How bad is box hair dye for your hair?

Jun 19, 2015

Justine E.

I'm trying to grow out my hair, so I bought some temporary hair extensions to inspire me but I will probably need to dye my hair to make them blend. I've only just started growing my hair out so it's not like I'm undoing heaps of virgin hair growth , only about a months worth. what do you all think?

Jun 19, 2015

Breeze T.

I think that everything is bad if you do too much of it. I've used box dye on my hair twice and it looks and feels great. If you take care of your hair after dying it, you should be fine! I've started doing coconut oil masks and not only it's made my hair softer, but it helped my itchy scalp too (with a few drops of tea tree oil)!

Something you could do if you don't want too much damage on the roots is to slightly blend the colors making a gradient between your roots and the length.

And lastly, is your hair bleached at the moment? What's your natural color? Depending on how treated you're hair already is, it may be a bad idea to dye it with box dye. If it's damaged, you can try veggie dye like Manic Panic or Directions (needs constant refreshing).

Jun 19, 2015

Laura V.

I've used boxed die and my hair is fine! I agree with Breeze, just don't do it a lot.

Jun 19, 2015

megan l.

Its only pretty bad if you do it multiple times a month or use box dye and try to go to the salon to get your hair lighter. you never really know how boxy dye is going to take. I use to do it all the time in high school but whenever I wanted highlights it was always difficult to get them as light as I wanted. plus going to beauty school I decided to stop as well lol.

Jun 19, 2015

Sable P.

I think it also depends on which boxed color- I remember when I use to use them and some are so horrible in the sense of just completely reeking like ammonia.

Everything in moderation- a deep condition here and there never hurts either. 😛

Jun 19, 2015

Stephanie G.

I personally wouldn't recommend it. I have really resilient hair, but even so, when I started salon dying my hair there was a noticeable difference in how healthy my hair was. Also, the color quality was a lot better and it took more evenly and didn't fade as fast.

Jun 19, 2015

Nicole A.

I only do my roots and I've done them at home for about 6 years and my hair is super healthy.

Jun 19, 2015

Tessandra R.

I only use box dye. I dye my hair every month or so because my hair is red. I take very good care of my hair and it's incredibly healthy. As long as you take of your hair, you'll be just fine :)

Jun 19, 2015

Tessandra R.

Also I only use Garnier because it's not as damaging as other dyes :)

Jun 19, 2015

Shanae J.

I agree with Tessandra. ^

Jun 22, 2015

Emily W.

The reason that people say box dyes are bad is because they are a one-size-fits-all formula that fails to account for the color, undertone, health, and porosity of an individual user's hair. They are often packaged with a higher volume developer than is necessary, include directions that cause people to overprocess their hair, and are full of cheap fillers and preservatives to increase shelf life.

Used infrequently and followed by conditioning treatments, they probably won't fry your hair. But always make sure to mention that you have used a box dye or any kind of at-home treatment to a professional before they do anything to your hair (even months later) because they can react unpredictably with salon treatments.

Honestly, I've only used a box dye once in my life and it was a dreadful mistake. It turned out so terribly and cost such a small fortune to correct at the salon, I never bothered with the vile things again. It truly is not difficult to mix a proper dye and the dye and developer costs less at Sally than a box color at the drugstore. I have never looked back at box colors and never EVER will.