Changing colors frequency ?

is there a limit as to how many times and how often you change your hair color? i'm talking colors within the same family - browns to reddish browns. permanent color. my wife colors every couple months but sometimes changes the shade - is that bad? is that too frequent (darn roots!)

thanks!

thanks for the response- her natural color is dark brown. she's pretty gray - the roots, now about 1.5 - 2 inches are heavily gray. She was using Feria but last time went with Wella Color Charm (cinnamon) from Sallys. She was thinking of going back to more of a brown this time.
i've asked her about only doing touch up on the roots but she feels she might as well color everything. But she's speaking about how much work is involved with coloring, not regarding the health of her hair. she says it'll take as much effort to do only the roots- why not do the entire head.
btw she also just had a anti-curl process done - on the 2nd. her hair's about chin length.
any info/advice would be so appreciated!

thanks Karen - i'll mention that -but if she decides just to color it all - permanent again - that would be ok - her last color was june 18

thanks once again- my wife's funny with her hair. she wants it to look a certain way, but doesn't want to invest the time or effort. she's a wash and wear girl without wash and wear hair! for years she wore a very short crop (and i mean short!) and i think got spoiled with the ease of it. now that it's longer she's not used to taking care of it. she got the anti-curl process to hopefully keep her from flat ironing it...

well we went to sallys today - she got ferai professional, and some red inhibitor to add to it. also the woman there recommended some gray hair pretreatment type stuff- put in hair let dry, then color.
finally she was going to get pantene straight shampoo (avoiding that flat iron again!) but the woman said pantene is no good. we got some Ion straight shampoo and conditioner there.

question for you - she was unsure whether to get straight shampoo (safe for chemically treated hair) or shampoo specifically made for color treated hair. she ended up with both and figured she used them both - at different times of course! a few times each per week i guess. what'd you think?

Edited by esmith7713 - September 17 2009 at 8:26am

thanks so much for all the help and advice. She did the color and it looks great! i advised her to use the color shampoo first and then rotate the straightening one a few times a week.
now if only she'd straighten out the last lousy haircut! it's been two weeks and it looks horrible. she did go back the very next day but still looks bad. is it too late to complain to the hairdresser?

thanks once again Karen- here's the story... she's been going to the same woman for years - does a great job. was then going to get the japanese hair straightening done but only one guy does it at that salon. after her consult with him she went with the anti-curl but was already set for him to cut her hair. he cut it after the anticurl and her bob was a bit uneven (just below chin length). so the next day she went back and he straightened it a bit but i think she told him to angle it - meaning the entire side - higher in the back down to chin, but he only angled the back about halfway to front. then from the ear or so its blunt to the chin. does that make sense? so from the center of the nape its angled but then levels off as it goes to chin. i think she should just get it recut so it's a straight angle from the back to the chin. i'll try and post of pix of the cut she may get.

I see what you mean, your wife wants a more sever angle at both sides. This is a very precise cut, and yes its still in style not so much as just having the graduated bob, as the picture above is done with clippers to give a blunt  bob cut style. I prefer client to bring in a picture or photo so I can get an good idea of exactly what style/cut the want. Your wife could go back and show a photo of the way she wants the cut. However they may charge her again, this is at the discretion of the stylist.

I will go ahead and do the cut, only if my client is absolutely sure thats what they want. It really depends on the stylist, some might not feel comfortable in doing a style that is a little dated, but styles change all the time, cuts come back in fashion all the time.

Fantastic, Just hope you have booked somewhere nice to show off your wifes new look, lol