how much Redken costs?
A tube of dye costs around $10… she most likely mixes it w other colors and doesnt use the whole bottles. She probably all together spends $10-$15 herself on your dye.
Ok. I have scoured the internet and can’t find the answer to this question anywhere: Can my boyfriend buy professional hair color for me with his Massage Therapist License? I know it will get him in the door at CosmoProf but will they let him buy ANYTHING in the store?
Yes, he can buy anything in the store as long as he has a CosmoProf or Salon Centric card (your area may have a different beauty supply store).
Many stylists have ruined my hair. Or I pay $250 to not get the results I want. And they tell me it takes multiple processes to go that light. So ya I much rather buy higher end products to do it at home. I donāt buy from Sally because a lot is their products are damaging. I prefer profesional grade bleach and ph bonder. Itās not that hard, some people are passionate and artistic and can actually do their own hair. It takes hours of research, practice, and YouTube videos but some of us non cosmetologist can do better jobs than some licensed cosmetologists. Period. I prefer Ellebangs who teaches us her secrets and Leo has a huge following and clientele. Props to her
AGREED. Every time I’ve gone to a salon and paid $300 for blonde hair (and my hair is short) it comes out ugly or grey (I dont have a single grey hair naturally) and is not what I asked for. I have had much better results with bleach and box dye but sadly it’s so damaging. There are great cosmetology grade organic and natural alternatives out there we cannot get access to.
100% agree with you, Gigi, right on! I am so sick of paying $150+ to a salon for something I hate. It never comes out right and I end up doing it myself anyway! I have learned a lot from Ellebangs channel as well.
I couldn’t agree more! I have been straightening my hair with Rusk Anticurl for many years after realizing that spending thousands of dollars per year on my hair at a salon wasn’t realistic. I follow the instructions to the letter and have great results. I just wish that I could buy new, unopened product direct from the manufacturer instead of taking my chances with what I can find on eBay. Most of that product, I suspect, is left over from bangs straightening by salon stylists. Too bad for me because the product is less effective after it has been opened and exposed to the air. I wish the cosmetology cartel would loosen its grip and make their products more widely available.
Chemically professional hair color is similar to the stuff you get in the box at the store with a few exceptions. The stuff in a box comes with the correct developer but you cant choose the developer strength. Also, unless you know a bit about the shade and tone of your hair in relation to the shade and tone you want, you can end up with quite a mess. That being said, once you find the right shade and figure out how strong the developer needs to be, then the process is pretty simple. Its best to do a strand test on your hair BEFORE you commit to a head full of the wrong color.
Hi Erika – I appreciate your article and your position. I have my hair colored at the salon every 4- 6 weeks but the grey is coming faster than that so I need to touch it up in between visits. Obviously it’s cost prohibitive to come every 3 weeks for a halo touch up which is why I’ve wanted to purchase professional hair color – so I can touch it up myself without having to resort to boxed color. Any advice for those of us in this situation? Thanks!
I have very few clients that come in every 3 weeks…and for those cases I do a partial retouch. Others that come in every 4-6 weeks use a root touch-up spray or volumizing powder to conceal the gray. This is the best way to stretch the life of your hair color service(whether you do it at home or go to a salon).
Here are a few of my clients’ favorite products for root concealing:
Style Edit Root Concealer
Fibolica Tinted Fibers
Color Wow Root Cover Up
Rita Hazan Root Concealer
*The product that’s best for you will depend on your percentage of gray, hair thickness, styling preferences, etc. If you need help with which root concealer will work best for you, please reply to this comment!
Thanks for your reply, Erika! I’m very grey now (about 70%!) and my formula is a bit different as my natural color is medium brown but I color it light copper blonde. My formula is 40g 9.0 and 10g 8.43 and I haven’t found a spray root that doesn’t look obvious š
Hi, Erika! I’m 57 yrs old,so I’m pretty sure i am almost all grey now underneath my color.I have thick but fine hair and I wear it a bit above shoulder length, but my stylist cuts it in lots of layers. This way it can look longer, but not get as flat;it’s a little like the”shag”look,but more current!
