To Box or not to Box, that is the question.

As a barber/cosmetologist, I get all kinds of crazy questions from friends, family, random people at the bar, etc.  The MOST common one is "Can I use box color on this?" 

I'm not going to advise anyone to color at home- if you buy the clearance rack generic color from Family Dollar, I don't want to be held responsible if your hair resembles Cyndi Lauper's back in her True Colors days.  However, I can advise when to ABSOLUTELY NOT do a DIY at-home color job and hopefully protect you, my friends, from holy hair hell.

DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, USE BOX COLOR IF:

1) You are blonde or have a lot of blonde highlights and want to go darker.  The technical term for this is called a tint-back.  Tint-backs are done with a series of colors.  I've done tint backs before and seen green and purple hair as a result. It's a very tricky thing to do, and can be unpredictable, so you want to be in a salon so they can immediately fix any scary colors that might erupt.

2)You are more than 25 percent gray.  Gray hair requires a completely different formulation and the more gray you have, the more formulations you are going to need to get all over coverage.  And it's more resistant and may not even "take" the box color you use.

3) You have color in you hair and want to go lighter or add highlights.  The rule of color is "color can't lift color" which translates to: box color cannot take you from dark to light.   Your stylist would generally use a de-colorizer for these situations, which will pull the artificial color molecules from your hair.  Next, they will use a "toner" or "gloss" to put shine back into your cuticle and even out multi-tones.

4) You use texturizers/perms or would like to use texturizers/perms.  The ingredients in box color do not mix with these chemicals.  And when I say they don't mix, I mean they'll deteriorate your hair.  I'm not talking about a little breakage, or needing a trim after.  I'm telling you that it will be like
 "oh, look at my pretty hair..."
 abra-cadabra
 "oh, f#$@! I'm f#$%@*g bald!"

When in doubt, see a pro!  There are so many chain salons that will take walk-ins, so if you fly by the seat of your pants when it comes to your hair, it's uber-convenient.  If you're finding it hard to part with the money it costs to make the change to your hair, you probably aren't 100 percent sure you want the new color, so wait it out until you're sure.  Although hair does grow back after color mis-haps, it takes time.  And time is money!