As most people have in the last year, I’ve really leaned into coloring my own hair at home. I don’t do anything that wild with my hair—I just try to dye it my natural color to cover up my (fairly significant for my age, or at least that’s what people tell me) grays. For years, I’ve used eSalon; I’ve written 2 reviews about eSalon on this very blog. While eSalon always worked in a pinch, in the last year, I’ve gotten really bored with my hair color—it never felt quite right for what I was asking for and the process to have them change the color was really complicated and felt impersonal.
Enter Color&Co, a custom hair color delivery service by L’Oreal. They emailed me a few weeks ago about trying out a colorbox designed specifically for me. Who can turn that down? I jumped at the chance because, as a primarily at-home hair colorist, I am always willing to try something different to see if it really works. In this blog post, I’ll walk you through the entire process—from sign up to coloring my hair.
The Process
When you sign up for a Color&Co colorbox, you have the option to take a quiz about your hair or have a free consultation with one of their specialists. If you’re like me and think your hair color is pretty straight forward, I encourage you to do the consultation—primarily because in my consultation, my consultant, Deb, asked some questions I had never thought of before. Once you select consultation, you’ll schedule a time with one of the consultants. Then, you just wait for that appointment time!
During your consultation, you’ll talk about your hair, of course: your goals for it, if you’ve dyed it in the past or recently, what you usually choose for hair dye. You’ll also talk about the specific tone of your hair you want, how much gray you have, and more. One of the best parts of this process for me was talking about my gray hair; I guess it didn’t occur to me previously, but I have “stubborn gray hair” that resists coloring. With previous hair dyes, my gray has started to show within 2-3 weeks. Deb gave me some extra steps to do why coloring my hair to help color those grays.
Once your consultation is done, you’ll go to an order screen where you purchase your colorbox; once it is formulated by your consultant, it’s shipped out to you. Super easy and highly personalized!
Receiving Your Box
Get exciting—your colorbox has arrived! In my consultation, we talked about how the ends of my hair have been bleached. In February 2020, I got probably the most ill-timed balayage done, which meant I’ve been coloring over blonde ends that aren’t particularly happy about the situation. So my kit was a little more complicated than the standard: I received a permanent color for my roots to cover my stubborn grays and then a semi-permanent color for my ends.
The kit comes with your color, the developer that you’ll mix with it, 2 sets of gloves, a packet of stain guard, a packet of stain remover, and a packet of conditioner.
In my case, I had 2 colors and 2 different developers. You’ll also receive a packet of personalized instructions; mine had instructions for doing my roots first and setting a time for 35-45 minutes to really cover my grays. Then, 10 minutes in, I would apply the second color to my ends.
When it comes to actually coloring your hair, if you’ve done it a lot, you probably have a process that works for you. I know I do! However, if you’re new to coloring your hair at home, I highly recommend chatting with your consultant about how to do it. If it helps, there are lots of YouTube videos out there to help you. The back of your hair is always the most daunting part, at least to me. But you can do it, I promise.
What I Liked Most
When it comes to hair dye, there are a few things I always specifically look for. The main one is that a lot of at home hair dyes drip really badly—they tend to be on the thinner side and it can get messy fast. What I liked about the color I received from Color&Co was that the dye itself, once it is mixed, is fairly thick; I still needed to be careful, of course, but it wasn’t drippy and messy like a lot of at home kits.
Another thing I look for: smell. A lot of at home hair dyes smell really strong—so strong that I usually turned on a fan and opened a window to keep from getting overwhelmed. The Color&Co dye did not smell nearly as strong—it definitely still smells like hair dye, don’t get me wrong, but it wasn’t super strong.
I also loved how easy it was to wash out of my hair. I have a lot of very fine, straight hair, which can be hard to wash; I miss shampoo on my crown at least twice a month. However, when I sectioned my hair to wash, it was just so much easier and didn’t get as tangled. I didn’t feel like I had to spend 20 minutes in the shower rinsing! The packet of conditioner that comes with the kit is also lovely—it smells so good and made my hair so shiny and soft immediately.
Ok, now, let’s talk about the thing you’re probably most interested in: the results.
I love my color! I feel like it did such a good job of blending my bleached ends with my gray and grown in roots. It’s the tone I was looking for—I wanted a chocolate brown with a more coppery undertone, which is exactly what I got. I’ve already gotten a ton of compliments on my hair! It’s super shiny after coloring and doesn’t feel damaged, especially on those more empty ends.
All in all, my final verdict is that I would absolutely use Color&Co again—the entire process was so easy and yet, made me feel like it was personalized to me. (Because it was!) A ColorBox is $29.99 and that includes the free consultation; if you sign up for autoship, it drops to $21.90.
Disclaimer: As denoted by the asterisk (*) in the title of this post, I received the Color&Co Colorbox for free in exchange for review. However, all opinions remain my own. If you’d like to learn more about my disclosure policy, click here.