Color Wow is garbage. Stay away.
Which product did you use?
This post is pretty rude and biased. And yes Iām aware itās old….. Iāve watched a professional do my hair. I will give you that bleaching should be done by them. Theirs a whole process of mixing and the strength of it based on your hair or whatever and they gotta do stuff like tone out other colors naturally in your hair like red however dyeing it looked like the easiest thing ever. She opened a tube, put it on my hair. That was it. Iām fact even went as far as giving me a tube of it so I could re apply it myself.
āProfessionalā dye should be available to the public. My hair is faded and I just want to put the color back in but I canāt get it unless this licensed woman goes and gets it for me OR if I go spend 75 + bucks at a salon for someone to literally open a tube and put the gunk in my hair.. I like the vibrant color as opposed to box dye, it also doesnāt trash my hair like box dye does.
Itās just a simple concept of a corporation monopolizing a product. The product being hair dye.
The biggest difference is the marketing/packaging, price, reputation of product, education, and sometimes quality. The reason why it’s not available to the product is to protect the industry, of course. I definitely feel you on those points!
The vibrant colors act more like stains, and although the don’t last as long, they are very conditioning! Also…if you stick with the same shade or family of hues…then over time it will last longer!
I’ve had a lot of good and bad feedback on this article. Back then I was a bit more close-minded than I am now. I sympathize with readers and clients as well as try to help them if they need to color their own hair.
I just always have to re-iterate to them that my advice does not guarantee the desired outcome. Some people would forget that, then come and blame me for their at-home hair mishaps!
I was inspired to write this article because I was tired of feeling like a broken record with certain clients…always coming in for a haircut then feeling the need to explain to me about what happened to their hair color, how it sometimes works at home and sometimes doesn’t, etc. I would explain everything, yet they still kept repeating the same mistakes.
So…this was my “real talk” about the things I’m thinking during those conversations…the things I wish I could say(because I want to be honest and help), but can’t because I would probably get fired for that.
I appreciate your comment, and thanks for reading!
I agree that professional dye should be accessible to some, but maybe not all, of non-licensed people. I’ve worked in a salon as reception, and was close friends with a stylist, and I have extremely sensitive skin and have found box dyes actually more reactive with my skin than professional formulas. I’m also not wealthy, over 50% grey, and cannot afford the 2-3 week salon work on my hair these days and my friend is no longer with us. I understand chemical ratios, levels of color, and even know how to weave and foil highlights and lowlights, etc. But I don’t think that the entirety of the public does, and I think many ladies coloring at home are skipping the allergy test and that is one large reason professional color lines have been kept away from laymen that goes a little beyond industry solidarity. No one wants women and men filling the prompt cares with chemical burns because they didn’t understand what they were doing. That said, I’ve also seen professional stylists purchase product from Sally’s and use it on their clients as well, so I’d call that a middle ground between box and professional and the people that work there ARE licensed and can answer questions and help the folks that are less informed make a good decision š
Thank god – someone finally stated what Iāve been thinking for years and what is just straight facts.
Hairdressing is one of the least skillful āskillsā lol out there – actually cosmotologt in general.
Go ahead ring on the hatred – fact is – itās licensed simply as a method to control the service industry.
To also make it a ājobā.
I think being a human with hair and possibly knowledge of mixing ingredients would give anyone the credentials to be a hairdresser.
Can practice enhance the quality of the work? Absolutely! But donāt try to sell me on āonly for professionalsā…. because hairdressers … are not professionals.
…. goooooo ahead … jump all over me.
Iām by no means taking away from those individuals who have a creative flare and have practiced for many years – as with anything you can get better with practice.
Rant over
* what are …. straight facts
What in the world is rude about this article? All she did was explain why the general public isnāt able to purchase professional hair dye. She didnāt make the rules, she just answered a question! Whatās rude is that you, just like the rest of us googling the same question, weāre looking for some way to sneak in the back door and buy products weāre not licensed to buy, and thought we had found a site to help us, but then got upset when it didnāt and took it out on the author!
