Every woman goes through this stage! Should I color my hair or should I not? Should I color my hair or should I not? And so on and so on… Now when you have finally decided to do this you get all kinds of questions in your head and not the least is about what it might cost. Now you always have a choice of course. Do the coloring at home yourself or you can go to a hair salon and let professionals do it for you.
Now I know that reading up on it and doing it with a friend at home can be quite the experience (a whole lot of fun some would say), but it can also end up in a disaster… And who would want to walk around with purple hair for weeks? I don’t… If you do it intentionally it’s another story of course. Nothing wrong with that!
Now let’s consider both options, their advantages, and disadvantages, and of course, let’s found out how much each type of hair coloring costs.
So, How much does coloring cost at a salon? On average, a hair coloring service at the hair salon can cost between $70 and $800.
This, of course, all depends on what you want. If you decide to do highlights in a salon, then it depends on the length of your hair, the thickness of the hair, and what you want of course (color-wise).
Now I know that $70 to $800 is a little vague. So below I put an overview of what the prices are in general. Just keep in mind that these prices can vary from salon to salon.
So now that you know you can step into the salon with full confidence! Already know that color that you want? great! If not, an experienced hairstylist can give you great advice about which color and shade will work for you. Know that it is best to change your hair color 2 to 3 shades from your natural color. Also, you need to think about the fact that the hair color should fit your skin type and eyes. Say for example you want to color your hair blond. Know that you have different shades of blond. I tell you this so that you can walk away with the hairstyle you want instead of the hairstyle that could have been great but isn’t the way you imagined it to be.
Is it better to get your hair dyed in a salon?
The most important thing to remember in my opinion is that you go to a salon for experience and skill. A professional colorist absolutely knows all the ins and outs of the product he/she uses, has had an education, had training, and this gives you the best possible chance of great hair at the end. This experience and training are especially true if you want to add highlights or lowlights to your hair without frying it!
Another advantage you have is the fact that if you don’t like it or something went wrong, you can go back to the salon and in most cases, they’ll fix it for you without any additional cost. Be sure to ask about this before you get your hair colored so that you know their policy :).
In my opinion, there are 3 main reasons to go to a salon instead of doing it yourself:
- You want to lighten your hair more than 3 shades from your natural hair color. If you want to go significantly lighter than your natural hair color you should think hard about doing it yourself. All dark hair has some red pigment in it and this can become evident in the lighting process if you don’t correct this. If you don’t know how to do that you should go to a salon! There is also the thing that going from dark to light is not a one-step process. You need at least two steps (removing the existing color and then adding the shade you want). This makes the hair coloring process a lot less beginner-friendly and so I think you should go to a salon.
- Fixing a problem. If you already tried doing it at home and you made a mistake. Don’t go any further trying to make it better! Just go to a salon and let them take care of the issue. Trying to fix the problem by yourself will probably only make it worse.
- Going from light to dark. If you want to dye your hair from light to dark you should consider going to a salon. The problem is not to get your hair dark, but with getting a natural shade. If you persist in doing this at home, I will advise you to do a strand test first. This is something that is normally indicated in the instructions of the dye. It tells you how long it takes to get your light hair to the color you want it to be. Skip this step and you’re asking for disaster! If this happens, see reason number 2!
I personally also go to a salon because for me it is more than just a haircut or hair dye… It is about human contact, drinking some coffee, and having a nice conversation with the lady who works there.
If you know some other reasons to go to a salon let me know! I’ll gladly put it in so that we together can help a lot more people reaching the right conclusion for them :).
You can also decide to go get your hair done at the salon just one time. Then you can see what the process is and find out for yourself if this is something you can do at home or if you’re better off with the professionals.
How long does it take to get your hair colored at a salon?
When you’ve made the decision of going to the salon, you probably want to know how much time you have to spend there.
Earlier we talked about a one-step process and a two-step process. As you can imagine the two-step process takes longer than the one-step process.
One-step process: A single process coloring is a quick and easy thing. It takes a hair coloring professional about 20 to 30 minutes to set everything up right and to get the color into your hair. This is assuming there isn’t any other work that needs to be done. With this, I mean that it can take longer when you have a lot of gray hair. In this case, the hair colorist will use a twenty-volume developer and either increase your processing time to forty-five minutes or add a filler and process for the thirty minutes recommended with a twenty-volume developer.
Two-step process: Putting a time frame on this is a little harder. This is because first the hair is lightened and then it is colored. The first step (the lightening process) is somewhat similar to a one-step process but it uses bleach instead of color. This alone will take twenty to thirty minutes (just like the one-step process we talked about). Though this is entirely dependent on the level that you want to achieve.
At this point, everything is set up for the hair coloring and this is done in a one-step process as described above.
So overall it is dependent on what you want with your hair, but I think it is fair to say that hair coloring at a salon can take 30 to 90 minutes of your time.
Can you bring your own hair dye to a salon?
Some salons allow you to bring your own hair dye and some salons won’t. It all depends on the particular stylist and the policies of the salon they work.
Not all salons will allow this because the hair colorist who works there won’t consider dyeing your hair with anything other than professional products. Many stylists are trained to use certain products so that they can give the customer the best result.
The fact that they allow it or not also depends on what kind of salon it is. mall salons most likely do not care that you bring your own product with you. But you have to keep in mind that they charge you the same price as a normal hair coloring routine. This means that you have to pay more than someone who did not bring their own because you already had to buy your hair coloring product.
Higher-end salons will normally not allow you to bring your own hair coloring product with you. They have a reputation to hold high and work with products that they deem perfect to work with. It’s the product they know and the product they can get the best results with.
Now if you absolutely want to bring your own hair dye (maybe because you got it as a gift or can get special prizes somewhere), I suggest you just ask. Better to know beforehand than walk into the salon and find out that they won’t help you with the product you brought in.
I hope you learned a lot about hair coloring in a salon, how much it costs to get your hair colored at a salon and why you should or shouldn’t.
Reading material
If you like this article, you might find it interesting to know that there are some related articles that you can read! Click below on the links and go nuts on all the information :).
What happens if you don’t put enough developer in hair dye?
Do you put toner on wet or dry hair?
Is there a difference between the hair of a man and the hair of a woman?
