<p>Hi, my name is Missypie and I color my hair myself. </p>
<p>The kind I use is being discontinued. I’ve tried other brands that leave my hair like straw. What’s your favorite brand?</p>
<p>(Don’t tell me to go to a salon. I have a hard time making time for hair cut appointments. I could never make time to keep up salon color.)</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>I use Excellence by L’oreal. Mine is medium golden brown. I also use L’oreal Root Rescue so I don’t have to do my whole hair every time. I usually have coupons, and they are often on sale at target.</p>
<p>I wish you’d mentioned which ones cause a problem for you. I’ve read that one of the cheapest, Clairol Colorsilk, is one of the best, and I’ve been very happy with it. I’ve tried some of the “fancy” ones with the two tones and the foam, but I keep coming back to what works for me. It covers my gray, doesn’t fade as fast, and my hair is nice and soft. Lately I’ve been flirting with the purplish mahogany family, but I usually go with a shade of golden brown, as that’s what color my hair once was.</p>
<p>I use L’oreal Preference. And lots of conditioner between colorings.</p>
<p>I think it depends a lot on what your natural color is, what color you are aiming for, and how much grey/white you have.</p>
<p>I used Clairol Nice and Easy with great success for five years. My natural color is an auburn dark brown… Dark brown with a lot of natural reddish highlights. I did my own until I had so much grey that it really needed to be done well, and regularly… When a missed spot is obvious, it is time to seek professional help!</p>
<p>It is important to figure out whether your natural hair color tone is “golden” or “ashy” (I think those are the phrases they use) and look for a dye that states that.</p>
<p>Now I go to my local cheap Hair Cuttery every month, where I see the same stylist every time. It doesn’t cost all that much and it is worth every dime to avoid the mess of doing it in my own bathroom.</p>
<p>My stylist, who is wonderful and very knowledgeable, says L’oreal is the best at home product as long as you stay within two shades of your natural color. I’m guessing that Missypie is simple trying to cover that darned gray and is not going for a Madonna-esque platinum blonde.</p>
<p>I go to a beauty supply store and get Clairol Grey Busters. I have color resistant hair and my stylist recommended this to me. I mix two different colors together because I find it is darker than the bottles say. I buy an applicator bottle and mix 1/2 of each bottle with the developer. I use a brush for around my face. I make sure to not recolor the ends every time, I just do the area around the roots. It is critical with any hair color to use a heavy duty conditioner/sealer afterwards or it will feel like straw, at least with my hair it is the case. I agree with the “golden/ashy” comment above. Using the wrong undertone can make you look much older. I think red hair can be gorgeous, but on me it would be hideous!</p>
<p>I have colored my hair for 25 years or so. My natural hair color is medium brown, with some red, but it’s about 99% white now, and I’m only 50, and not willing to go natural yet. I used Preference, or occasionally Excellence, for years, but it sort of stopped working for me a couple of years ago. I started using Frederick Fekkai (spelling?), at 30 bucks each time, but they stopped making what I used. I tried many after that, including natural options, and another 30 dollar color from Sephora. I finally went to a beauty supply store, and bought Wella color (I think it’s called Wella Charm), along with developer. It’s pretty inexpensive, and it’s working great. I had to buy a measuring bottle and my own gloves, and measure it myself instead of just dumping in the ingredients, but it’s worked well.
Good luck.</p>
<p>I use Clairol Colorsilk - cheap and works well for me. I’m 50 and 99% white but my natural hair color is dark brown. I’m keeping it all dark brown until they pry the Colorsilk bottle from my cold dead hands.</p>
<p>I used the L’oreal two stage kit for about 10 years. Color and then add highlights after. It ran about $15. They quit making the color that I used and in the last few years those gray strands at my temples have gotten larger. I’ve been trying other L’oreal products, buying the color and then a highlighter. It’s not coloring the gray streaks for more than a month (since I use a color close to my own I only need to lighten every 3 or 4 months).<br>
So thanks for starting this thread and thanks to anyone who has suggestions for light golden brown with blondish highlights…</p>
<p>Clairol Beautiful Collection. I usually buy it at Sally’s Beauty Supply. About once a year or so I’ll use Naturtint. Both cover grey really well.</p>
<p>I use Garnier Nutrisse. My hair naturally was a medium, kind of ashy brown but is now quite grey. I use a reddish-brown color and the stylist I use for cuts is always VERY complimentary of the color. There is a little vial of some kind of conditioning oil that you mix in with the color, and then a conditioner to use. My hair feels and looks its best right after I touch up the color!</p>
<p>The key, for me, is to JUST touch up roots—not put color on my whole head—every time (which for me is about every 3 weeks). If you put the color on your entire head, the ends of your hair start to absorb too much color and just look awful! I have really thick hair, so I use two boxes every time, and save the conditioner pack of the unused box for in-between conditioning and/or travel use.</p>
<p>I can find this product at most any grocery or drug store and if its less than $8 per box, I go for it. Often can find it for just over $6 per box!</p>
<p>I have very color-resistant hair. I don’t color my own hair anymore, but I used to use Clairol Grey Busters. It looked great - very natural, and not flat. My H painted it on my hair with his usual engineer precision. Unfortunately, I developed a sensitivity to dye (itched like crazy!), so I now have my hair stylist color my hair using Pravana natural color. Luckily, she works from a home salon, so I don’t pay a ridiculous amount (although I miss my $5 home dye jobs).</p>
<p>psyco, LOL, I’m with you!</p>
<p>Has anyone tried this company?</p>
<p>[eSalon.com</a> | Custom Formulated Hair Color](<a href=“http://www.esalon.com/]eSalon.com”>http://www.esalon.com/)</p>
<p>Since I started getting significant amounts of gray, I’ve been having my hair colored at a salon. Every other time I just get a “hairline” or “half” color - meaning that only the roots that show along my hairline and part, or on the top half or my head, are done. The other times they do my entire head (roots only). Once in a while they put the color on all of my hair for the last 5 minutes. It works well, but is very expensive and takes too much time, because my natural color is fairly dark and I have a lot of gray now, so the roots show up quickly. I’d like to find a way to deal with it myself some of the time.</p>
<p>I have found when I am in a hurry that some of the drugstore root touch up kits work ok. The L’oreal one faded quickly the Clairol one stayed fairly well for about 3 or 4 weeks. I also have dark hair and those darned roots really seem to show up fast. I also buy this stuff at the beauty supply house that comes in a little bottle like liquid eye liner with a sponge applicator tip that works well, doesn’t flake and usually last until I shampoo. It’s kind of pricey, but other similar less expensive products flaked or were gummy.</p>
<p>natural instincts works great but only if less than half is white, have not gotten to the next phase yet</p>
<p>For years I have used Preference and I like it. H recently told me I am too messy. I just made an appointment with my stylist to include a coloring along with the cut/styling.</p>
<p>I found my first gray hair on my 19th b’day, but only began coloring at 40.</p>
<p>Dark brown hair, with about 50% grey here. Besides hard-to-cover greys, my issue was the amount of hair in the bottom of the sink/shower after coloring. I began using John Frieda a year ago and really like it. Prior to that, I was a L’oreal Preference user, but found I had less hair loss with John Frieda.</p>
<p>I also use John Frieda in between my salon visit. I use the foam one, which makes it very easy for me to apply. I find my scalp is less itchy with John Frieda.</p>