NOT TRUE! I am NOT a licenced climatologist or hair stylist and I’ve never taken a course on anything to do with beauty. What I do have is a color cabinet containing ONLY professional products including permanent, temporary and toners. I have colored my own hair for over 25 years and in the last 20 years I have never used a box color.
To say you can’t buy professional hair color lines, such as Kenra, Schwarzkopf, Redken, Guy Tang #myidentity Or any one you want is rubbish. I have at least 3 shades in all the above lines as well as a few of their bleached or lighteners. I have several varieties of foils, brushes, combs, treatments etc and many other accessories in order for me to continue to look after my own hair in the comfort of my home at a gross fraction of the cost in a salon where I am not given a choice as to what product line they will use on my hair or a guarantee that the Color I want will come close to what I request. I have made a few attempts to find a colorist and every single time I walked out a couple hundred dollars poorer and with a color that was not a whole lot different than when I walked in 6 hours earlier! Nope not going to do it again.
Everyone has a price. I discovered that by posting an ad in my local buy and sell website I could find a dozen licenced stylists willing to sell me any product available at the local beauty supply store. I even have a couple that will take me shopping in the “off limits to mere mortals” beauty supply store. The fact that almost every product is 50% off what the suggested retail price is enough reason for me to buy all my hair, spa and beauty products there. I don’t purchase any of my everyday products, such as makeup, grooming products, cleansers, lotions, styling products or equipment through regular retail options. I buy only the best products and pay a lot less for them than products sold to the general public.
I also study a lot of professional websites, videos and guides on how to do anything I want done. I can promise you that I have a better grasp on how to color hair than a lot of these so called stylists. I have watched at least 40 hours of color seminar videos from the best on the business. I know how to mix colors like nobody’s business. I have balayaged, foiled, color melted, ombred and highlighted my hair and have never been disappointed in the results. I take on more color options than I would have dreamed and I’m not afraid to jump into anything because I research the ins and outs so I know what the outcome will be and I care because it’s my hair and I’m not in it to make a quick buck.
I certainly am not against anyone making money and I understand exactly how profits and overhead works. But I don’t think hair color should be only sold to licenced cosmologists. It is not a medication!!! It is hair Color for heavens sake! If a person wants to do their own color at home then I say; have at her! If they screw it up, they can find a licenced cosmologists to fix it.
But in todays world with youtube and how to videos, there is zero reason other than stupidity to mess up coloring your hair.
Fantastic rebuttal! I swear I have been ripped a New one every single time I go to the salon and NEVER leave with the color I requested. I am so sick if this monopoly and thanks for posting. Can you give me some tips on where to purchase color privately.
I hate everything about this article. Many non professionals are quite capable of using professional products and I’ve seen many terrible professionals that aren’t. I’ve been coloring my own hair done in 16, since I’ve ruined my hair more than once (using boxed kits) but I’ve come a long way since then and have educated myself in the proper use and chemistry of professional hair coloring (no, not from YouTube).
No I can’t get the same results from pharmacy products because they don’t have the same color range and cannot customize the developer strength based on the lift I want, nor can I get products like Olaplex to protect my strands ect.
I think it’s ridiculous that I cant purchase these products if I choose to, it’s my hair after all. Instead I have to ask my stylist friend to purchase it for me. I understand that the industry wants to control this to maximize profits, but they should just charge more to non professionals, I wouldn’t mind paying extra (within reason).
It is ridiculous that a person cannot purchase “professional” hair color without a license. I have had many “reputable” salons ruin my hair. I spent many hours learning the process of hair coloring in its entirety. I receive compliments on my hair and frequently asked where I get my hair done. I even went on the ABCH website and took the sample test to see if I knew my stuff. 36% is a passing grade….I got 65% on my first try. So, please understand, there is more than one way (to achieve the knowledge of hair color) than going to cosmetology school.
