Curly girls have zillions of products tailored to their hair type -- shampoos, co-washes, conditioners, brushes, leave-ins ... you get the idea. But hair dyes are a different story, and naturally curly, kinky textured hair is notoriously tricky to color.

"It's like caring for a baby's skin," says Mahisha Dellinger, founder of CURLS, a natural hair care brand for curly girls. It's fragile, requires special handling and products, and unlike your straight-haired cohorts who can grab box of dye from CVS or walk into any salon for color, curly-haired girls need a serious game plan before coloring.

Here is everythiing you need to know before dyeing your curly hair.

Here's why dyeing curly hair is tricky: it's difficult to get an even wash of color to hit every angle of those spiral-y curls and curly hair tends to be more porous, which means it's more fragile, dry and prone to breakage after coloring. Curl expert Morgan Willhite of Ouidad also points out that oils from the scalp don't distribute evenly down to the ends of coily hair, making dyed ends even drier.

Adding more chemicals, aka dye, to your hair can also cause your curl pattern to change if your hair has a soft, fine texture (it's less of an issue on coarse hair). "Whenever you alter or manipulate the hair's protein bonding arrangement, there's a slight shift in curl texture which can change the hair cuticle, making it less elastic," says Dellinger.

Along with the texture of your hair, your starting color impacts how well a dye will take. African American women have darker hair tones that need to be bleached (hello, damage!) to remove color before going lighter. Unfortunately, coarse, kinky textures fight this process because curly hair tends to be dry, which makes it difficult to strip color out, says celeb colorist Aura Friedman. Once the color is lifted, problem #2 pops up: Dark hair tends to turn orange-y or yellow when bleached.

A looser curl pattern can also affect how your hair takes color post-bleaching. If you have smoother, wavier hair, you have a smoother cuticle, which makes your hair more resistant to color -- unless your hair is chemically processed (more on that later). But it's not all bad news ....

Here's the good news: you get more bang for your hair-coloring buck with kinky hair. The hair is more porous, which means it absorbs color better (and faster), and all of those curls at the root make it harder to see the new growth (think fewer touch-ups in between). Dellinger says you also buy more time using hair care products and maintaining habits tailored to your curly texture, like washing your hair less often and using moisturizing, sulfate-free shampoo, conditioner and styling products.

The not-so-good news? If you're looking for a drastic Beyonce or Rihanna level of color change, you really need to hit up a salon and let a professional handle the coloring because your hair is so much more fragile than your non-curly counterparts (particularly if your hair is already chemically treated), says Dellinger. But if you want something less drastic -- just a little extra oomph -- there are temporary rinses and semi permanent dyes you can apply at home (more on that soon).

Regardless of which coloring route you take (salon vs. at-home), you absolutely must prep your fragile hair for the transformation. Dellinger recommends these steps in the weeks and days leading up to your appointment:

Two months before appointment:
• Remove braids, weaves and/or extensions.
• Do not blow dry or flat iron the hair.

One month before appointment:
• Deep condition your hair with heat or steam and a protein rich conditioner, like CURLS Curl Ecstasy Hair Tea Conditioner, $20, once a week for two weeks. Weeks three and four, use a moisturizing conditioner like CURLS Coconut Sublime Moisturizing Conditioner, $16.
• Moisturize the hair daily with a humectant rich leave-in conditioner like CURLS Cashmere Curls Leave-In Moisturizer, $20, and seal with a natural oil (coconut oil is always a good pick).

One week before appointment:
• Trim the hair before coloring.

Day before appointment:
• Deep condition to even out porosity and create a healthy base for hair color.