I hope someone here can help me...I've decided to try to dye my own roots at home and mixing the color with the developer. The salon uses medium blonde on me so thats what i bought. My question is how much of the dye do i mix with how much developer to only do the roots?

thanks!

mj

So the box says 2 parts developer to 1 part dye? 

I always liked to have about 2 oz total to do my roots.  I would do 1 1/2 oz developer and 3/4 oz dye. 

ok, thank you so much for your quick replies and great help!!!

i'll let you know how it turns out. i just went to the salon 2 days ago and had my roots done, paid 33 bucks plus tip, and i just got fed up! i'll be doing this for the rest of my life (or until i dont care about covering grey anymore!) and it adds up $$$

mj

My hairdresser was charging $105 for a root touch up and haircut.  $33 doesn't sound bad to me.  I stopped going, too. 

damn, 105!! thats huge; yeah i paid 60 for touch up and cut/blow last time, this time i said hell with it i dont need the cut/blow.

i used to go to an amazing stylist in manhattan and i paid 80 (not including tip) for the touch up cut blow. that didnt last too long. and over 200 for full head dye and highlights (ouch!!!). but i must admit every time i left that salon i felt like a million bucks.

The color that was being used on your roots was a Medium-- Neutral, or ash, or gold blonde?  Make sure you know the difference before you dye your roots.  Also, don't pull the color through to the ends as it is damaging.  Rather use a demi or a semi when needed to refresh the mid-section and ends.  Hope this helps.  Also, dye is generally mixed 1 parts dye to 1 parts developer.  2 parts developer to 1 part dye sounds like it might be a highlift color? 

Strand test prior to deciding on doing the entire head.

Rebekah

ok now im nervous. rebekah, i honestly dont know if it was any of those colors. she never said! but my hair is now medium brown if thats any help, im certainly not blonde.

the only thing it says on this box is wella color charm liquid creme haircolor. nothing about highlift.

i dont know the difference btw demi and semi. maybe i should stick to the hairdresser

Hi Beachgrl:  I can echo what Rebekah says about strand testing.  Her advice is always sound.  After struggling with home hair color a bit over the last several months, I can say that with the advice of Rebekah (and lots of reading of older posts by other valuable members of this board) - I have found a combination that works for me. 

My newbie advice is this...Go to a Sally's, enlist the help of an employee to help you match your base color at your roots, determine the level and tone of your base color, and then work from there as to the color you'd like to be.  Knowing your true hair color (a.k.a. your roots) will guide you as to what tone of "medium" blonde you need to purchase (like Rebekah said "neutral, ash or gold blonde").  The degree of warmth or coolness in your natural hair color will determine how any applied color will appear on your head.  Just be patient and strand test before you do your whole head -- you can definitely save a lot of heartache by doing so!  Oh, and if you're impatient like me, you can buy more than one bottle of color and do multiple strand tests at a time.  Good luck!

The thing I like about buying professional color is that you can mix and match colors. If you are afraid of too much ash you can add a little gold.....and vice versa. Just be sure and make notes of your portions of mixture or you'll end up loving something that you don't remember how you got!

So the salon uses medium blonde on your virgin medium brown roots? 

Medium Brown

Light Brown

Dark Blonde

Medium Blonde

That's four levels of lift...Do you have ashy Medium brown hair?  If so It's just possible that a highlift was being used.  Although I've never heard of a highlift for medium blonde hair before.  I'd take Maria's advice about getting to Sally Beauty and also strand testing a few different colors.  I hope this helps.  Remember that a strand test won't ruin what you have, but it does show how a color will appear on the hair.  Hope this helps.

Rebekah

I had my hair lightened and highlighted over a yr ago; i havent done the highlights for months and months i've pretty much let them grow out and just had the roots done to hide my grey and brown roots. so i dont think i qualify as having virgin roots lol. im not quite sure what ashy brown is but my original color is a dark brown. i had a lot of grey young so for a while i was doing a over the counter dye feria, and went almost black. but everyone told me it made me look too old. so i went to the salon and got my hair lightened and highlighted.

when you guys say a strand test, do you literally mean one strand? i think it might be hard for me to tell how it will look on just one strand. i feel like i may be in over my head no pun intended, with trying to do this myself! and i was so siked that i found the "medium blonde" dye and developer! ive never heard of sally's. im in nyc.

thanks for all the replys. you guys are great.

Not just one strand but enough strands to see what the color will look like.  It's only necessary to do the roots. 

I think the Sally Beauty near you is in NJ

http://www.sallybeauty.com/locator/locator.asp - http://www.sallybeauty.com/locator/locator.asp

Anyway, hope this helps.

Rebekah