All my life, people have complimented me on my thick almost-black hair.  Until I was 21, my hair was waist-length.   After I had children, my hair started changing in dramatic ways.  The biggest problem I encountered at first was my grays.  I started naming them after my students as a joke but soon they became so prolific that I couldn’t deny it was time to color.  My husband is a very au-naturale type of guy; he swears that he won’t color his hair even if he has a skunk stripe down the middle.  It seems that the rules are different for men. After all, Sean Connery is still kind of hot even with the gray, right?  With women, it’s different.  When one of my students complimented me on my “highlights” –referring to the silver streaks running down my head — I knew I needed to keep up with it better!

There are reasons why the salon is my first choice for hair color.  First, it’s pampering.  It’s nice to sit in that chair having someone get me all prettied up.  I almost purr while reading a magazine while the color sets.  It’s usually a night out for me, ending with shopping and maybe dinner.  Love that!  Unfortunately I rarely have time to go to the salon. It takes a lot to schedule the appointment; rarely can I do this in advance.  It can also get really, really spendy.  All the niceties add up fast.  The lesser-priced salons seem to be doing cuts only now; to get a shampoo, cut, color, and style it can be in the $$$ range.  Ouch!  While I’m sitting in that chair, it’s easy to add up the services.  A wax here, some foils there, and I’ve just depleted my next paycheck.   As you can see from the photo above, it’s time to get my touch-up.  We had a lot of expenses this month, though, and with a houseful of company coming in a few days, there just isn’t wiggle room in the budget to get my  hair done.

Coloring at home is effective and quick; however, it’s not the same experience.  At the salon, my stylist custom-mixes my color for me.  The color tends to be richer and multi-faceted rather than the flat color I get from a box.  One time I asked my stylist if I could get the same blended color at the drugstore but she said that since the color was custom and from salon-quality formula, it just wouldn’t be the same.  Yesterday I stumbled across a new site called eSalon that provides custom-mixed color based on customer preferences.  I decided to give it a whirl!

You complete this rather comprehensive quiz about your natural color and preferences first, then the site declares your custom color mix.  The price for this service is regularly $19.95 but there’s a special right now — you can get it for $10.  Shipping is $4.95.  The last time I purchased color at Walgreens, it was $14.95 so I didn’t think this was outrageous (especially for it to come to my door.)  I added in a few extras, such as the color kit ($12) and the Color Enhancing Treatment ($10.)  They’re probably not really necessary but since it’s so much cheaper than the salon I didn’t feel bad adding them in.  Apparently they reship your color every 6 weeks (you can change your preferences if you wish–it’s under Product & Order Summary.)  Also, they keep up with your info so that reordering is easy.  Once my kit arrives, I’ll test it and share my results with you.  Do you think this would be something you’d try?  Do you color and, if so, what’s the biggest downfall of the salon for you?

Edited to add:  The day after posting this, I received a call from e-Salon.  They were looking over the photos I submitted and wanted to double-check my preferences for the color they mixed.  Cannot tell you how I impressed I was!  The personalized customer service of this company is top-notch.  My color arrived on Friday and I’ll soon be sharing my results! 

(This post is not sponsored.  I just wanted to share it with you!!  It does contain my referral link.)