I’ve partnered with Clairol to create this post! Enjoy!

For a long time now I’ve been looking for ways to extend my time between appointments at the salon. I’ve been a faux redhead for about 2 years now so my color usually lasts fairly well. I mainly go to the salon to brighten or tweak the color as my mood dictates, and color my outgrown roots. Because my roots are noticeably outgrown at around 5-6 weeks, that is how often I make the (expensive) trek to the salon.

I’ve tried “at home” hair color products before but never had any luck. They didn’t color my roots at all, and the overall color would always fade completely with around 2-3 washes so I was back where I started. Totally useless! Clairol reached out to me to try their Nice ‘N Easy hair color line and I figured WHY NOT! I was about a week away from my salon appointment so there wasn’t any risk. If It worked, I could cancel my appointment – and if it didn’t, I would be getting fresh color anyways! Well needless to say, I cancelled my appointment…

Here are my “before” photos - my roots were grown out probably half an inch:

*Yes I always have that weird chunk of hair that grows longer than the rest, I’m due for a trim!! 🙂

How to Color Your Hair at Home

Step 1
Do a patch test 48 hours before coloring. When I was ready to color, I had washed, completely dry hair. I don’t think it specifies on the instructions, but I figured clean hair would allow the color to really saturate. Prep yourself and your coloring area (I use my bathroom). Make sure your hair is combed through and free of knots and apply a thin layer of petroleum jelly around your hairline as close to your hair as possible without overlapping. There is potential for staining, so make sure you’re not standing over your favorite rug or carpet, and that your clothes won’t be stained (hellooooo black robe). Set everything out from the box and put on your gloves!

Step 2
Mix together the Color Blend Formula (bottle 1) and the ColorBlend Activator (bottle 2). Hold your finger over the nozzle of the Activator bottle and shake shake shake! In small sections, color roots first (this is if you’ve colored your hair before and you have root growth). Cover roots across scalp and rub in, but be careful not to rub it into your scalp. Leave the color mixture on new root growth root area for 20 minutes to color your roots adequately.

Step 3
Apply remaining color mixture to the rest of the hair and work through hair from roots to tips to ensure full saturation. Rub into hair as best you can, and try not to rub in too close to the scalp so you don’t dye your skin. Let develop for an additional 5 minutes. (I’m pretty sure I did get my scalp a lot, but it didn’t really stain too bad or not enough that I noticed. Your skin might be different though so it’s a good rule to follow still.) I set a timer for 20 minutes to let the dye do its work, but refer to the instructions for your specific shade.

Step 4
Rinse the color from your hair until the water runs clear. At this point I removed my gloves, because there was no fear of dying my hands. Use the CC+ ColorSeal Conditioning Gloss to condition the hair, then rinse.

Dry and style as normal!

I really wish that I had a better photo of my roots before. They were considerably grown out and the color TOTALLY took care of it! No blending problems whatsoever. I used the color 6.5R Radiant Auburn. I chose a color that was slightly richer than my own current color. I just wanted a little warmth for Fall and I lucked out with the perfect shade.

You can find your shade at your local Walmart or at Walmart.com – the photos online seem very accurate, but if you’re hesitant at all then just head to your local Walmart and see the colors on the box in person.

I am SO incredibly happy with the Clairol Nice ‘N Easy color line. Also I didn’t actually realize how inexpensive it is!!! I’m actually kind of blown away because other “at home” color lines that I have tried have been WAY more expensive and they just washed right out, with zero effect on my roots. This will save me hundreds of dollars every year because you can bet I will be coloring my hair myself between appointments from now on!

Let me know if you have any questions in the comments! Have you ever colored your hair at home? Would you ever try it out?

xoxo

Photos by Paige Nicolle