"It felt like it was melting." Pamela Crapser's at-home hair dye made her hair fall out.

Image via Local 10 News.

While DIY hair-dyeing might be a great option for those of us watching our bank accounts, unfortunately it doesn’t always go to plan.

This is something Pamela Crapser now knows all too well, after her decision to change hair colour at home ended up leaving her bald.

South Florida-based station Local 10 News reported that Crapser was planning to jump on the popular granny hair trend, when she ordered a US$4.90 bottle of A-21 Light Grey Berina hair colour cream from Amazon.

“It’s a new trend I wanted to try, you know not the average blonde. I’ve always like the futuristic sci-fi look,” the Hollywood-based songwriter said.

However instead of the intended grey colour, the hair dye gave her an even more dramatic hair transformation than she expected.

The problem started as soon as she applied the product to her hair, describing the smell as “like mustard gas” and reporting a sensation that should never, ever be associated with hair dye.

“It felt like it was melting, like I’d literally fried my hair,” she said.

The situation got even worse when she tried to wash her hair. (Post continues after gallery.)

“Within the first wash that’s when my hair started falling. It felt like I had blisters,” she told Local 10 News.

Crasper could also smell a “mustard gas” scent coming from her hair which alarmed her.

While her hair is slowly growing back, Crapser says her scalp remains sensitive. The company who make the dye refunded her but said in a statement that “her reaction was unique”. Amazon had no comment.

In further investigation, the news station ordered the same product again to find that it came from Thailand with no English instructions on the box or the packet, although there are some on the Amazon website.

Local 10 News reports that in the US, most cosmetic products and ingredients don’t need FDA approval before going to market, so it’s up to the consumer to report any issues or problems.

According to the FDA, hair-dye related allergic reactions can include eye injuries, skin irritation and hair loss.

Crasper's reaction? She's left a word of warning on the product's page on Amazon, it reads: "Caused a chemical burn, made me bald."

While most of the time, at-home hair dye is absolutely fine, it's extremely important to always conduct a patch test before applying the product to your whole head, and to seek immediate medical attention if anything goes wrong.

Have you had any problems with at-home hair dye?