New Year, New Hair -- My Experience with eSalon

I have been toying with dying my hair an assortment of different colors lately -- everyday gravitating between TTH red, ice white blonde with grungy roots (lest anyone thing I was going for a playboy bunny look!), or my ole faithful "dark." As you can tell, I went with the easiest (and hopefully most job interview friendly, HELLO HIRE ME!) option. Having been deathly afraid of box dyes and all the friends I've seen end up with dark red hair that's impossible to de-red and recently hearing about eSalon, I opted for the most profesh and cheapest option. [ In case this matters to you -- this is NOT a sponsored post, I found and bought the dye kit with my own simoleons. ]

Let's rewind.

Scene: Alone, in my dark bedroom (curtains drawn mid-day) with 10 cats purring around me and a few half drunk milk bowls (some curdling) scattered around the floor.

I happen upon a tweet that catches my eye and reminded me that I was interesting in trying out this eSalon service, having read some write up or review of it a few months prior. To break down their service as simple as possible, they are professional colorists that will mix professional dye for you and send it with simple instructions for DIY application. No box dye and you get to tell them what you want. Sold.

I hop on the site and upload some images featuring my hair's natural state and my current color situation. Fill out the questionaire about my hair type, what I'm looking for, what I don't want, coloring history, etc.... Use their color matrix to select color and tone (darkest possible brown with zero red undertones). Search online for a coupon code (duh, and found one!) and check out. Easy enough.

The box arrives and while I would like to show you guys a picture of the beaut, it has my full name on every bottle (a la "Mixed Especially for Chelsea BlahBlah") and don't feel like putting that shit out thurr in the interwebs. You get a few YT comments that say, in no simpler terms, "I want to anal rape you, violently" and you try to keep your true identity on the DL. Ya know? But it's essentially like any perfume gift set comes, with each developer and dye bottle fitting into a perfect shaped developer and dye bottle sized dent in the plastic. It's all white. Super sleek.

My kit cost me just over $19 (shipping included) and contained a coloring brush, 2 bottles of developer, 2 bottles of dye, 2 sets of gloves, stain remover, stain guard, color safe conditioner, instructions, safety warnings,... and I think that's about it? I open the safety instructions and read about the possibility of an allergic reaction and the need to do a patch test for 48 hours prior to usage. I disregard those because I'm a rebel/idiot. I impulsively decide to do it at night, in poor lighting. Because I wouldn't be me unless I was constantly making impulsive decisions.

The instructions were incredibly easy to follow and the whole process took about 30 minutes from opening the box to getting yelled at by my mom for getting dye all over the shower. [ Disclaimer: Do not get dye everywhere. Your mom will be SO mad! It all washed off very easily so seesh, lady.. calm down! Except that small bit on grout. But I'll get a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser! (Internet research leads me to believe that this wonder product will get my mom off my ass and my dye off the grout, fingers crossed.) ] Section your hair in 4, pour dye into developer bottle, shake, and squirt it out along your roots. Set timer for 15 minutes. Set up new bottle of dye/developer. Start working dye down all the rest of the hair and once the 15 minute timer you set after the roots were completed goes off, it's time to wash it all out. Side note: It baffled me that the last bit of hair that I completed just minutes before the timer went off could have been dyed enough compared to the hair that had been soaking for twice the time but alas, it was.

Washed it all out (queue the getting it all over the shower) and I was a new woman! Yup, totally true. Brand spankin' new.

Final Verdict? Try this if you want to dye your hair yourself, but are scared of box dyes/want to have more input on the process. It's more affordable than going to a salon and much quicker. Hopefully you aren't allergic and dye (get it, get it! Okay, that joke was a little off color. HA! Did it again. Hair stylist humor, typical in the industry.) Honestly, I'd really recommend it -- it was easy and the color turned out EXACTLY like I wanted. What else is there to say?!

[ this is not a sponsored review/post, there is nothing in it for me if you do or don't click on the link or try this service. ]