Glam Survey: What's Your Preferred Way To Color Your Hair?

Coloring hair can mean different things to different people. For some, it's a way to cover up hair changes from aging or previous hair bleaching sessions. For others, it is a means of self-expression, rebellion or, according to some, a phase. Artists and creatives also color their hair to signify the end of a creative era and the beginning of a new one, per MTV. For the record, we still miss Billie Eilish's green hair! 

With the aisles of box dye at your local beauty store and the many TikTok hacks on how to dye hair, it can be easy to mistake hair coloring as a new trend. But according to Kosmos Hair, hair dying dates back to 1500 B.C. at least. Henna, turmeric, and crushed insects were used as colorants while Romans dyed their hair to show status around 300 B.C. — red for noble women and black for the poor. 

No matter what coloring hair means to you, there's no denying that it is an amazing way to switch up your look and add variety to an otherwise monotonous hairstyling routine. Curious to know what methods of coloring hair are most popular, we polled 587 ardent Glam readers to share with us what their preferred method was. Here are the results.

Color can be a step out of the box, but our readers prefer to be less adventurous about the technique. Coming in first place with 26.06%, we found that 153 of our survey participants love getting their hair colored at the salon. We will always recommend going to the salon for your sessions, as most hair colorants or dyes contain potentially damaging chemicals that you need to be careful with. Also, professional hairstylists are able to create dye blends with the colors, highlights, and undertones best suited to you. Plus, they have the experience needed to correct any mistakes that might crop up, per Hair.com.

But the adventure that is hair coloring would not be the same without a bit of DIY. In second place with 18.06% of the responses, 106 of our readers chose permanent box dye as their go-to method of coloring hair. Box dye offers an affordable and easy way to dye your hair and it is pre-made to suit all hair types. Yet, because they are pre-made, box dyes lack the customization in-salon experiences offer and can produce varying results on different hair types (via Inscape Beauty Salon). All in all, it's great to see our readers keeping it colorful.

We found that 9.20% of our Glam-reading participants, or 54 people out of 587, prefer to use color depositing conditioner to spice it up. If you have no idea what that is, Biolage describes it as a formula that adds some short-lived color to your hair while delivering hydration through conditioning. Color depositing conditioners offer a toe dip in the dye pool, a tame way to see what color would look and feel like, all while conditioning your hair. Talk about a multi-tasker! The product also lets you choose the color intensity and can be used to enhance a faded dye job, per Hair.com.

With our readers loving color depositing conditioners, it's clear how much we value options and being able to change our minds at a whim. This is where temporary hair dye comes in, with 35 of our respondents, or 5.96%, claiming it as their preferred method. According to the hair experts at MHD, the molecules of temporary dye are large, which makes them unable to sufficiently penetrate the hair shaft. Instead, they rest on the surface of the shaft, providing color that lasts through one or two washes. For those who want to explore hair color with the liberty of being able to change their minds, we're betting on color depositing conditioner and temporary dye to do the job.

At 1.70% of our respondents, just 10 people named the Y2K-inspired method of using hair chalk as their preferred way to color hair. Like temporary hair dye, hair chalk only lasts a few washes and is a fun, easy way to add many colors to your hair for all ages (via L'Oréal Paris).

But even with the plethora of options available, the majority of our respondents don't color their hair at all. With a whopping 39.01% of our survey participants, hair color doesn't even make an appearance in the glam routine. Where some might avoid color for religious or work-related reasons, the National Health Service (NHS) explains the chemicals in hair dyes can irritate skin and cause allergic reactions in many people. When trying a new hair color, always be sure to conduct a patch test before using the product. Ask your stylist questions, like how long the dye will stay on before getting rinsed out, what methods are best for your skin and hair type, and some aftercare tips. Whether you gravitate towards DIY, salon treatment, or even temporary methods, life's just too short for boring hair.