Well personally for me I’m trying to find out becuase im from the UK, we dont get cosmetology licences you just get a basic certificate stating your level of qualification e.g. NVQ1, NVG2, NVQ3 AND NVQ4, only nvq4s (meaning your qualified to legally teach hair and beauty) or big business owners are able to get licences that get “better” quality products and this is done by sending of yiur certificates to our biggest beauty company for what is basically a member card. We have online retailers linked to professional stores for those below(but either can use it as it’s not a known website for those who don’t do cosmotology), however we don’t have great pigmented dyes at all when it comes to reds, blues, greens, oranges like you can get with lincence nedded products made in the US, all our colours are crazy colour, manic panic or adore *sigh* or our most pigmented reds and purples are l’orel magi-contrast! iv been trying to find away that gets around this since I’m self employed and hate charging so much for colours that last no longer than a few washes before fading and only few weeks before almost completely fading out.
Annoying and biased, my hair has been wrecked by so called proffesionals but people wanna say we can’t buy it cause we might screw our hair up like they do lol ok. It seems like superiority complex these people have.
Were they really “professionals”? Unfortunately our industry is flooded with stylists that don’t keep learning and/or have never mastered cosmetology. Go to someone with 7-10 years of experience that is passionate about the services that you want.
You can find someone by searching keywords and filtering by area on Instagram!
Erika,
This is off subject from the post/ other replys. Do you have recommendations for cosmotology schools? When you go to cosmotology school and get your license do you become certified by the American Board of Cosmotology? When you are fresh out of cosmotology school how would you go about getting a quality job at a salon that is going to have premier cosmotologists that will help you learn? It seems like you have to know someone. I have thought about going to cosmotology school but don’t want to get stuck working at hair masters for close to minimum wage. What is your advice?
I went to Paul Mitchell The School and it is by far the best education you can get! They prepare you for your career and have a great program! I knew so much more than others that didn’t go to as good of a school and it was definitely worth the extra money!
Hi Erika,
You asked someone “were they really professionals?”
Well, let me tell you my story. I got my hair messed up, to say the least, by a renowned colorist in a high-end salon in Beverly Hills in Los Angeles. She has 20 years experience, and charges $250 + for a base color and highlights. My hair will take at least 2 years to recover from the mess she did (it’s completely fried). The owner has been trying to fix my hair for the past 2 months: I have had two haircuts, 3 Kerastase treatments and a master colorist try to fix the color. Nothing works.
It will take at least 2 years for my hair to get back to “normal”, and my curls to look healthy again.
So, yes, some professionals don’t know what they are doing. This is why I would like to find a professional hair dye, and try to do it myself without damaging my hair with drugstores box colors.
Just because a stylist is located in Beverly Hills or caters to celebs means nothing. Maybe the owner was too busy during your visit and not paying enough attention. The lesson would have been to find another stylist not head over to ebay, amazon, or whatever to buy the chemicals and do it yourself.
BTW a lot of the colors and bleaches sold on the gray market are suspectāold stock passed of as ābrand newā. There is no reason why any legitimate seller would offer, for instance, a pro product that costs $25 at Cosmoprof for $25 in ebay with free shipping.
The fact that you cannot buy high quality hair dye if your not a professional is ridiculous. If I ruin my hair because I cannot mix it properly that’s my fault. You are a hair dresser not a doctor, if I misuse the hair dye I’ll survive. It is obviously just a way to stop people from doing it themselves so hair salons can make money. “Did your Walmart box color let you down” Condescending much?? Obviously a higher quality dye will give better results… if it is just the person then why wouldn’t salons use the stuff from walmart. Should hairdressers have a license to color clients hair… sure. But you should be able to do whatever you’d like to your own hair… if it’s doesn’t work out it’s your fault… then you can go get it fixed at a Salon.
Thanks for the information. I had my hair professionally colored – green/turquoise/blue at the front and roots. It came out amazing. Now it’s starting to fade, and I’d really like to boost the color a little. However I realize that I can never achieve the same effect because it was a lot of work to get the layers of color. Also, while I was there, the salon did a repair job for someone who had had their hair dyed (blonde)at another salon and hadn’t liked the result (it looked a bit like one of those old peroxide jobs. She left with a gorgeous ash blond color and smooth shining hair. I.E. it may be expensive to get a good color, however it’s twice as expensive if you get a bad color. š
This article is JUST A TAD BIT biased. I don”t know where you live, but there are many high quality beauty supply stores where you can buy all the products you need without being licensed.
