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Feed$15 (Home) vs. $190 (Pro) Hair Color (care to guess which looks better?)
We asked Associate Creative Director Halina Sabath to get her hair colored—by a professional and at home, then report back to us. Here is what she found.
Photography by John O'Donnell
Cut and Style by Mark Gagliardi of Eclipse Salon, Tarrytown
Makeup by Rosemary Pomilla, NY Prostyle, Dobbs Ferry
Home Color Kit
L’Oreal Couleur Expert Express Ginger Twist
(Light Golden Copper Brown) Two-step process
Overall color prep and application 15 minutes
Color processing time 20 minutes
Highlight prep and application 30 minutes
Highlight processing time 25 minutes
Total time over two days 90 minutes
Total cost $15
Halina says: “Believing it was too much work to do both processes in one day, I applied the overall color one night and the highlights the next day. I also pinned my hair up to add highlights so they would show when I wear my hair up. There are two applicators to choose from: one for subtle highlights, the other for chunkier highlights. Both are easy to use, but it’s hard to do the back of your head without help. And it's messy. You need to have a dedicated towel because it will get stained. But I liked the contol I had over the color process."
Professional Salon
Eclipse Hair, Body, and Nails, 98 N Broadway, Tarrytown
(914) 524-0835. Color by Matthew Gagliardi and Stacy Nault
Color and foil application time 45 minutes
Color processing time 35 minutes
Travel time to salon and back 50 minutes
Total time 130 minutes
Single-process color $75
Highlights and lowlights $115
Total $190
Halina says: “It’s a pleasure to be pampered and read a book or magazine while others are working on your hair. Obviously, it is easier for someone else to do highlights than to do it yourself, particularly on the back of the head. Colorist Matthew Gagliardi used a zigzag pattern with the foil so I could have a different look. If I part my hair one way, it looks more blonde; more copper if parted another. I’d never be able to duplicate that myself.”
Bottom line: “I preferred the more subtle, natural look I got from the kit than the salon. Even Matthew liked the results. He told me I had a job at his salon if I ever wanted to leave the magazine."
Reg: Home vs. Pro Hair color
This cut and color from the salon is an embarrassment for my industry. It is not always professional to critique because i know that beauty is in the eye of the beholder and not every client will be happy, no matter what. And obviously i don't know what was said at the consultation and the photography could play a factor as well. But there is a substantiated basic format upon which we, as artists, can flourish.
I am a design-stylist for over 15 years and try every day to elevate this industry. Bad taste, poor education, little to no thrive to rise above, all leave clients with many bad haircuts and avert away from the importance of a haircut.
Our hair represents of who we are and what we stand for. Hair can transform us, help us succeed, make us defy age or honor our age and bring us happiness.
The color from the salon, is simply horrendous(and cut/blowdry - should have been fixed/done more updated). It is absolutely not natural looking, too chunky of highlights, too red/orange looking, the cut too 'heavy' on the ends, too short on layers, the blowdry too puffy and it looks very outdated and is just very wrong.
This is not what my industry stands for.
Products from the store do create nice color for my clients and i complement them when i feel that it looks nice (your highlights give away the 'at home' creation). But nevertheless, there is a reason why the color in the store costs less than the wholesale bought tube/bottle we use in the salon (the same applies for shampoo/conditioner). In store color is very drying for the hair. With the color in the salon usually comes a gloss which seals in the color and creates shine. Highlights in the salon are being blended to create a natural shimmer of accentuated color variations to create beautiful,sensual hair.
The design cut should create 'lighter' ends and the blow dry should have a 2008 edge to it, which it doesn't.
You are absolutely right: your job at home is better, and the so called 'hairdresser' should do himself and his clients a favor and reevaluate his commitment to this industry.
peter, stylist, in irvington,ny
As a graphic designer, I have never thought of hair coloring as difficult. When my first grays appeared over 30 years ago, I started home coloring. Through the years I have continued to both home color and treat my self to salon color.
30 years of gray later, I need to color my roots every 3-4 weeks. $190 plus tip is more than I can justify in this economy, let alone the time involved, so I have been home coloring exclusively for the past 10 years.
I've had a few "experiments", but more success than failures. I've learned to not deviate from a given (no new highlights, change brand or shade) the day of an important event, and to allergy test and time each product I use. And, it is something I can do during the 11 pm News.
I don't recommend extensive color treatments: I once stripped overly-dark, all-over color with an "ooops" product, then re-applied new color the next day. I wouldn't leave the house that night without a scarf, but would not have died if I had to. It did show me how gray I actually was even though the color looked like a translucent carrot my natural color is a medium golden brown). I have attempted to not damage or dry my hair. My hair dresser is usually impressed by the results, and laughs with my trial-and-error stories.
I'd be pleased to do a follow up for you if interested, on how to save money by doing it all yourself! You could include spa treatments, mani-pedis, I can even do yard and tile work.