Tips for Dealing with Dyed Hair While Traveling

By following these tips, it is fairly easy to maintain hair color while traveling. Your locks can look as stunning on the road as they would be if you were leaving your hometown hair salon.

This article has been many, many years in the making. I thought about writing this up as long as five years ago, but life got in the way, and then I lost some of my ‘after’ hair photos which put the article on hold until I could have enough visiting salon appointments so I could have a decent sample size to show you. I wanted to show that, with your formula and some research, your hair can look as good – or better!- on the road while traveling for work or leisure as it does when you walk out of your regular stylist’s salon.

Tips for Dealing with Dyed Hair While Traveling

Hubby and I travel frequently. We travel abroad and throughout the United States. Sometimes, we are on the road for as long as a few months.

My hair is my pride and joy. It has always been beautiful. Long, short, medium, natural, dyed, or highlighted, my hair is always well-behaved and lovely. And yes, I know I am very fortunate.

Since it is my one true beauty {smile} I like to keep it up wherever we are.

I have a pretty rigid schedule for getting my hair dyed and highlighted that I have stuck to for the last 10-15 years: roots every three weeks, color, cut, and foil three weeks after that. Rinse and repeat. Ha ha!

Note: It is the same color formula in all of these photos. My hair looks brighter in some pictures due to the sunlight

That is my hair from an appointment inRome in 2019.It is far and away my favorite styling job by a one-off salon stylist appointment.

That is my hair from an appointment in Rome in 2022. My hair is significantly longer, and I walked in with it practically blonde! We had spent a decent amount of time in southern Italy and Sicily, which sun-beached my hair. She did a marvelous job painting it with color while not completely coloring up my highlights. When I got home from this trip, my local hair stylist had to lowlight most of my hair while only adding a few highlights in the front.

While I always try and get my hair dyed immediately before we leave on a trip, that schedule means that on a longer trip (or when we used to snowbird before moving permanently to Florida) I have needed a hairdresser in different cities.

Carrying my color or buying it and developer while traveling is not something I am keen to do, even though I have done it when necessary. It is a last resort as we tend to pack very light. Calling a salon in a different state or contacting a salon in a different country to color my hair? That is simple to do!

If you would like to get your hair dyed while traveling, or at least have the option of getting it dyed while traveling, ask your hairdresser to write down your formula. Your hairstylist might hem and haw, but give it to you they will. Make sure it contains the brand, all the colors, and the measurements for those colors, as well as the lift and volume (and measurements).

The stylist I went to for approximately 15 years before moving to Florida used Goldwell products. That made my hair-dying life very easy when traveling. If your hairstylist uses a major brand, you should obtain your formula, tuck it in your purse or wallet (and take a photo of it with your phone camera for backup!), and keep it for travel time.

Roots are easy. Anyone can do roots. Highlighting or low-lighting? That you may want to consider if it is really necessary when you travel.

That is my hair from my stylist in Buffalo, the guy I was with for nearly 15 years who came up with my formula. That is the only photo I could find, and it isn’t very flattering! You’d think I’d have had more after that many visits over the years, but apparently not.

A number of major brands have hair color salon finders that you can simply type in a city, state, zip code, or country to find a salon near you.

● Avena Salon Finder
● Goldwell Salon Finder (there are no Goldwell salons in South America)
● L’Oreal Professional Hair Salons Finder
● Pravana Hair Salon Finder
● Wella Salon Finder (Clairol Professional is owned by Wella)
● Schwarzkopf Professional Salon Finder

If you use a professional hair salon color and the salon finder is not listed, I would urge you to send a quick email off to the manufacturer of your color for the names of several salons in the area where you will be/are traveling. It may take more than one try to find a stylist with an open appointment in your time constraints.

Always verify with that salon that they are still using the hair color manufacturer listed for your formula. Sometimes the salon finders are not completely accurate. When I call a hair salon to make an appointment, I always confirm that they are still using my brand of hair color. On our last trip to Rome, Italy, I wanted to use the same salon I used a few years ago. They were still listed on the Goldwell site, but when I contacted them, they told me they were transitioning away from Goldwell. While they had “a few” colors left, I could not take the chance they would have the colors left that combined to make my hair color. I found a different salon.

