DIY Hair Results

Well the hair adventure worked out well and with some work, planning and professional supplies I got a professional result and managed to even out all the layers of box color and get a nice chocolate brown. It has a shimmery shiny quality but it's not a dramatic change in fact Don Coupon couldn't tell the difference.

What did I use?

1/3 a tube of Wella Koleston Perfect in 6/0 Neutral, 6/2 Matte and 6/7 Brown with 4oz of 20 Volume Peroxide developer.

Before I colored for a week before I did the shampoo train where I shampooed several times using cheap shampoo to help lift the old color out and actually it did a pretty good job too. I put a "Malibu 2000" Color Correcting treatment on the day before I colored too.

So how did the pricing work out well the tubes of color were $10 each ( remember these are professional hair dyes so they are sold like paints and you mix them together and choose what strength of developer you need) and I used 1/3 of 3 colors so $10 for the actual color.

The pro level develop was $12 for 1L/33.3oz so thats 36c a oz and I used 4oz so $1.44 for developer.

So thats $11.44 for a single process color. Now the salon I used to use charges $85 for a single process color so thats over $80 savings. Now I know I mentioned previously I was going to use 5 colors and I am. In 4 weeks time I will refresh the ends with a demi permanent color using Wella's Color Touch in 6/0 Neutral and 6/77 Intense Brown. When my roots start to grow in I will retouch with the Koleston only in the roots. Just like the pros ;)

DIY Savings

I'm a very DIY girl. It doesn't matter how much money I have I always want to do it myself. This includes haircolor and even making hair extensions. My latest project is formulating a hair color using professional dyes vs box color which I have been using and getting free or even the "professional" dyes you get at Sally's

I'm aiming for a nice chocolate brown with no reddy undertones. I have been reading the Killerstrands blog and have come up with a formula combination of 3 permanent colors mixed together for the base and 2 demi permanent colors to glaze over and to use to refresh the color periodically

So using 5 colors mixed together sounds expensive though when you consider it that I'll likely get 4 applications it doesn't sound so bad. I guess the real cost benefit analysis will be how good it looks and whether the quality will compare what I get out of the box vs what I get at the salon.

New Year New Savings

I have to admit this last month I've been very burnt out all over and having been couponing much but this morning I got up, put my big big big girl panties and grabbed a toilet paper deal at CVS.

I've been thinking about posting about how to save on your beauty related expenses as well as just coupons. Things like how to make your own clip in extensions and how to highlight your own hair. That and some comparisons between high end makeup and drug store steals.