5 Big Reasons Why You Should Never Use Box Dye
So you’ve considered it, and most of you have even done it before. You’re tight on cash and need your hair colored desperately! Box dye can’t be that bad for my hair right?? Is salon hair color really that much better and actually worth the money? In this blog post I’m going to outline the 5 biggest reasons why you shouldn’t use box dye on your hair.
Why is box dye bad for your hair?
Below I’m going to explain the 5 main reasons why hair stylists hate box dye, and why you should too.
Below you can watch my Youtube video that I made on this topic.
***Since I’m sharing the products that I love to use with you guys, this page includes affiliate links to these products. If you take action and purchase a product through clicking one of my links, I’ll make some commission money from it at no extra cost to you. This enables me to be able to continue giving you awesome hair tips, so thanks! ***
1. One size does not fit all for hair color
Hair color is not nearly as simple as most people believe it is. Trust me, there is a reason why hair stylists are required to have a license to practice coloring hair.
There are many considerations that need to be accounted for before developing the correct formula for any hair color. Things such as the hair type, condition, color level, is it virgin or colored, medications taken, allergies, underlining pigment, and more are all factors that determine what should be used on the hair to get to the desired outcome.
If you want a medium brown, you cannot just grab a box that says medium brown, slap it all over your hair and expect great results. (It would be nice if it were that easy though!!)
If you are currently blonde and want brown hair, the hair needs to be filled before the brown is applied. This means a warmer, copper, gold, or red color needs to be applied FIRST. Otherwise, the hair will turn a muddy/green/ash color and fade extremely quickly.
If you currently have black hair it needs to be lifted light enough to take on the lighter brown color. This is typically a corrective color service and is a huge process that NO ONE should be doing themselves at home without experience or professional products.
If you have previous color on your hair with roots growing in, you need to mix a different formula for the roots or else you will have two-toned hair.
Even when using professional salon color, I very rarely mix up one color straight out of the box. Typically each formula is customized specifically for what I’m creating. I usually mix anywhere between 3-5 color tubes in one bowl. Sometimes I even use up to 5 differently formulated bowls for what is needed to achieve the ending result.
2. Box dye is bad for your hair
I’m sure you probably already figured that box dye isn’t good for your hair, right? Believe me, there is a reason it is so cheap.
In order to save money and lower the cost of the product, the manufactures use low quality dyes, chemicals, and additives to make this possible.
They typically contain high amounts of ammonia, PPDs, nitro dyes, metallic salts, and even unclean henna. These are harsh chemicals that can be extremely damaging to the hair as well as cause reactions to sensitive skin and allergies.
The hair is permanently altered when box dye is applied. The chemicals do not come out until the hair is cut off. Your hair can take on a new texture and feel straw-like due to everything that’s now imbedded in the cortex.
You’ll need to use multiple conditioning treatments to get your hair feeling like hair again. And unfortunately it probably won’t ever feel as soft as it once did.
If you’ve already experienced this, you can find my favorite bond builder here. And check out my blog post here for how to do everything you can to get your hair healthy again.
3. Box dyes are progressive dyes
What is a progressive dye you ask? This means that each time you use it; the pigment will build onto its-self and get darker every time you apply the color.
Have you ever seen or noticed when someone’s hair is lighter at their root, and their ends appear very dark, or almost black? This is a progressive dye.
Each time the hair is colored; the ends pick up more and more color pigment while the new-growth only has one layer. This is due to the metallic salts present in the dye. This results in a reverse-ombré, colored-my-hair-myself-at-home, my-hair-looks-like-crap–look.
This doesn’t happen with salon hair color because they don’t contain salts that bind to the keratin in the hair. (Keratin is the protein that your hair is made up of).
So even if a hairstylist pulls color through to your ends each time, it will only get as dark as the level she used.
This is another reason why box dyes make for a much more difficult corrective color service. If I need to break through years of box dye, the ends may not ever lift as light as the rest of the hair. The layers of progressive dye build up are extremely difficult to break through.
Chances are the hair will break off before it will ever be a pretty blonde tone.
4. You shouldn’t dye your hair yourself
As I mentioned earlier, there is a reason we have to spend 2000+ hours in school learning how to do all of this.
