- Hey Siri.
Set timer for 15 minutes.
Is she doing it?
Siri?
Hey Siri?
(upbeat music)
- I think I have a pretty good relationship with my hair.
I generally like it.
It's pretty thick.
- I haven't colored my hair since prom,
and even back then, I only did the ombre,
so I colored about this much bleach blonde.
It kind of damaged my hair for a long time.
- I have always been experimental with my hair
with cutting it short, long,
and coloring it.
- I tried to go blonde,
but my hair doesn't like going blonde.
So, it didn't go super bright blonde.
But I've had it for about a year.
And now it's grown out!
- So now that my hair is healthy,
I am ready to try a new color.
I'm a little scared to be in the salon
for a long period of time,
so I think a custom hair kit is perfect.
- I wanna try custom hair color because
I can't go to a salon right now, we're in lockdown again.
We found three companies that all do this custom color,
and they ask you a bunch of questions about your hair,
and then suggest colors that'll work for you.
So we're each gonna try one brand
and see what the process is like,
and what the results are like.
- My expectations aren't super high,
so I'm like, not tryna go a super crazy color,
I kinda just wanna warm my color up a little bit more,
kinda stay like with the warm, a fall color,
you know, something perfect for the holidays.
- I don't think I wanna dye my hair completely
dark dark dark dark, like this dark.
So I'm tryna find like a light to medium brown.
- I'm kind of nervous,
I don't really know what colors they're gonna do.
Is it like, bright colors like pinks and blues,
or is it different shades of brown?
I'm really excited to see what they suggest for me.
- Let's do it.
(upbeat music)
Company I'm gonna be using is called Madison Reed.
I've heard quite a lot about them.
I'm excited to try them.
They actually do have salons around the country.
But I'm gonna be using their at-home kit.
So the way you do it is you fill out this quiz
to find out what kind of shade would suit you best
depending on your hair type.
What is your natural hair texture?
I'd say medium.
What are your hair goals?
I guess lock in color.
- [Amber] Because the color quiz
is a little bit less personal than a colorist,
I'm gonna go to start a video consultation.
Pretty much they're gonna connect you with a colorist
that's going to check out your hair in real time.
- [Tally] And I'm about to do my hair consultation.
I'd say my hair is very long.
I'm just gonna add some photos I recently took.
So this is my current hair color.
I definitely don't think I'm ready to go black.
- [Chloe] How comfortable are you
with coloring your hair at home?
So I've done box dyes a bunch at home.
So I'm pretty comfortable.
What color are your eyes?
Green!
See my perfect match!
- [Tally] This is really hard,
I'm terrible at making decisions on my own.
That is just a slight change and it is a golden tint.
- [Chloe] Light smokey brown!
That's actually really pretty, I like that a lot.
- So, I actually got to talk to a consult.
My stylist consulted me and told me that
I could go two shades lighter,
and being that I have like, two tones in my hair,
he actually created a custom formula for me,
so it's time to make it cute.
(chill techno music)
- So I just received my E-salon box.
It came pretty fast.
Oh wow, it has my name like, all over it!
So it says Tally's instructions.
- [Amber] Okay, so when opening the box it says
this hair color has only one name, yours.
And super cute.
- My one doesn't have my name on it.
That's a little sad.
I was expecting to see my name somewhere.
(scoffs)
No name.
This is the actual color.
I ordered two, actually.
Just in case I need more for my hair,
but it does say you only should need one.
This is the activator.
- [Amber] It talks about my hair color profile.
So the level of my formula is a six.
And I need to maintain every six weeks.
And my color shade description is called Chestnut.
- Says to mix and apply
according to your personalized instructions.
Then it says Tally's color,
and I chose like a caramel brown.
It looks like a little caramel color.
- Conditioner.
Shampoo.
Barrier cream, so that you don't get it on,
like your skin, when you're dyeing it.
- [Amber] It has all the supplies in here.
The cream developer.
It's in two shades because, like I said,
the top of my hair is darker than the other side.
- So this kit has shampoo, conditioner,
a stain guard and a stain remover.
They gave me a second color!
They say it's free with this order.
That's so nice!
So if I like the color, I could just re-dye it for free.
That's awesome!
- When you buy box dye,
you just get a pair of gloves and instructions.
And then your color.
It's not very extensive.
It just feels more professional and higher quality.
This seems pretty straightforward
and hopefully I won't totally mess it up.
I do tend to get dye everywhere when I do this.
So let's see if this is better for me
than when I do box dye.
- I'm just nervous I'm gonna make it uneven.
But maybe it could look like highlights, I have no idea.
So I guess it's time to dye my hair!
(sucks teeth)
- So the first thing it says
is to divide your hair into four separate sections.