If someone does their due diligence in researching everything they need to know, it’s not rocket science as you’re making it sound.
As others have mentioned, some people can’t leave their homes due to illnesses (physical, or mental), some people simply don’t want to spend hundreds of dollars going into the salon…the list goes on. It’s convenient to be able to do these things in the comfort of your own home for a fraction of what of the cost at a salon.
You can teach yourself anything you want, the internet provides lovely resources to be able to do so.
Yes, you are right about a few things.
It may not be rocket science, but if you knew the difference between the results you get from an American Board Certified Haircolorist(or Redken Certified, Master Haircolorist, etc.) and a beginner stylist that just finished cosmetology school…imagine the difference in results from someone who is uneducated in cosmetology and chemistry/has no experience in the industry that is coloring their hair for the first time after watching some YouTube videos and reading blog articles online!
I wrote this post because I was getting so many comments and e-mails from people asking me how to buy professional hair color. Most of them think that professional beauty supply stores are open to the public, but they are not.
I wanted to explain to readers why “superior” hair color products require a license to purchase, and that professional hair color is immensely different from what you get at Sally’s Beauty or the basic box of hair color. Also, that most people don’t know how to properly formulate for the best results…that doesn’t mean they can’t educate themselves and try(I have posts that only blog subscribers can access which explain basics of hair color and how to do it yourself to get the best results….as well as color charts, formula substitutions between brands, etc.)
I am very understanding of those that cannot go to the salon for various reasons and I do help them(via the contact page/e-mail because chemical services are specific to each person and it’s difficult to give accurate advice without all of the information). I do the same for guests that are shopping in Ulta Beauty and ask me what they should use because they cannot afford a color service at our salon.
I just want to be able to buy Professional hair products at a discount really! Not wanting hair color. I have an amazing professional stylist. Just wanting the hair products I love at a discount or be able to buy them being the ones I love don’t sell in the beauty stores. I love Olaplex and so many others but not able to afford salon price.
But you didn’t explain why you need a license for salon material color at all….Yes, most of the reason people DIY is money, and bad experiences. I always say somebody had to graduate at the bottom of the class to customers who experience those things. My understanding is that the ingredients are superior: better pigment, better conditioning to prevent breakage. Now I work at a Sallys and know their stuff is crap by comparison. Let’s be honest why would a company sell you items labeled “pro” that damages the hair? /money. I agree some people shouldn’t color their own, but why should people have to use crap that damages their hair more at all? Can we talk about that
It’s possible to use any of these products without causing a ton of damage(remember, using ANY chemicals/heat/etc. will cause a little damage…but that’s normal and everyone gets it. What matters is your current damage level, choice of product, proper use, etc.
*Understanding the hairs’ porosity levels will help to explain all of this.
And yes…a lot of it is about controlling the market and economy. Everything in our society is and hairstylists are literally the “little guys” when you compare our industry to those with other controlled products like medical, building, etc.
I don’t consider the $80 I spend on getting my hair colored every six weeks a “little guy” issue. If I’m at the salon for two hours, and my stylist toggles my appointment with another appointment, she’s making damn good money. I understand that there are costs involved to her, but that still equates to pretty good coin. Also, you can’t compare hair costs with medical costs because one requires eight years of very difficult education and the other is much shorter, start to finish.
I have used professional products before and get the colour I want always!!! My hair is treated more gently than any stylist so no, you are incorrect. Using professional products can be used by people who have dyed their hair for more years than I care to say. It’s ridiculous to pay $150 to $500 when I can do it myself , and better. You should say your website is for professionals only so we don’t waste our valuable time
You are right on Lexi.We do not how a use professional hair colorAnd I have done it for years.The several times I have asked a professional to color my hair, In his come out Horribly.I think it’s ridiculous that we cannot buy our ownProfessional hair color and do it ourselves.If I want helpOr if I want services of someone else mixing and applying I would be glad to pay for it.But I don’t.
