Your Mission: Tell us what you love, hate, or are otherwise indifferent to about at-home hair dye. What drives you bananas? What makes them necessary?
my answer: It’s been YEARS since I’ve used any. I just remember them being kind of messy and a PITA to make sure everything was cleaned up!
We're here to help you make better beauty purchases that you'll enjoy and love! We recommend signing up to take advantage of personalized features like tracking products you own, viewing dupes that you already have, and more!
Here are some useful resources for you:
Curious how two shades compare to each other? Type in the shades below to get instant side-by-side swatches!
Comments that do not adhere to our comment policy may be removed. Discussion and debate are highly encouraged but we expect community members to participate respectfully. Please keep discussion on-topic, and if you have general feedback, a product review request, an off-topic question, or need technical support, please contact us!
Please help us streamline the comments' section and be more efficient: double-check the post above for more basic information like pricing, availability, and so on to make sure your question wasn't answered already. Comments alerting us to typos or small errors in the post are appreciated (!) but will typically be removed after errors are fixed (unless a response is needed).
We appreciate enthusiasm for new releases but ask readers to please hold questions regarding if/when a review will be posted as we can't commit to or guarantee product reviews. We don't want to set expectations and then disappoint readers as even products that are swatched don't always end up being reviewed due to time constraints and changes in priorities! Thank you for understanding!
We try to approve comments within 24 hours (and reply to them within 72 hours) but can sometimes get behind and appreciate your patience! 🙂 If you have general feedback, product review requests, off-topic questions, or need technical support, please contact us directly. Thank you for your patience!
Can’t use them. I can leave them on my hair for twice the time and it kind of looks like a highlight if I tilt my head in the right light. I’m not going to bleach my hair just to use it,so getting my hair done at a salon it is.
I like home hair color; it’s cost-effective and easy to do. I use Garnier, and it’s not messy at all. The color holds for four to six weeks.
Since I went to a Pixie cut, I think at home hair dye is easier because I have way less hair to deal with and I cannot fork out 145.00 when the MAC Marilyn Collection is about to launch. However when it is longer, going to a stylist is a must.
I used to love L’Oreal Color Pulse as a teenager. Now I use Nice and Easy to cover up my greys (I’m only in my 20s!). I’ve had bad experiences going to salons, and it’s easy enough to do it on my own when I’m not changing my natural color drastically. $8 for the win!
Ever since my disastrous attempt at home highlights when I was 18 years old, I haven’t touched home hair colour. Lesson learned. Plus, my hair is long and I don’t want to deal with the mess. No Ammonia, salon hair colour for me only.
I’ve been dyeing my hair since I was a teenager and I almost always do it myself at home. I can’t be bothered with the expense and the hassle of having to clear half the day just to go to the salon to get my hair done. I’ve only ever had 1 disaster where I needed a colour correction from the salon. I don’t like the new hair dye foams because I don’t think they give the same coverage. But apart from that I’ve never really had a problem with any hair dye. The only time I do go to the salon is if I want highlights doing.
I used to get my hair colored, but I stopped because the chemicals in the dye worried me. My hair was virgin for years, until last week when I died it red with Lush henna. It’s a whoooooole process and it’s super messy, but I LOVE my new hair color 🙂 I’m definitely gonna continue using henna. And I don’t have to worry about damaging my hair.
I used to dye my hair black in high school. It was just a fun thing to do with friends. We would often dye each others hair and end up making a bit of a mess. It’s probably been 8 years since I’ve dyed my hair. I do, however, dye my mom’s hair with the Clairol root touch up. It is much less messy because it’s a smaller amount. That usually works out quite well.
I stopped doing at-home dye years ago. I used to do it in college and it was just messy and awful and I’ve had horizontal stripes in my hair from doing it. Now I go to a professional.
I had some bad experiences with drugstore products and also unsatisfactory moments with hairdressers. So I use salon products at home, but I know how to handle them. I love mixing my personal blonde shade!
I’ve never found salon jobs to be worth it for me. They’ve ranged from “meh” to “Agh! Kill it with fire!”, so I’ve almost always done my own. This could get messy and irritating to clean when I was dyeing my hair black, but I did eventually devise a system. Now that I’m back to blonde, I don’t have any problems.
Finding the right color is so hard! As a natural but lightened blond I have had some terrible experiences both in salon and at home with a dye with the wrong undertone…A cool blonde dye over my natural warm shade has resulted in greenish, greyish dishwater colored hair. Not a pretty sight. After a couple years of just sun lightening I finally gave in to the lure of the salon colorist and now I’m stuck with great looking hair that is going to need maintenance, I want to do it myself to save money, but am afraid of messing it up!
I used to have white hair! I bleached the crap out of it at home. I would sit there on the stool and my mom would slap bleach mixed with 20 developer from Sally’s on my head and I’d wait 30 minutes. One day I decided to get my roots bleached professionally. It took 2 hours and they were YELLOW. i have dirty blonde hair. There is absolutely no excuse for not being able to get my roots gwen stefani blonde in two hours. Ever since then I would just do it at home. I’ve had my natural hair color for ages and recently got highlights done professionally. If i could do them myself I would. Waste of time and money to go to the salon.