I don't usually bother doing this
when I'm doing my own hair,
I just like, put it in two sections,
like a top layer and a bottom layer.
I'm gonna put barrier cream on,
and that stops getting hair dye,
like around the hairline.
- We're about to mix our 30 volume developer
with our color number one.
And look, it even has my name on it, how cool is that?
(strains)
I don't recommend using your mouth.
But, it gets the job done.
- And shake. Ooh!
First color your new growth roots
using either the applicator bottle.
Oh! Here it comes.
- I'm guessing I just put all of it
'cause that's what it says, right?
It looks like caramel.
Like, I don't know how to tell when it's ready.
Wow, it's getting thicker!
This is really interesting!
Okay, I have the brush.
It already doesn't look even.
How do I get ...
I don't know what I'm doing here.
Okay, this is not as easy as painting my nails.
- There's just so much hair.
The smell is actually pretty pleasant.
It's not like, strong stinkiness,
I need to crack a window type of smell.
It's pretty nice.
It's all saturated right now.
My initial concern was that
my hair is so thick and curly that
there wasn't gonna be enough product.
But it's actually pretty saturated!
Okay, so I'm putting the timer on for 30 minutes
for the first color to go in.
And then it's gonna be 10 minutes
until I put the second color in.
- I'm clearly not doing what the instructions say
'cause I just automatically put it on my hand.
But that's how I usually do it.
I usually put it in my gloved hands.
And do that, rather than putting it on my head.
I feel like I can control it better like this.
I think the key to success really is actually
putting your hair into four sections.
'Cause I've never done four, and it's just super easy!
- I can't even see the back of my head
to know if I'm getting it.
The mixture is turning gray.
My hair better not turn gray.
When you usually get your hair dyed,
you put it in tinfoil, am I supposed to do that?
It doesn't say that in the instructions, though.
- And I'm about to add color number two.
The cream developer, activated!
This part has a much stronger smell than the last one did.
(groans)
I'm dying.
My eyes are kinda burning.
- I'm a little nervous it's not really gonna do anything.
Because this is the lightest color I've ever dyed my hair.
And I'm worried it's the same color as
my highlights are right now.
- The instructions tell you to just like,
keep adding this to your head,
and massaging it until the timer goes off.
Look, now I have like, Mystique hair.
(laughs)
- It says to leave it in for 15 minutes.
Hey Siri?
Set timer for 15 minutes.
(clock ticking)
Okay, so it's been about 15 minutes on the top side,
and then 30 minutes on the bottom side,
so I don't know how that's gonna turn out.
And let's just hope that it looks okay.
- There's like no color coming out of my hair.
And that's really strange.
So you're supposed to wash it until the water's clear,
and then put in the shampoo and conditioner
that is provided.
All right, it's all washed out.
And now I'm just gonna style it.
And show you the final result.
- Done! (chuckles)
That was pretty fun, you guys.
For actually doing my hair for the very first time at home,
I'm really impressed with myself!
Like I keep looking at my hair.
My man's like, you look cute!
And yes, I do look cute.
- So this is the final result.
I actually really like it!
It's just kind of blending my roots
with the color a little better.
Which is what I wanted.
It was expecting it to be a little darker,
but I did say I didn't want darker than the color I had.
It's definitely ashy, and smokey,
which is what it was supposed to be.
- I'm pretty disappointed.
I think my hair looks exactly the same.
I sent a few pictures to my friends,
but they say that it looks a little darker,
and even my mom, I showed it to her,
she thought it looked darker as well.
And she saw it in person.
So I guess it went darker?
Which is kinda weird 'cause it was supposed to get lighter
and it was supposed to be caramel brown.
- I just love the fact that it still has dimension
and color and it's not all one block color.
I think it's also lightened my roots a little bit.
- I don't know, it's strange.
I followed all the instructions.
I thought that this part would be lighter
'cause this part had the dye in the longest,
and then this part had it in the shortest.
But they're like, exactly the same color,
which doesn't seem too right.
- The most time-consuming part was making sure
that the color was distributed evenly.
For the most part, it took like an hour and a half
for me to do the whole thing.
I think I will order them one more time
to do like a retouch and color.
This is a great option for me to manage at home,
without having to be stressed out about
finding somebody to do my hair.
- I probably wouldn't get this dye again,
I don't think that it was beneficial to my hair.
And I also think that I would go to a hair stylist
to do my hair because,
I don't trust myself doing my hair
and it just got really messy in the shower.
- This is way cheaper than going to a salon.
So yeah, I would totally use this product again,
and I probably actually am gonna use it again.
Madison Reed, I totally recommend you.
(chill hip hop music)