How Many Boxes of L'Oreal HiColor Do I Need? Probably, more than you think

If your hair is short, low-density, and low porosity, you’ll need a box of HiColor.
If your hair is medium length up to your ears and you have medium porosity, you’ll need two boxes of HiColor.
If your hair is long, high-density, and high porosity, you’ll need three boxes of HiColor.
Today, I’ll show you how to measure all these variables so you won’t run out of color during the coloring process.

YOU MAY ALSO BE INTERESTED IN: Not Enough Hair Dye? Here’s what you can do if you run out of product while dying your hair

Has it ever happened to you that you ran out of product while you were applying the hair dye?

Probably you barely had half of your mane covered.

Let me guess. At that moment of maximum terror, you feel you have three alternatives:

To send a Whatsapp message with hundreds of emoticons asking for help from your best friend.
To ring your neighbor’s doorbell to ask if she has a box of hair dye. Oh, and it should be your same shade…
To wrap your hair in a towel to cover your half-dyed hair

I guess you feel like Tom Cruise in any of his “Mission Impossible” movies.

But I’ve got bad news for you. In general, the iconic secret agent’s missions always have an ending, even in those scenes where we hold our breath.

However, your mission impossible won’t be so successful.

Your friend won’t make it in time with the hair dye, even if she runs at the speed of light.

You have a 0.00000000001% chance that your neighbor has the same shade of hair dye you need.

Your hair in a towel won’t solve the problem.

Once you start applying the hair dye, you have to do the process all over your hair at once to achieve an even and uniform color.

That’s why you should keep three things in mind before you start applying HiColor to prevent you from running out of product:

amount
length
and hair porosity

In my opinion, hair porosity is the most important factor.

If you have high porosity hair, it’ll absorb twice as much hair dye as hair with normal porosity.

Still, don’t worry. You don’t need a team with sophisticated equipment. After all, you have me, and I’ll tell you all about how many HiColor hair dyes you need to color your hair.

I promise that some things will surprise you. For example, how long is your hair in inches?

Tabla de Contenidos

The longer your hair is, the more boxes of HiColor you’ll need

It’s important to consider the length of your hair before coloring it with HiColor. Don’t you think it’s important?

Well, you’re wrong.

In salons, the price of coloring long hair is much higher than coloring short hair.

Long hair requires more hair dye, more work, and more time.

Also, most women think they have short hair when in fact, they don’t.

To find out if your hair is long or short, follow the table below.

Short hair: it reaches above the ears and is usually identified with cuts up to the nape of the neck or mid-neck.
Medium hair: hair that covers the ears, such as a bob or short bob.
Long hair: all hair that goes below the shoulders, for example, layered cuts and V-cuts.
Extra-long hair: hair that goes past the bra line.

I’m sure you’ve learned something else about your hair today, and what you thought was short hair, ended up being long hair.

Knowing your hair length will help you know the amount of HiColor boxes you need.

If your hair is short or medium length, one box of HiColor will be enough.
If your hair is long, you’ll need two boxes of HiColor to cover your entire mane.
If your hair is extra-long, you’ll need three boxes of HiColor.

Now you know how much hair color you’ll need according to your hair length. What about the amount of hair?

The amount of hair is important because the entire hair surface must be covered with HiColor

lasts longer than other permanent dyes

How do you know if you have too much or too little hair?

There is a very simple method and I’ll reveal it to you today:

Untangle your hair.
Comb it all the way back.
Gather it between your index finger and thumb making a circle holding the hair and observe the position of your fingers.

Got it?

Let’s see the verdict.

If your fingers overlap, you have a small amount of hair and only need one box.
If your fingers only touch at the ends, you have a normal amount of hair. Then, one and a half boxes will cover it completely.
If your fingers don’t touch, you have a lot of hair and you should use two boxes of HiColor.

Lastly, and what I consider most important, your hair porosity.

If your hair is high-porosity, you’ll need several boxes of HiColor

floats it is low porosity

Hair porosity identifies the hair’s ability to absorb both water and any hair product you apply to it.

Therefore, high porosity hair will absorb any product. When I say any, it’s any.

Many times I had to prepare more product to bleach high-porosity hair.

Still, there’s one more interesting fact.

Hair porosity can change throughout your life. Do you want to know why?

When you apply hair dye, bleach, or bathe in the pool or sea, the hair is damaged and begins to lose the hair cuticles that protect the hair.

When broken by the action of chemicals, heat, or other factors, the hair becomes more permeable. It no longer has its outer part that acts as a shield.

Therefore, the hair becomes coarse, dull, and has a lot of frizz. It dries quickly without the use of a hairdryer and is very difficult to detangle.

Consequently, you’ll need more boxes of HiColor because it’ll absorb more product.

If this is your case, I suggest that we do a porosity test. It’s very simple:

Take a clear glass and fill it with water at room temperature.
Put a hair that you find in your comb, brush, or that has fallen out.
Place it in the water gently and watch.

Now let’s see how many boxes of HiColor hair dye you’ll need.

Low-porosity: hair will float on water. In that case, you’ll need one box of HiColor.
Medium-porosity: hair will float in the middle, so have a box and a half of HiColor on hand.
High-porosity: the hair will sink to the bottom. Then, you’ll need two boxes of HiColor.

You should always consider your hair porosity for every process you perform on your mane.