I’ve been dying my hair for a very long time going back and forth between salons and at-home dyes. I really find doing it myself to easier. I can do it whenever I want and don’t have to make an appointment just to wait 40 minutes for the stylist to finish up her previous client. In terms of mess, I am pretty careful not to get the dye everywhere. And I’ve had bad experiences with messy stylists who get the dye ALL OVER me; it looks like I took a bath in the stuff. So the mess is really up to you.
One time I tried to dye my hair a deep auburn color…it came out BLACK! It took a lot of money and a lot of time in the chair to correct it. My hair stylist made me promise to NEVER dye my hair at home again! I’ve listened to that advice except that I do use henna to dye my hair red. The red dye I got at the salon was terrible and faded within two days. The henna is permanent and even after months and months it doesn’t fade. All I do is touch up the roots. Love it!
I love it! Every time I’ve gone to a salon to get it done, I’ve hated it, so I’ve been doing it myself since I was 13. (I’m almost 17 now) I currently have black hair with blonde tips and bright blue bangs. Yes, my hair is damaged, but I do use treatments on it often. I’ve done pretty much every color in the rainbow; purple, pink, green, blue, red, orange…
Your hair would likely experience similar damage if even if you went to a salon, since the chemicals are still the same. In fact, many DIY dyes will likely be gentler than professional ones, due to the liability factor.
I love them. Sure, the color doesn’t last as long as with salon jobs, but at a tenth of the cost, it’s not really an issue. I use ammonia-free dyes, so there’s no “lift”, which means no visible line of regrowth.
A little known trick to remove even the daekest dye from the skin: dampen the area, and rub in cigarette ash. It may seem gross, but it really does work.
Scratching my head.. so interesting! I’m guessing maybe fireplace ash works just as well?? I will keep this tip in mind. My hair colour is dark almost black with a hint of burgundy red and sometimes I will experience a bit of staining when the colourist rubs in the colour around my hairline to erase my greys. Occasionally he doesn’t quite remove the smudges in time for it not to stain my skin.
I was thinking *any* ash should work; I’d love to find out if fireplace ash works. I’m planning on dying my hair soon, and I was planning on experimenting with newspaper ash.
I heard this years ago from a stylist, when I used to have my hair coloured at the salon. Thing is, I no longer know anyone who smokes! I colour my hair at home often and it’s not a chore I like, even though I’ve found good products (I am really loving the hair colour made by GOSH, of all things). I still prefer having low lights with foils done at the salon but it takes a huge chunk of time (I have very thick hair) and a pretty big chunk of change too.
i always color my hair myself, it’d be really hard to mess up black. plus, the $3 cost vs $20+… yeah, no brainer.
I very rarely color my hair (my wavy/curly hair is not dye friendly), but when I do, I get it done professionally. I’d rather just shell out the cash than risk screwing it up and having to fix it myself. However, if I’m keeping the color for a long time, I’ll do root touch-ups in between with my at-home dyes.
I’ve used both good and bad at-home products (Sun-In being the absolute worst!). I got my hair highlighted at a salon for years. It usually ended up looking nice, but the cost became too much. It was a lot of maintenance and difficult with my busy schedule. A few months ago, I bought the L’Oreal Superior Preference color in lightest ash blonde and gave it a go. I have dark ash blonde hair naturally and it worked pretty well for me. My hair was highlighted so much at the salon, that an overall color wasn’t that much different. My hair is light enough to begin with so I don’t go through the orange stage. Much cheaper, you just have to know a little bit about hair color!
I love dying my own hair! it’s all about the tips and tricks that you pick up from experience. after dying my own hair for about six years, I now know how to clean up color from my counters, how to fade color without stripping it, how to dilute color well, how to make sure I get good coverage, and recently I’ve started getting into bleaching my ends. it’s a good way to burn a day and change up your look.
I’ve been colouring my hair at home for years; I’m lucky enough to have found a great permanent blonde shade (by Superdrug) to use on my naturally dark hair to give a really nice golden blonde shade without it looking too brassy or orangey. It also blends in nicely with the white hairs I already have 🙂 I’ve had it coloured professionally, too, but that just made a big hole in my pocket and I didn’t want to spend all my hard-earned money solely on my hair (especially with all these great new make up launches around to tempt me, lol). Plus, I can colour my hair any time I want, any day I want, without having to reschedule my entire day. I can clean up in record time, too – work out or wash up whilst the colourant works its magic on my roots. Home colouring is definitely tops with me!!
At-home dye damaged my hair like crazy, to the point of it falling out when I was only 14! After that I decided to go to the salon and get my hair professionally dyed. I do have to say though usually at salons you get what you pay for, so don’t go to a cheap place and expect it to come out amazing! I used to go to a salon that my mom took me to and they could never get my roots to be the same color… After that I went to a Chinese salon that was expensive but worth the money. I couldn’t afford it anymore but sent my brother to the guy instead and he strictly goes to him now!
