The 5-Step Guide to Coloring Your Hair at Home

Published on Nov 4, 2016 at 3:00 AM

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Clairol

POPSUGAR Photography | Ashley Batz

Fall is the perfect time to give your hair some life: you can go for a trendy haircut or you can find a new way to style your sun-kissed strands. But our favorite way to make an impact? Updating your hair hue. You don't need to dish out the dollars to get a salon-worthy effect — you can totally achieve hair color goals right in your own bathroom using a high-quality product like Clairol Nice 'n Easy Hair Color.

To prove how quick and easy the process is, we documented blogger Liz Stanley as she gave her strands a color boost for the season ahead. Here, she opted for a natural-looking, light blond with ash tones that complemented her fair skin and wasn't a drastic change from her existing color. After taking a patch test for any allergic reactions and a strand test to preview the color results 48 hours prior to coloring, Liz was ready to start the process.

Whether you're looking to add cool tones to your hair like Liz or trying another on-trend color, keep reading to see how to have a successful at-home dye job in just five simple steps.

Separate hair into quadrants

Start by parting your hair into four even sections and secure with clips. First part your hair down the center from front to back, then across the crown from ear to ear. The quadrants allow you to focus on one section at a time while keeping the rest of your hair out of the way.

Protect your skin

Next, protect the skin closest to your hairline by applying a layer of petroleum jelly along your forehead, around your ears, and along the back of your neck. This will not only help to keep chemicals from touching your skin, but it will also help prevent the color from staining.

Prepare the mixture

Now, it's time to prepare the mixture:

Put on the gloves that come in the box.
Open both the color-blend formula bottle (labeled bottle #1) and the color-blend activator applicator bottle (labeled bottle #2).
Pour the contents of bottle #1 into bottle #2 and close it with the applicator cap.
Shake bottle #2 until the mixture thickens and is completely blended (make sure the applicator cap is facing away from you).

Liz chose 9A, a light blond with an ash tone. The 9 was the closest match to her previous color (from a scale of 0 to 10, with 10 being the lightest), while the A indicates the ashy tone (additionally, W stands for warm, G stands for golden, and C stands for cool).

Color hair quadrant by quadrant

Now you're ready to start applying the color. Beginning with a front quadrant, apply the color to your roots first, before working it quickly through your midshafts and ends to ensure full saturation. Once that section is done, move along to the remaining front quadrant, then the two back quadrants, one after the other. Avoid rubbing the color into your scalp.

Once you're done working the color through all of your hair, refer to the instruction leaflet for development time for your specific shade. The time may vary if you have resistant grays or new root growth or if you color your hair every one to three months.

Since Liz hadn't colored her hair for several months, she went for permanent, all-over color application with 100 percent gray coverage.

Rinse and gloss

When your development time is up, rinse your hair with warm water and lather until water runs clear. Then, apply a quarter-size amount of the conditioning gloss included in the package, and wait for two minutes before rinsing once more. This will help to lock in color and shine.