If you need to color your hair, or even bleach it, and are currently in Bangkok, Thailand, you may be wondering where you can buy hair color.
In fact, buying hair color in Bangkok is not as difficult as you may expect, but there are a few things you will need to be aware of before you do.
What Types of Hair Color are Available in Bangkok, Thailand?
With the majority of people living in Bangkok being Asian, as you might expect the hair colors you can buy are predominantly dark colors. That means, if you want to buy Light Brown, Ash Blonde or Light Red, you may have to go to a few shops before you can find that particular color.
If, however, you are looking for Black, Dark Brown, Chestnut, Dark Reddish Brown and a whole slew of other dark colors, they are easy to find.
Colors for grey hair are also easy to pick up but, again, getting the right color of blonde if you want to bleach your hair will take a little searching simply because few Asians bleach their hair blonde.
Where to Buy Hair Color or Hair Bleach in Bangkok
If you are looking for a basic black, dark brown or mid-brown hair color, there is a nice selection at most supermarkets.
My favorite place to buy hair color is at either Tesco Lotus or Big C. Both have at least eight or nine brands, including L’Oreal, and 10-15 shades in each brand. You will, however, notice that most brands are Thai or Japanese.
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If, however, you want to bleach your hair blonde, it is more difficult to find a good selection of hair bleaches in Bangkok. Supermarkets like Tesco Lotus, Big C and Tops only have a couple of colors, so you may not always find what you want there.
Best Place for the Biggest Selection of Hair Colors and Hair Bleaches in Bangkok
One of the best places for buying hair color or hair bleach, not only in Bangkok but in Thailand overall, is a small beauty shop inside the international supermarket, Gourmet Market, at Siam Paragon shopping mall.
Here you will find two entire walls full of hair color and hair bleach with just about any color or shade of bleach you could ever want to buy. They also stock a few more international brands so you may find exactly what you are looking for here.
To find the beauty shop, walk into the main entrance of Gourmet Market (which is in the basement of Siam Paragon shopping mall) and take the far left aisle.
If you keep walking towards the back of the store, you will see a beauty shop and a pharmacy on your left hand side. The first, the beauty shop, is where you will find all the boxes of hair color.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT COLORING YOUR HAIR IN THAILAND
As you may have guessed, more hair color in Thailand is manufactured differently for Asians than for Caucasians, even with some of the imported brands. After years of trying many different kinds of hair colors, one tip I give to all my friends who are not Asian then, when using an Asian brand of hair color, is to make sure you leave it on your hair LESS time than you would if you colored it in the US or Europe.
This is because almost every hair color I have bought in Thailand, as it is generally manufactured for Asian hair, seems to absorb into my hair faster than it would in the US. That alone has created some extremely dark colors on my light brown hair.
So, for instance, if the box says leave the hair dye on for 30-40 minutes, I leave it on for 15-20 minutes. My hair still comes out a lovely shade but the hair dye does not get soaked in so much it ends up four shades darker than I wanted it to be.
With any color in Thailand, though, always cut a small piece off your hair and test it before you put the color on all over your head. The results can be quite a bit different than you may expect.
Price of Hair Color in Thailand
As for prices, for a typical Thai brand you can buy them as cheap as 60 baht ($2), and you can pick these up at almost any 7-11 or supermarket.
I have used the cheap Thai brands of hair color many times and had great success with my hair every time. More expensive brands of Thai hair colors are usually between 120 and 200 baht.
For brands like L’Oreal, they are more expensive than in the US, and usually cost at least 350 baht ($11.75) on up.
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