Kind of annoying that the title is misleading. My mom is sick and can’t leave the house, but would love to have her roots done to make her feel better. I am trying to buy her favorite Kevin Murphy color to do her roots for her, and I got so excited when I clicked on this…only to realize it’s total clickbait. I would suggest changing the title so that you don’t waste people’s time.
It’s not “click bait”, it’s the truth. Everyone asks me “how to buy professional hair dye”….but it’s a fact that you can’t without a state-issued license in cosmetology.
There’s a new product that I just found out about a few weeks ago, and it’s coming it Ulta Beauty! We did a training on it and it’s an actual “professional” box hair color. Of course, I don’t guarantee anything like that because you have to know which one to use. In your case I’d be happy to help you with which shade to use.
Here’s the link to the pro box color product on Ulta’s website.
I do understand that everyone can’t get to a salon…so these articles are more for people who can afford professional hair color…but insist that they can do it better themselves.
Thank you for your comment! I need to add this new option to my article and I wouldn’t have thought about it if you hadn’t said something!
My only issue with this is that my hair is already bleached, I’m letting the color grow out, but I would like to have fun with it. I want a particular Demi because it is gentler on my hair and would like to keep using it without having to pay for a dye more often than I can afford.
Was your hair highlighted, or was it lightened(bleached) all over? When you say that you’re letting the color grow out…are you talking about the lightened hair? I can help you with what to use, but I need to see what your hair looks like. I use demi-permanent hair color and it’s perfect for you if you don’t want to color your hair too often.
Please send me a message via the Contact Page and I will respond promptly via e-mail. Just respond to my personal e-mail with your hair photos!
Hi! I have a question: I went to beauty school, but never got licensed. I had a friend who got me color and developer from Cosmoprof, but we lost touch. I know how to properly apply and process my color. Doing myself costs about $2 as opposed to $60 and takes so much less time. I don’t want to use store bought color on my hair because it isn’t healthy for my hair. Any advice on how to find my supplies?
You can try on ebay, but there’s no guarantee that what you need will always be available. You also have to watch out for expired products, but that’s pretty easy to spot!
Amazon also has some pro hair color products available.
Salesmanship.com
Sleekshop.com
Hello….
I am 100% white, started greying when I was 20 years old. I have been getting my colored by an awesome girl. But I need to go every 2 weeks otherwise I have too much grey. I can’t afford it anymore. My stylist gave me the name – Redken Gel 17N 15 Volume… do you know what I can get to replace this color and do it on my own?
Is it Redken Color Gels in 7N? 15 volume doesn’t sound right unless you’re going for a result that is lighter than a level 7. I have clients that need to come in every 3-4 weeks and they use a root cover spray in-between coloring.
We have a $75 cut & color special at The Salon @ Ulta Beauty that most people get because they have to come in so often. For my clients that need their hair colored a lot I make it more affordable by doing a partial retouch every other time. The partial retouch is $40 and covers all of the areas that show. Some places do it for less, so ask your haircolorist about that!
If that’s not a route you want to try….I can help you with what to buy….but I would need to know more about your hair, what you want, and so on.
Is there a color brand named “Rainbor”? My mother used a red color by Rainbow years ago and If there is such a thing, I would like to know where her hairdresser can order it.
I haven’t heard of that one, but I did find a website for henna hair color that’s called “rainbow”. Funnily, when you Google ‘rainbow hair color’ you’ll just get tons of pics and posts about rainbow hair color trends. That’s really popular right now, so if you choose to research the brand yourself…the best keywords that I used were ‘rainbow brand hair color’.
Here’s the link:
Rainbow Henna Hair Color
Thanks for reading!
All so called licensed professionals charge sooooo much money, when i can do the same olaplex or hair dye by myself. So simple. They like to charge. But when you come back and tell them that your color doesn’t stay on the hair and probably you should add more pigment to that, they say its my hair’s fault that color doesn’t stay. All good hairstylists cost hell of a lot, because you pay for their name. But i can do it myself.
They’re not “so-called” licensed professionals if they are actually licensed by the state. They’re professionals….and just because someone has a license doesn’t mean they’re good at what they do.
