You'll Save This Much Money "Going Grey"
Starting as young as in their 20s, many women spend a substantial amount of time and money colouring their hair to disguise greys. The new "going grey" trend can save you bundles each year, depending how you colour it. Let's see how much we usually spend colouring our hair—and how much we can save by "going grey". But if you're just not ready to ditch the hair colour yet, there are plenty of other ways to save money each month.
How Much We Spend Colouring Our Hair
A typical woman can spend as little as £29 per year colouring her hair—if she dyes it herself out of a box—easily £1,000 a year or more if she has highlights and goes to a salon. The amount spent also depends on the frequency with which you have your hair coloured. Women typically need to touch up their colour every 4 to 8 weeks to cover greys, depending on how fast your hair grows, the proportion of your hair that's grey and how noticeable the greys are against the rest of your colour. The cost of colouring your hair can range from as little as £2 for a box of DIY hair dye up to £100 or more for a professional salon job.
Home Colouring
A box of home colour typically costs £4.75 to £8, with most brands charging around £5 to £6. If your hair needs a touch up every 8 weeks, that's a cost of around £30 per year for DIY colour; those waiting 4 weeks between dye jobs would spend around £60 per year.
Salon Colouring
On the other hand, those heading to the salon for colour spend a significant amount more hiding their grey hair. For example, a woman who has one colour all over and gets a touch up every 8 weeks from a senior stylist would typically spend £364 per year; touch ups every 4 weeks would cost around £728 a year. Women who get highlights spend even more, with the cost of touch ups every 4 weeks adding up to over £1,000 per year.
| Annual Cost of Hair Colour Touch Ups | Dye at home | Salon (one colour all over) | Salon (with highlights) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average cost per touch up: | £4.75 | £56 | £86 |
| Retouch every 8 weeks | £31 | £364 | £559 |
| Retouch every 6 weeks | £41 | £485 | £745 |
| Retouch every 4 weeks | £62 | £728 | £1,118 |
By "going grey" you'll not only save countless hours in the salon, but you can also save hundreds of pounds a year. Even those who colour their own hair at home will save a bit of money by following this natural beauty trend. Best of all, no more worrying about getting your roots touched up before every major social event!
Methodology
We gathered prices for colour touch ups (e.g., roots only/half head) from a dozen chain and independent salons around the country for colour with a senior stylist. We also gathered price data for DIY hair colour in a box from Asda. For more information on the cost of hair dying, including full head colour from a salon, please see our article Average Cost of Hair Colour.