When I was pregnant with our son, my hair immediately changed. Besides getting thicker, my hair grew faster and coarser with streaks of gray. Yikes!

Since my OB did not recommend permanent hair color and I wasn’t ready for gray hair, I chose a temporary hair color.

Using a cosmetology school service, I began going every 2 months to get my hair colored and trimmed.

After my second child, I realized that my time was very precious and taking almost 2 hours at the salon was not working for me.

Asking around, I found the temporary hair color of L’Oreal Paris Healthy Look Crème Gloss.

Between my mom and neighbor, they keep my hair colored which saves me money and time.

How to Earn Free Hair Color

As a loyal customer, I was thrilled when L’Oreal Paris rolled out their rewards program because I now earn free hair color up to twice a year. The program works like this:

1. Purchase any box of L’Oreal Paris hair color.

2. Locate the code. Some codes are on the hair color bottle while others, like mine, are on the bottom of the box.

3. Enter the code by registering or signing into your L’Oreal Gold Rewards ^[2] account.

4. Earn 1 credit for each code entered for 1 of 2 rewards.

• Free box of hair color:  Once you reach 5 credits, you can redeem your credits for a coupon to get your 6^th box for free. The coupon is a manufacturer coupon and arrives via snail mail.

• $3 off coupon: When you reach 3 credits, you can redeem those credits for a $3 off printable coupon.

Tracy’s experience: Though I usually save my credits for the free box of hair color, I had 3 credits and chose the $3 off coupon. The coupon, offered through Coupons.com, loaded immediately for print.

I printed the coupon and then hit the back space button on my keyboard to print a second $3 off coupon. So, I can purchase 2 boxes of hair color and use both coupons getting $3 off each box. Now I will wait for a buy one, get one free sale at the grocery store or drugstore to maximize those savings.

Limits of the L’Oreal Paris Rewards Program

• You can enter 2 codes every month from any L’Oreal Paris product with a limit of 10 codes per calendar year.

• For 2013, you can earn 2 free hair color coupons OR up to 3 of the $3 off coupons. When you select the $3 off coupon, 3 credits are deducted from your account.

Extra Perks on Golden Monday

When I have codes to enter, I wait to see if the first Monday of the next month is a Golden Monday. On these days, a limited-time, members-only perk gets announced.

Golden Monday does not come every month. When it does come, Golden Monday is always on the first Monday of the month.

Besides the free perk, you also receive the 1 credit towards your next reward.

Though I started coloring my hair to solve the streaks of gray, I have found a way to stretch our dollars. I earn rewards and then combine those coupons with sales. The most of I have paid is $6 for a box of hair color. My optimum price is free to $3 per box.

In using time wisely, I can add my codes and earn rewards to get inexpensive boxes of hair color applied by my mom or my neighbor. These L’Oreal Paris Rewards allow me to stretch our dollars while keeping the streaks of gray covered.

If you purchase hair color, check for rewards through your manufacturer. A little savings here and there adds up to deep savings overall. Happy savings!

Question: How do you stretch your dollars on hair care?