Is at-home hair coloring as good as professional hair color?

Hundreds of articles abound about how to color your hair at home, but we found the most credible information in Paula Begoun's book "Don't Go Shopping for Hair-Care Products Without Me." Begoun evaluates hair-color products by doing a comprehensive study of their ingredients and the way they work. She does not rate specific hair-color products, however. We found recommendations for hair color products in beauty magazines such as Allure, Shape and Redbook where editors say they test hundreds of beauty products for their annual beauty awards. We cross-referenced those more anecdotal recommendations with user reviews. MakeupAlley.com is a particularly good site for hair-color reviews, and users are detailed in describing ease of use, odor and ultimately, how happy they are with the results.  more