You’ve heard me say it before and I will say it again, the number one thing we forget to do is make time for us; self-care. It is my opinion that any hair therapy (haircut, color, conditioning treatment, etc.) is self-care. Think about the last time you loved the way that someone else did your hair. How did you leave feeling? How did you feel when you looked in the mirror to see the completed work? Chances are that you felt amazing. Do you feel the same when you do your own hair? I don’t; my arms get tired, my neck gets tired, my hair never does what they (licensed professionals) can do. Never. Also, I never give myself a two-minute scalp massage or use a warm towel to dry my hair like my colleagues do.

Let me remind you that cosmetologists are educated and licensed professionals. This means that they obtained a minimum of 1500 hours of education (we have mandatory monthly education for all of our team members) along with a state board examination testing their knowledge of chemistry, anatomy, physiology, pathology, health codes, and more. If the experts who are obsessed with color perfection don’t use box color, neither should you. Would you inject yourself with Botox you bought on the shelf at KMart? No, you’d go to a licensed professional, and so would I!

So why do your hair at home? Cost? Ok, it costs more to go to a professional salon, but what is it costing in the long run? Your time? Self-care? What is that box color doing to the environment with all of the single-use items you cannot recycle at home? What is it doing to your skin, hair, hands, and towels?

When you make time to get your hair colored at a professional, environmentally responsible salon like ours, you’ll be partnering with stylists who work with companies like Green Circle Salons who take pride in eliminating the environmental impact of your hair color. Green Circle takes leftover color, separates the water and chemicals and uses the chemicals to make construction material. Any tubes or bottles used in the color process are also cleaned appropriately and recycled. Most over-the-counter color packaging will not be accepted by your municipal recycling program. Bowls and brushes are all reusable in a professional salon as well. Finally, who really wants to worry about staining their bathroom, towels, clothing, etc? Not me.

With that said, I will give you my top ten reasons why you should be investing in a colorist and not a dusty box from Wal-Mart.

1. You cannot predict the outcome! A colorist will consult with you to see what your lifestyle habits are and how they might affect your color. Do you swim? Are you a sun goddess? Traveling soon? Are you using any medications that may alter your hair growth or pigment? What kind of water do you have at home? What cleansers and conditioners are you using for your hair and how often are you using them? If your boxed color cannot adjust for these answers, step away from the shelf.
2. Want a true ombre or pastel? You won’t get that from a box. Any type of at-home lightener can cause serious damage to your hair. Chances are you have old color on your hair with needs a different volume of lightener than your new growth will and perhaps multiple applications are needed for varying amounts of time and desired results. My point is that hair is not one size fits all! You buy shoes to fit your feet and your lifestyle, you should pay for a color treatment that fits your hairs’ needs.
3. Color correction is not cheap. Didn’t quite get the color you wanted? Did the red make your hair orange? Professional color correction can cost hundreds (think up to $300) USD! DO NOT COLOR YOUR HAIR AT HOME!
4. Dimensions impossible. If you’re wanting your color to have depth and dimension, you won’t find it from an unpredictable tube and a DIY applicator.
5. Demi, semi, and permanent, OH MY! Do you know what all of those mean? Me either; I’m not a stylist. #tossthebox
6. You missed a spot. A professional color application ensures not a smidge of gray goes untreated and that everything will turn out evenly and grow out nicely. We do not have eyes in the back of our heads, this is why we have trained stylists to apply our color!
7. Hair should never feel like dead grass. At-home color will leave your hair feeling dry and crispy, a feeling no one wants to feel when they’re touching their locks.
8. If you love your hairstyle, do NOT color at home! Bad DIY color jobs often result in a mandatory haircut. I repeat, do NOT try this at home!
9. Don’t put a cap on it. Seriously? It’s 2018; no head should ever have a cap when hair color is involved. Save the caps for your grandmother’s retired beautician.
10. Eva Longoria does not use a box. Are we really still being fooled by the celebrities gracing the front of the dusty boxes? Ladies and gentlemen, I am here to tell you that not one celebrity product endorser actually uses the crap they’re selling you. This includes hair and skin products!

Well, that is all for this soapbox rant. I am not a stylist, but I have worked with them for nearly 20 years and while I pretend to be able to do what they do on the mannequins in the break room, I cannot. Set aside $20 a week to get your hair professionally treated every 6-8 weeks and you can thank me later.

Up next: why at-home dermaplaning tools are a waste of your money.