If you are tired of paying top dollar for hair color at the salon, you can always try out your hand at coloring your hair at home. These expert tips can help you get salon-quality color right in the comfort of your own home for a fraction of the cost.

Best Way to Apply Color at Home

Dying your hair at home doesn’t have to be intimidating. With proper preparation and technique, you can make your hair look gorgeous.

To prepare for your coloring experience:

1. Pick the Right Color

Begin with a color that is only two shades away from your natural color. This can help you avoid the problem of hair that turns out a different color than what you expect. You can also try out semi-permanent hair color if you are really unsure of what your final look will be.

2. Use Protective Gloves

Plastic gloves will be a necessity to avoid staining your hands with the color. Make sure the towels you use are ones you don’t mind giving up, and have plenty of paper towels on hand.

3. Wear Old T-shirt

Since you might drip some color onto your clothes, makes sure you are wearing something you don’t mind getting messy – like a shirt you might choose to wear when painting the living room!

4. Coat with Vaseline

Some colors can stain your skin, so use a thin layer of petroleum jelly around your hairline and on your ears to help avoid the color coming into contact with your skin.

Watch how to dye hair at home with L'Oreal Feria, then read on for more details:

Steps to Apply Hair Color at Home

Step 1: Clean the hair. Very clean hair can make a difference in your color. Wash your hair the day before you color for the best results.

Step 2: Read instructions. Read every bit of the instructions that come along with the hair color and make sure you understand what you need to do before you proceed.

Step 3: Prepare the color. Mix the color as directed, taking care to mix every bit of it together. You might mix chemicals in a bowl, or you might have a convenient kit that allows you to mix it all with the shake of a squeeze bottle.

Step 4: Brush. Brush your hair thoroughly to remove all tangles that might make your color look strange.

Step 5: Protect your skin and hands. Put on the gloves and use the petroleum jelly as mentioned in the previous section. You want to make sure that the color stays on your hair, and nowhere else.

Step 6: Color hairline. Start with coloring your hairline. This will help ensure that you don’t miss the hairline – the most noticeable part.

Step 7: Color hair roots. Now work with the roots, making sure to massage the color into the hair as you go.

Step 8: Color the rest. Bring the color through the hair, combing from root to tip. Make sure to cover all sections of the hair.

Step 9: Heat the color. Some color requires that you simply leave it on the hair, while others require heat to set the color. Add some heat by using a shower cap on your head.

Step 10: Wash out and dry. Wash out the excess color thoroughly, until the water runs clear. Use the conditioner and shampoo which is color-protecting. Dry the hair thoroughly and style as usual.

Warnings: Remember to avoid coloring hair that has just been washed, or hair that is still wet. This can cause irritation to your scalp, and it might also cause problems with the color of the hair when you’re done with the process.