I have gotten my hair dyed all across the United States, from New York to Florida to Nevada. The first time I did this was a trip to Salt Lake in 2007 or 2008. We used to have a second residence out there (Hubby’s company is based there), and while I did not go there frequently, sometimes a root touch-up was necessary when I was in SLC. That was when I first got my formula from my hair stylist. He seldom made changes, but when he did tweak it, I would get an updated version “just in case.”

I have had my hair done more than once in Las Vegas while visiting my mother-in-law! I have also had it done on our cross-country trips.

That is my hair from an appointment in Australia in 2020. While I didn’t like how she styled it (OK, I hated it, but they aren’t all winners!), I loved the whole salon experience there. Not many places use the salon conditioning dryers, and they were overhead in this salon and came down like in the Jetsons!

This salon also introduced me to Olaplex which is wonderful, but more importantly, Olaplex 3 which is miraculous. (If I don’t use that I use Kérastase Blond Absolu Masque Cicaextreme because sometimes the Olaplex 3 is hard to find.) The Olaplex is wonderful for deep conditioning my hair!

That Sydney hair salon was also the least expensive of all international hair salons I have visited! And it was in the heart of the business district.

Traveling to Spain there were no Goldwell salons within a hundred miles of where we were staying. So, I packed the color brush and color bowl. But, the colors and developer needed to be purchased in Spain as taking it on the plane is not allowed (we used carry-on, under 3 ounces). If we hadn’t gotten kicked out (the world closed down) I was looking at ordering colors and developers to conceal the sparkles at my roots.

Knowing it was possible to purchase my colors online came in handy during c ovid when Hubby had to play hairdresser on more than one occasion due to New York State lockdowns. I was able to buy my colors and developer online, touch up my roots at home, and I did not look like a skunk.

When making an International hair appointment, what do you do about the language barrier?

I do not speak Italian, so to book in Italy I found the salon I wanted to go to near our AirBnB via the Goldwell website, and then messaged them on Facebook and via email. I am sure they thought I was crazy as sometimes the back-and-forth took a while, but once I sent them my formula they happily booked me an appointment. At that point, I guess they figured, “she has her formula; she must be serious.”

To book an appointment in Australia I called from the United States. Hubby always gets us a phone that works in the country where we are traveling, so I had a callback number. After checking the time difference, I called from home and easily made the appointment. Since we were doing a back-to-back cruise out of Sydney, I simply made the appointment for the day we were back in Sydney, got my roots done, and then proceeded back to the ship! This was also one of the least expensive places I have ever had my roots done (Salt Lake City was the least expensive).

That is my hair from my current stylist in Pensacola. All hairdressers do highlights a little bit differently, I have found. She has continued with the color I have had f-o-r-e-v-e-r, and she and I get compliments all the time on the color!

This was recently done in Ft Lauderdale. We were in Ft Lauderdale a few days before we went on our most recent cruise. My actual roots date would fall a few days later, but better early than late in my opinion! When you walk into a ‘vacation’ salon you never know what you will receive for your blow-out or hair style. She asked if I would like volume, I responded with a “sure” and boy did I get volume!

What to do if you do not have your formula?

If worse comes to worst, a competent hair stylist should be able to match your hair color close enough to get you by until you can get back home to your own stylist. A good hairdresser can work with you even if you do not have the formula. On our last trip to Italy, the woman who was to do my roots pulled out a large book of formulas and a color wheel and was prepared to play matchy-matchy. The smile that broke out across her face when I handed her my formula was priceless!

Since I have highlights, and sometimes my hair is bleached out due to the sun, the stylists will add a gloss, streak my hair, or paint it with a demi. That is so I do not look like I have a red stripe on my head.

I have found that hair stylists can achieve the same goal through different routes.

This is a very interesting article: How to Decode the Hair Color Numbering System?

It is easy to book a hair appointment in a different state or country. Know your formula, find a salon in the area where you wish to have service that uses your color manufacturer, and contact them via telephone, Facebook, or email. It may take a few calls, but it can be done.

If you have any questions on what you need to do to upkeep your hair while away, please ask in the comments!

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