Lots of women like to spend money on their hair…some spend it on their nails, clothes, massages, trips, etc. Everyone has something and just because hair isn’t your thing doesn’t mean that ALL hairstylists are liars that charge too much.
You’re stereotyping a very large group of people that have one thing in common: their profession. Our society is so angry and intolerant…this is why. If one pediatrician charges too much and blames you for not following the at-home instructions….would you say that they’re all the same and you can just “do it yourself”? If one nail technician charges too much and tells you that your nail polish didn’t last because you weren’t properly caring for your hands…would you say that they’re all the same and you can just “do it yourself”? I can keep going with the examples, but I think my point has been made clear.
You may think you can do it yourself, but don’t insult true professionals.
Hello Ericka… I completely understand your frustration, and I know that what you do is not at all easy; however, there are people like me who are not able to get to a salon. I live on a reservation and I’m 3 to 4 hours from civilization. My stylist used Davines Mask on my hair FOR YEARS, so I have some knowledge of the product… She kept a log of the color she used because I went from blonde to red. I’m so tired of having 2 inches of grey. Yes, it is not the optimum situation and I would love to jet off to Los Angeles every couple of weeks, but I cannot. What about people like me? Help!
Hi Shelly!
I understand your situation, the key to getting it right at home is knowing how to properly apply the color….and of course using the right product. I wrote this post because one of the top searches on my blog was “how to buy professional hair dye” and most people didn’t understand that professional color is not sold to the public….you must have a license in cosmetology to shop at the pro beauty supply stores. Professional color can probably be purchased on eBay or other like websites, but you won’t know how old it is or if the product will be available next time.
So….I can help you choose the safest color products if you answer a few questions for me:
1. How much grey do you have? About 10%,25%, 50%, etc.
2. What color is your hair now?
3. Did you get a single application color or dimensional?
Most salons charge way too much for the service provided. Not all. Maybe the lady can do it herself, don’t insult her by saying she,”may think” she can do it herself.
I have been cutting and coloring my hair for a long time now. I went to school for it, but the salon atmosphere wasn’t my thing. I can’t deal with the overcharge to customers, nor the plain out disrespect a lot of women show to each other in a salon. Three different salons, always drama around.
It’s hard for people like me that do their own hair who has had the experience. I will not use box color and Sally’s is just as bad as that. I was using Matrix for about 3 years, and now it’s not available where i use to get it. I do my own and my families hair.
You can’t assume people that do hair out of home are not experienced. That’s simply YOUR speculation. In no way am I insulting any of the salon cosmetologist, but you shouldn’t with people out of home either.
MOST people who are attempting to color their own hair at home are not experienced. Obviously, someone who went to school would have more knowledge than the general public.
I wrote this post because so many people were searching “How to Buy Professional Hair Dye” on my website, but they did not understand that you cannot buy professional hair color without a license(and there’s a reason for that). Many people don’t understand that Sally’s does not sell professional products.
Also, marketing DOES make people THINK that they can do it themselves. They make consumers think that it will be easy…when it’s not always easy.
So…don’t take it so personally and literally…I color my own hair at home sometimes and it’s pretty obvious that this content doesn’t relate to professionals like myself. Believe it or not, this information has helped many people and saved them from making a huge mistake. It’s all in how you interpret it.
I came across this thread and found this particular response to be quite humorous… while i agree with you on the fact that hair stylists are professionals, they are in NO way in the same league of a pediatrician (funny). As for the nail tech… umm YA – we can do it ourselves! Your examples are completely offbeat.
think about what your going to write before putting pen to paper. š
There aren’t many things that you can compare to a licensed cosmetologist. 80% of cosmetologists are in the BOTTOM of our profession….while 20% are excellent and make 80% of the income that our industry brings in every year. Most people don’t know that, so they generalize us and trust few.
I’m not saying that I’m “in the same league” as a pediatrician, but no matter the profession we should all be treated with respect.
