10 Things to Know Before Dying Your Hair at Home

Want to learn how to dye your own hair at home? This hair color guide tells you everything you need to know in order to make your home hair dye job a success! You’ll learn everything from how to dye your own hair at home to understanding how to choose the right shade.

This year’s hair trend is muted metallics and jewel tones. The bombshell blowdry and vintage layers are also a top styling trend this year too.

Hair color trends in recent years have been all about embracing natural shades. However 2026 hair trends are centered around glass hair, muted metallic hair and jewel tones. So it’s time to reach for the hair dye once more. If you fancy experimenting with coloring your own hair without going to the salon then these tips will give you everything you need to know before dying your hair at home.

10 Tips for Dying Your Hair at Home

1.Remember to always do a patch test first to avoid any allergic reactions.

2.Don’t be too drastic! Choose a shade that is no more than four shades darker or lighter than your natural color.

3.Part your hair into sections with clips to make applying the dye more manageable.

4.If you’re hair is dyed blonde with root regrowth that you don’t want to dye yourself, use talcum powder to disguise your dark roots. Sprinkle the talc along your parting and buff it in using a makeup brush or your fingers. It will instantly lighten the appearance of your roots and is perfect for those with block colours.

5.It’s not advisable to bleach your own hair at home, unless you really know what you’re doing. However, if you are using bleach to color your hair, be careful not to apply the fresh bleach over hair that has already been bleached. It should only be used on your roots or on hair that hasn’t been dyed.

6.Most box dyes are mixed together in an applicator bottle to make it easy for you to apply. Although this applicator was designed to make the application process easier for the consumer, it doesn’t work well for everyone. If you’re struggling with the bottle applicator method, try mixing up the dye mixture in a hairdressing mixing bowl and apply using a dye brush.

7. Consider the strength of the developer you’re using. Usually, boxed hair dying kits come with either a 10 or 20 volume developer. It’s important to understand how developers work before you rush in and use the wrong volume. A developer will either lighten or tone your hair color. 10 volume developer will not lighten your hair, it will only tone it, which is why this strength of developer is used for darker hair dyes. 20 volume developer will lighten your hair up to two levels. 30 volume developer will lighten up to three levels. 40 volume developer is often used as a replacement for bleach when creating highlights. Be very careful when using 40 volume or above.

If you require a stronger developer than 40 volume, it is best to use Olaplex or similar before gradually lightening your hair across several bleaching sessions.

8.If you want to cover up root regrowth on your lightened hair but don’t fancy lightening it yourself, choose a neutral ash-toned shade that’s just a few shades lighter than your natural color. This will blend in better with your lightened hair and it’s far less risky than attempting to dye your hair blonde at home.

9.Ever wondered what the numbers on hair dye boxes stand for? The numbers range from 1-10. Number 1 is the lightest – baby blonde and number 10 is the darkest shade – black. Number 4 is medium brown and number 7 is medium blonde.

10.Next to the numbers on box dyes you will see a letter. The letter you see represents the base tone in that color. The letter will help you to understand how warm or cool the end result will be.

Here’s a full list of every letter used and what each of them stand for:

·A – Ash

·B – Blue

·BV- Blue-Violet

·C – Cool

·G – Gold

·M – Mahogany

·N – Neutral

·NA – Neutral Ash

·NB – Neutral Brown

·NN – Natural/Neutral (no excess warmth)

–Orange

·OR – Orange-Red

·P – Platinum/Purple

·R – Red

·RR – Really Red (red without brown)

·RB – Red-Brown

·RC – Red-Copper

·RO – Red-Orange

·RV – Red-Violet

·V – Violet

·VR- Violet-Red

·W – Warm

Hopefully these tips will help you to better understand how to choose an at-home hair dye, as well as how to achieve great results! Just remember to stay safe and always do a patch test.

Happy hair dying!