Too many times have I received emergency calls because someone attempted to color their hair themselves at home. (EDIT: check the comments on this post to see just a few box dye mishaps). Either the hair turned bright orange, green, or is breaking off in chunks.
When we do your hair in the salon, we have access to much higher quality products than you do. You need to have a cosmetology license to purchase professional grade hair products. We use additives with bond mending technologies that avoid breakage and are not available to the general public.
And on top of all the chemistry involved, we also learn the skilled techniques to color hair.
As much as you would like to, you cannot use hair color like you use shampoo. You will have tiger stripes and leopard print spots where you missed, especially in the back. Which will make it even more difficult for us to fix in the salon.
5. Corrective Color is EXPENSIVE
Since box dye never turns out the way it looks on the box, 9 times out of 10 you are going to need to come into the salon for a color correction.
Corrective color prices are significantly higher than a typical color or highlight. This is because it takes significantly more time, effort, knowledge, and product to maintain the integrity of your hair and to make it a pleasant tone again.
I personally charge $100 per hour (some stylists charge over $200/hr) for a corrective color service. And it can take anywhere from 4 to 10 hours to do depending on what needs to be done to the hair and how badly you’ve messed it up. That’s A LOT of money.
In the long run, it will cost you MUCH more to get your hair fixed than it would have cost to get it done in the first place.
Is Sally’s hair color okay to use?
Okay, so maybe I’ve convinced you not to use box dye. But what about Sally’s color? Sally’s hair dye falls right in the middle between drugstore box dyes and salon grade hair color. By all means, Sally’s hair color is not professional and is NOT what is used in the salons.
While Sally’s color is not typically progressive (it can be!), it’s still a cheaper product than what you would get in a salon. As a professional stylist, I have not stepped foot inside of a Sally’s in over a decade.
What ranks Sally’s higher than box dye is that most of their color lines go by the level system. This means that you can formulate your own color and developer unlike drugstore box dyes. But this takes knowledge to do, so unless you were told by a reputable licensed professional what to use–on each section of your hair–you are just guessing here.
I also would not trust what the retail worker behind the register at Sally’s recommends to you. No offense to them by any means, but if they were skilled enough in hair then they would be working behind the chair at a salon and not as a cashier at a Sally’s.
When using Sally’s dye you still have just about as high odds of messing your hair up as you do using box dye from the drugstore. The dye itself may not contain AS harsh of chemicals, but it is still a recipe for disaster.
What to use instead of box dye?
So instead of using box dye OR Sally’s dye, use color depositing conditioners instead. These products are semi-permanent and ammonia free. They deposit color only, meaning you can’t go any lighter, only darker.
The main reason why I suggest these types of dyes is because they eliminate the risk of damaging your hair beyond repair. If the color doesn’t come out, all you need to do is wash your hair in hot water a few times and let it fade out.
Since they’re not permanent, they don’t change the chemical composition of your hair permanently. They are merely a stain that will fade away completely.
Keep in mind these don’t provide terrific gray coverage, if that is what you are looking for. They can soften gray hairs and reduce the contrast between the grays and your natural color, but they won’t cover them completely.
You can find my favorite ones below:
Celeb Luxury
- Viral Colorwash (Vivids)
- Viral Colorditioner (Vivids)
- Gem Lites Colorwash (More Natural)
- Gem Lites Colorditioner (More Natural)
Box Dye Conclusion
If you haven’t figured it out yet, box dye is not a good idea. The 5 reasons why you should avoid box dye are:
- One size does not fit all
- It is terrible for your hair and skin
- It is progressive dye
- You don’t know what you’re doing
- Corrective color is EXPENSIVE
Sally’s hair dye is definitely a little better that box dye, but it still isn’t up to par with professional grade hair color.
Instead, use color toning conditioners. These are semi-permanent, ammonia free, and can hold you over until you can make it into the salon.
Trust me when I say it’s worth waiting and saving the cash to go to a professional salon than to attempt to color your hair yourself at home with box dye.
If you have any questions for me leave them in the comments, and make sure you subscribe below to make everyday a good hair day!
Last Updated 03/14/2022
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