7 mistakes I made so you don't have to
I've been dyeing my own hair for 25 years. every colour, every technique, every questionable decision made at 11 pm on a sunday because i "just wanted a change (and then not having enough dye so I had to go to work on Monday woth a whole section not dyed)." i've ruined towels, stained a bathtub beyond recognition, and once turned my hair a colour that can only be described as "traffic cone." So when I say I've made every mistake in the book — I mean it. Here are the ones that come up again and again, and what to do instead.
1. Skipping the strand test
I know. I KNOW. You've got the fresh tub, you're excited, you want to see the colour NOW. But skipping the strand test is how you end up finding out — on your whole head — that the colour processes differently on your hair than the pictures promised. And it will be different depending on the colour of your hair and whether you have previous dye or bleach on it. And what took me 15 years to know - depending on how frazzled those ends are.
Grab a small, hidden section. dye it. Time it properly. Look at it in daylight, not bathroom lighting. It takes ten extra minutes, and it will save you a very bad week.
2. Not protecting your skin (and regretting it for days)
That faint purple tinge around your hairline that won't budge no matter how hard you scrub? yeah. Semi-permanent dyes are brilliant at colouring hair and mildly ruthless about colouring everything else too.
A thin layer of Vaseline along your hairline, ears, and neck before you start makes a genuine difference. Just don't skip it and then be surprised. Scrubbing away at purple smothered all over your face and neck will make it fade, but it won't stop someone at work thinking it's hilarious to call you Ribena for the next 2 years. #truestory
3. Applying to dirty vs freshly washed hair
This trips people up constantly, and honestly, the answer depends on the dye — but for most semi-permanent brights, hair that's clean but not freshly stripped of all its natural oils takes colour better and holds it longer. wWasha day before, not right before, if you can manage it. freshly washed, squeaky-clean hair can actually resist vibrant colour more than you'd expect.
4. rushing the processing time
processing time isn't a suggestion, it's chemistry. pulling the dye out five minutes early because you're bored or your arms are tired means underdeveloped, patchy colour that fades unevenly. set a timer. walk away. resist the urge to peek every ninety seconds.
5. using hot water to rinse
hot water opens the hair cuticle and basically invites all that gorgeous colour to leave. rinse with cool or lukewarm water instead — it helps seal the cuticle and lock the colour in. i know it's not as satisfying as a hot rinse, but your colour will thank you in about two weeks when it's still vibrant instead of washed out.
6. Not sectioning your hair properly
trying to apply colour to your whole head in one go, freehand, without sectioning, is how you end up with patches that got missed entirely and other bits that got double-dosed. clip your hair into sections before you start. it feels like an unnecessary extra step until you see how much more even your colour turns out.
7. Washing it too soon after dyeing
the itch to hop in the shower the next morning is real, especially with semi-permanent colour that can transfer onto pillowcases. but the longer you can hold off that first wash, ideally 24 to 48 hours, the longer your colour will actually last. every wash in those first couple of days strips out more colour than a wash three weeks in will.
none of these mistakes mean you're bad at this. i made every single one of them, multiple times, over two and a half decades. that's kind of the whole point of home hair dyeing. It's meant to be a bit experimental, a bit messy, and a lot of fun. you just get to skip a few of the rougher lessons now that someone else already learned them for you.
now go forth and dye your hair.