The history of my hair color is long and expansive. I’ve had every hair color from platinum, almost-white blonde (think: Gwen Stefani), to black, to burgundy red, to dip-dyed purple ends. In the past two years, I’ve gone back to a much more flattering, sophisticated chocolate brown shade that is easy to maintain. My hair for the past year has stayed the same…a rich chocolate brown with a blonde ombre at the ends. I enjoy doing my own hair at home, and I’ve been doing all my own color at home now for a few years. Here’s the problem: even with a low-maintenance chocolate brown, my mousy dirty blonde roots grow back in and they do not flatter my complexion. My roots end up looking a dull “dirty dishwater” blonde, and it makes my skin and complexion look quite ill. Keeping up with my roots, however, is quick and simple with Clairol Professional’s Classic Collection of hair color. Check out my full pictorial demonstration inside,

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My roots…oh, my roots. Most people don’t notice my roots as much as I do. Occasionally I’ll look back at a photograph and I’ll notice that my hairline color just looks “off,” almost like it is duller than the rest of my head. If you’ve ever seen blonde roots grow back on dark hair, it’s not pretty. It can make your scalp look like it is balding when it’s not! My hair is unfortunately a dirty, mousy blonde shade. You can see in the above pictures that there is a significant amount of root growth, and then the hair turns into a much darker chocolate brown. I haven’t dyed my roots in over six months now. It’s definitely time to make my complexion and skin look better in person and in photographs and get rid of that dull dirty blonde look.

 

 

 

The color I chose is 4N – Classic Light Neutral Brown. I’ve learned to go a little lighter on the hair color scale than usual. A level 1 is jet black, and a level 10 is the lightest blonde you can imagine. Usually, darker hair dyes will always come out darker than expected, so I usually stick with a level 4 hair color at all times now. It ends up making my hair look rich and dark without it being almost black. I also chose one with neutral undertones so that my roots didn’t end up looking gold, brassy, red, or gray.

 

 

 

The first step is to place your hair color into a mixing bowl.

 

 

 

This hair dye comes with a 20 volume developer, which is standard lift. There are also 30 and 40 volume developers, but they are much stronger and much more damaging to your hair. Volume 20 is perfect for preventing damage to your hair while still getting results.

 

 

Once you apply the bottle of developer to your hair dye, you will end up with something that looks like this. You want to go ahead and mix both together really well.

 

 

 

You will end up with a really creamy light brown shade. The consistency of this hair dye is just right. It’s thick enough to stay on your head, where you want it. It wasn’t running down my hairline or onto my skin at all.

 

 

 

Go ahead and take your brush and apply it to the roots of your hair. I usually apply it to my hairline that is parted in the middle first, and work my way around, being sure to use a gloved-hand to evenly distribute and work the product in well.

 

 

Since my hair is ombre at the ends, I am only dyeing the roots of my hair and keeping the dye away from the middle section of my hair downward. If it helps, you can clip your ends out of the way so that they are guaranteed not to get color on them.

 

 

 

Once I saturated my entire head, it looked like above. My roots were entirely saturated with product while the rest of my hair was untouched. I left the dye in for 25 minutes. My hair takes well to dark hair dye, so I did the minimum amount of time. If you’re lifting your hair with color (anything lighter than your starting color), you may want to leave the product on for up to 45 minutes instead.

 

 

 

 

How did my hair turn out? Well, you’ll have to wait until next week to see the results! I’ll have fully-styled pictures and before/after photo’s then!

 

 

 

 

 
Classic makes a comeback. Clairol Professional’s new ‘Classic Collection’ offers 16 timeless shades with a modern formula for brilliant shine and deep conditioning.

 

 

Disclosure: Compensation was provided by Clairol Professional via Glam Media.  The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of Clairol Professional.

 

 

[ALL PHOTOGRAPHY ON THIS SITE IS TAKEN BY REBECCA KAZIMIR. NO PHOTOGRAPHS ARE TO BE REPRODUCED WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION.]