Did you know that more than 64 million people color their hair? Nothing beats walking out of a salon with freshly colored hair! However, the uniformity and beautiful color only last for a couple of weeks before you get roots. Some salons formulate special root-fixing kits for each client, while others will advise on over-the-counter products.
Nonetheless, getting regular root touch ups is the best way to ensure your hair color looks fresh. Read this guide for the importance of touch ups and a DIY process at home.
What Is a Root Touch Up?
Like its name, a root touch up is the application of hair color to the roots of your hair. This is usually recommended a few weeks after coloring your hair.
However, going to the salon regularly for a hair root touch up can be expensive and time-consuming for a busy person. While a DIY process is convenient, it would be best to learn how to do it well. This way, you’ll avoid wasting the hair color and damaging your hair in the long run.
What’s The Importance of Root Touch Up?
Root touch ups are ideal to have between your hair color appointments. The primary purpose of a root color touch up is to disguise the visible grown-out hair.
If you don’t like the gray hair, a touch up helps you cover it as soon as it peeks through. This way, you’ll maintain a uniform hair color for extended periods.
Another benefit of root cover up is that; it makes you look fresh and elegant. Clean and beautiful-looking hair can make you appear much younger than your actual age.
How to Touch Up Roots At Home
Sometimes, there’s no time to go to the salon, and you may not afford to have hair stylists coming to your house every time like a celebrity. That’s why the only practical option available is a home root touch up. Fortunately, there are several ways to hack the DIY effectively for a beautiful outcome.
Use a Root Touch Up Spray
The excellent rain and sweat-resistant root touch up spray is ideal if you’re looking for a straightforward, washable, less damaging way of touching up your roots. Some people use hair fiber spray to cover bald patches because of the thin hair that reveals the scalp. So, it makes your hair look fuller and thicker when necessary.
It is effortless to use a root touch up spray and it comes in different shades to meet your needs and preferences. Because the grays peek through from either side, ensure you tie your hair apart. This way, it’ll be easier to spray portion by portion for thoroughness.
Cover the part you’re not spraying with a tissue. Hold the root spray about 3-4 inches away from the part you want to spray. Go ahead and spray. Repeat the process until you finish spraying the whole head. Hold the spray closer to the hair if you want a darker color.
Aside from the root spray for hair, root touch up powder is also recommended if you want to apply it with more control. Like an eye shadow, you apply it using its brush to dab it on where you want to cover the grown-out roots. Remarkably, it’s water-resistant, but comes off when you wash it off.
Use Box Dye
A box hair dye is the most permanent hair root touch up method. If it’s your first time doing DIY hair coloring at home, do a patch test to check for any allergies. Apply a small amount of the dye behind your ear and wait for a few minutes to see if there will be any reaction.
Usually, box color kits come extra pigmented, so picking the right shade needs your utmost attention. If you’ve had your hair professionally colored before, you should only apply the color to the roots. Applying the whole head is unnecessary and a waste of the box dye.
When buying the box dye, also check the numbers on the box. The numbers fade as they go higher. Usually, 1 is the darkest, 2 is dark brown, and 3 is lighter. While it’s recommended to pick a shade lighter than your hair, ensure you pick one closest to your hair color. Because box dyes are mostly for covering grays at home, pick a darker color if the grays are a lot.
Doing the touch up would help ensure the hair is saturated in color. So, part your hair into sizable sections. Ensure you part the sections you can hold comfortably to enable the methodological application. This way, the color paste will reach every bit of hair to avoid a spotty application. Using a brush allows you to attain a more even application.
Use Makeup
If the grays are few, mascara can come in handy to improve your root color. However, mascara often works for people who tie or hold their hair. This is because it makes your hair hard like it does the lashes.
Still, mascara is not ideal for people who love to touch or run fingers through their hair because it’ll flake and stain your hands. Plus, applying excess mascara on a sweaty scalp can make it run down your face.
Other Things to Consider For A DIY Root Touch Up
Some things are not obvious but are very important to remember when doing your root cover up at home. For instance;
Avoid Glopping
Sadly, people think glopping on different hair colors, and even henna, will bring in better results. There are better root touch up methods than this, whether you’re new to a DIY process, or used to it.
Most people glop heaps of hair color because they are not patient or lack enough time to do a slow and systematic process. In most cases, you’ll end up redoing your hair shortly after. The mess you’ll create is worse than an uneven coverage, causing you to clean more. Well, that’s frustrating, but it’s your fault!
When you glop your root color touch up, you’re likely to miss on other sections, which results in the spot application. Some people don’t mind other parts looking darker than the rest of the hair. Plus, applying your paste in glops can make you messy because you’ll use too much product.
Additionally, pulling out another section will be more challenging since the glopped paste on the previous section will spread to other parts. If the paste gets to other sections you haven’t touched, it dries and makes the hair sticky. While this is annoying and painful, you’ll also waste a lot of time and tire.
Utilize Mirrors
Mirrors are your best friends for at home root touch up process. They help you see how you apply the root color, especially at the back of your head.
The hands-free mirrors are best for this process and work best if you place them across from a more oversized bathroom mirror. Ensure you find the best placement location before applying the color. This guarantees that you can see the back of your head. Better still, ensure you’re comfortable when touching up your roots. Don’t strain to find the best angle to see through the mirror.
Lighting
Good lighting is crucial for hair root touch up. Get LED lights because they are bright enough to enable you to see every part of the application.
Preferably, mobile lighting will be ideal to allow you to change positions. This works excellently to reach the areas that are hard to see, like the back of the head.
Be Patient
It’s very crucial to be patient between touch ups. Allow the hair to grow out a little before you color it. This way, it’ll be easy to achieve an even application and minimize hair damage.
Still, be patient whenever you’re applying the root color. It’ll allow the hair to take in the color properly and adequately. So, even after you wash, the coloring remains uniform without other parts looking darker than others.
How Often Should You Touch Up Roots?
Ideally, it would be best to visit your stylist for a root color touch up after 4 to 6 weeks. This is not just for better appearance, but also for biological reasons.
Usually, your scalp produces heat that doesn’t exceed 2 centimeters of the hair root. The heat from your scalp helps to speed up the hair dye development process on your head.
So, when you wait for your roots to grow, they can go beyond the point where the scalp heat will enable the dye to develop. For example, if your roots are about 8 centimeters and not 2, the extra 6 centimeters will develop differently due to insufficient heat. The color will develop at two different rates, causing uneven results.
However, your stylist can achieve a better result by applying two different techniques at varying intervals or balancing the dye out. Still, a double process would be ideal, but it’s more expensive and takes longer to complete. So, following the 4-6 week timeline for root color touch up would be best.
In Conclusion
The hair experts have skills and products that will help you achieve an even and beautiful hair color that looks like the original. However, an at-home root touch up would be convenient if you’re looking for a cost-effective comfort method. Thankfully, the above guide provides effortless, washable, pocket-friendly and safe methods.
