Hair color has made a huge difference in the lives of women allowing us to cover gray and keep our age a secret or brighten our appearance and match it to our personality. But, should you use a Home Box product or go to a professional salon?

Like professional salon color, a home box comes in permanent or semi-permanent varieties. With home color, you have to choose...so you have to know what you are looking to do. If you need to cover gray, you really have to go with a permanent formula. Permanent formulas opens the cuticle of the hair and deposits color into the cortex of the hair shaft. This causes mild damage to the hair. However, if you use permanent color all over your whole head, you keep re-opening the hair shaft all the way down the shaft, which can create damage. Semi-permanent formulas do not deposit into the shaft, but merely coats the shaft with color on the outside. That is why it washes off. This doesn't create a regrowth line, but it also doesn't cover gray well. So, in my opinion, home hair formulas are less than ideal.

Professional color, done in a Salon can offer you both great gray coverage and less damage. This is done by a careful consultation and inspection on the condition of your hair. Various conditions of the hair including damage, dryness, porosity all effect how your hair color will turn out. An experienced and educated colorist can pre-treat your hair as needed to give you fantastic results. They can also use a variety of color products that give you the least amount of damage to the hair.

There are many great salon products available for use today, I prefer the organic or natural varieties. Some have natural ingredients or botanicals added that heal, seal and protect the hair. They provide great gray coverage, softness and lots of shine. Look for a salon that uses these type of products.

Bottom line, usually money is the bottom line...it is why most women choose to color their hair at home. Box color can certainly be less expensive, but the complexity of understanding the condition of your hair and how it is going to accept the color, what type of color you should use and many other factors make home hair coloring a risky venture. If you would like a consumer report with more in-depth information on hair color as well as the most commonly asked questions, please go to http://salonschandler.com.