Maybe you should think about the comments you make, as it says more about you than it does about me. I write posts to help people make better decisions when it comes to their hair, skin care, makeup, etc. I started this blog to let people know how to find a great stylist and how to spot the bottom 20%…preventing them from disastrous experiences(some of which result in hair loss, burns, really bad haircuts, etc.). Image is important to most people and one bad salon visit can kill your confidence the day before an interview or big event, for example. Belittling others with your comments(like telling me that I shouldn’t write freely) because you don’t agree with it isn’t okay.
Luckily, I have thick skin and I brush it off….but some people are really sensitive and would take what you say to heart. Being nice is hard sometimes, but it’s what the world needs a little more of.
I’m looking to buy professional hair dye for myself because I cannot find a professional to understand what I want. I’ve gone several times to break up my roots so my blonde will grow out nicely but no one has been capable of doing it. Once I left with 90’s mom highlights and this last time another one tried to do the same thing but I refused to let her put foils in my hair….so instead she used the same technique as highlights but without putting the foils in. Only 1/4 of my hair had color when all of it should have had color in it. I see professionals (in salons, not teenage girls in their bathrooms) doing it in online tutorials but I can’t find anyone here to do it so I’m doing it on my own. I gave up on professionals. They’re a constant let down.
Have you tried going to an American Board Certified Haircolorist? That’s what I am, and it makes a big difference! We know so much more about placement techniques, formulation, possible outcomes, etc. Just schedule a complimentary consultation and see what they say!
You can search for an ABCH colorist in your area here.
I looked it up. There are only a few in my area and they charge way too much. I decided to do it myself for $20 and now my hair looks great! Never paying for a professional just to screw it up again.
Or maybe the person is getting their hair done by a friend who’s an experienced stylist, but needs to buy the dye… That’s my case, anyway.
If your friend is truly an experienced hairstylist, she/he will be able to buy the hair color you need at your local beauty supply store. Your friend has to be the one to go to the store to buy it because a license is required to enter Salon Centric and Cosmoprof.
Your friend would already know that, so I’m not so sure how “experienced” that person is…or if they’re really a hairstylist.
Aww… Bummer. I found this article while trying to find somewhere to buy shades eq. Iāve purchased it a few times on eBay but the last time I got a counterfeit and now Iām nervous.
Is there really nowhere to buy without a license? I found a couple sites but… seems sketchy.
I mean, there really is a huge difference between Sallyās type product and salon quality. Iāve been dying and highlighting my hair since I was a teenager and Iāve probably tried them all and nothing a regular gal can purchase in a store comes even close.
And I like to think I do a pretty good job of it myself. Of course, not nearly as well as a skilled stylist. Thatās what people are paying for, not the product, right? Iād love nothing more than to be able to shell out a couple hundred every few months to feel beautiful. I love salons- the atmosphere, the smells, the conversation and feelings of being pampered, and of course, walking out with gorgeous hair.
Not everyone can afford it. Not everyone has the ability for various reasons. But I think everyone should have access to do their best with what they have.
Crouched over on my bathroom counter trying to use two mirrors to see the back of my head isnāt exactly luxurious or super fun. My DIY balayage isnāt as pretty or perfect as Iād get if I could go to a pro. But I canāt. And sometimes a gal needs a little something to feel pretty and boost her esteem.
Hairstylists are artists. Iād rather hang a painting made by Alex Gray in my home but if Iām unable, it shouldnāt mean I canāt buy paint and make a handprint turkey that my mom pretends sheās proud of.
Anyone know of an accessible shades eq alternative? Itās my favorite toner and Iām bummed.
I’ve seen it on Amazon, but that could be like eBay…there’s just no guarantee. Send me a message via Facebook or Instagram today and I’ll see what I can do š
So… I think Iām turning into my nanna. I just spent like 20 minutes trying to find you between Facebook and Instagram with no luck. I tried to follow the Facebook page on your about me here but it keeps erroring.
So maybe while you hunt me down some black market hair dye, you can also find a toddler to teach me how to use the internet haha.
Lol, I’m so sorry! I need to check my broken links tab…I always put it off because keeping up with everything from comments to updates is a bit overwhelming!
Here’s my blog Facebook link!
And my personal FB link…just in case!