Never considered dying my own hair. I never thought I would have to until I was gray. I don't think I would even know how to do that. I mean isn't it a very tricky process even if you pick the right color.

A good option for collecting enough hair for a sample that won't leave "holes" in the hair would be to use a pair of thinning/blending shears in several different areas of your growing hair.

These only cut a few hairs out each time you cut into the hair. Pull the hair up in small sections and cut as close to scalp as you can to get the longest length possible. Try to cut only once in each area, collect those hairs, then move on randomly to other areas until you have enough hair for a sample to send in.

You can buy them at Sally's Beauty or order a pair online:
http://www.amazon.com/SE-6-5-Hair-Thinni...B000V6WDUS

rscount - That is a great idea and would seem to solve the problem of having a gouge in my hair. The only question I have is since the hair won't be coming from the same location, won't the percentage of various tones be off in my samples?

It shouldn't be too much of a problem unless your hair color varies drastically in your horseshoe area from the sides to the back.

If your growing hair has very good density, you may be able to get enough hair from each different area for a sample. Generally, the more hair you send as a sample the better, but the factory puts the hair under a microscope to determine the color anyway, so I'd think you could probably get away with using slightly smaller samples for the different areas if you wanted to. Be sure to ask John if this will work before doing it though.

Another thing that could help is to choose two or three colors that match the closest from the color ring you have and then specify a mix of those colors for your order, but if I were you, I'd try to use my own hair if possible. (Always be sure to check the colors on the color ring against your own hair in full sunlight as well as indoor lighting to choose the closest color(s).

Hope this helps.