I actually just get my hair done at Ulta and I love it. The first time I got my hair colored at Ulta back in September 2008 it wasn’t exactly what I asked for, but it turned out better than that! Because they keep the formula on file, I have been getting my hair colored the same exact way since then. My color suits me so well and I’m so happy with it! 🙂
Most kits aren’t great – the colours lack depth and the coppery reds I am drawn to are missing from most lines. L’oreal Feria does give pretty good results and for a long time that is what I used, but I stopped using it because I want to use cruelty free products whenever possible. Unfortunately, very few drugstore kits are cruelty free
Now I use Satin Color by Developlus and I love it. It has an aloe vera base, so it is better for hair. The color range is awesome and, though it is a bit more difficult to apply than some of the drugstore kits, the results are pretty great. When I went to cut my haircut last time the stylist first asked 1. if it was my natural color and then 2. if it was professionally done. Does it look as good as the few times I did have it professionally done? Well no, not quite, but it is way more affordable.
i have literally just dyed my hair myself…i always go for dark brown and dont mind if it goes black, so i dont see any point in going to a salon. i would only do it if i wanted to bleach my hair or drastically change my colour…other than that i dont see the point.
considering I’m going to attend cosmetology school (gotta save up!) I think I’d give any teacher a stroke if I said I preferred box dye. I do not. Since I know what I’m doing I know what to expect in a salon – e.g not a miracle – I just let stylists do things like highlights and when I got ombre hair, I left that for a professional since I needed to bleach my ends. It’s just really worth it to keep your hair healthy, imo
I did dye my hair bright red last summer at home, but I only used professional bleach + dye.
Speaking of at home hair dyes… Does anyone recommend a superb brand to use for getting a vibrant pink and purple color that’ll last a while? I don’t care about price, I just want to know which brand would be a “rave” and which would be a “rant”. I have pink streaks now that was done at the salon but it seems to have been a poor job. My hair is already blonde, and I want that bright pink factor so when I look at my hair, I say, “WOW” and not “ehhhh”. Anyone ever use Special Effects? I’ve heard good things about that brand.
Special Effects is AMAZING. I have some of the Atomic Pink at home, which incidentally glows under black light if you’re into that 🙂 I tried it on a whim once when I had only mildly lightened my dark, dark brown, almost black hair to a sort of golden-brown in the light (trust me, indoors it still looked pretty dark), and WHOA I was surprised. I left it on for maybe ten minutes, and it left this really strong magenta tint on my hair that didn’t wash out for a month. A MONTH. So, yeah. It’s a good brand.
Check out the ion Brights line!! You can buy it at Sally Beauty. I just used their teal, the staying power was completely amazing.
Gotta go special effects. Use atomic pink. It will last forever if you let it sit for a long time.
I love Ion Brilliance Brights from Sally Beauty. I’ve tried a few of their colors, and they take and stay well. Be sure to check the Sally’s fliers/ad because they sometimes have the Ion colors on sale but you have to present the ad with your purchase to get the new price.
Also look for Punky Colour. Their pink might not be bright enough, but their colors have amazing staying power.
My hair’s currently magenta. I’ve used Adore, Special Effects, and Manic Panic.
In my opinion, Adore is nice for touch ups, but doesn’t give the same depth as the others. Manic Panic is conditioning, but fades REALLY fast. Special Effects is the winner overall– it sticks really well. I love Virgin Rose.
Virgin Rose is an awesome color that holds really well. Definitely one of Special Effects best colors.
RAW Fuchsia Fatale is AWESOME, especially when you mix it with Manic Panic Cotton Candy. (:
Definitely Special Effects! All the colors are super vibrant and hold really well. I’ve been using them for yhears.
If you want it *permanent*, then Elumen. Expensive (you will need good 100+$ in supplies for the first time, but they only sell in professional sizes, so it’ll last a while), I’m still saving money for it, but everywhere I’ve read, if you want a REALLY permanent dye in crazy colours, go to Elumen.
I love them! I use Etude’s House bubble dye, so it’s so easy to do and not messy at all! The downside’s the really limited color range but that’s pretty much it! 😀
I go to the salon because when I color my hair, I want it red, and red fades really fast. The stylist I see puts something else on my hair after he colors it that keeps the color strong and keeps it from fading for pretty much until it grows out. I’ve done it at home but it’s messy and I don’t like doing it. I’ll pay for the salon.
Been doing mine for twelve years now, and have used just about all the major players. I like Feria and Garnier best. I’m lucky in that my natural shade varies a whole lot from hair to hair. Some are almost black, some are close to translucent blonde. This means as long as I don’t bleach the hair or go black, I’ve got built in natural highs and lows. So, even with the cheap stuff, I’ve never gotten sad, flat color.
I did a salon once, and I don’t know if it was just the salon, or if it’s some sort of way to make sure the customers keep coming back and buy the color protector shampoo, but the color I got there faded faster than anything else I’ve ever used. It was a pretty chestnut brown when I left, a faded, medium-wood shade three days later, and after a week you couldn’t tell I had dyed my hair.
I’ve been dying my hair since 6th grade and have only gone to the salon for it once. The results were no different so I choose to save $100 + and do it myself. I like L’Oreal Preference #1 Black.
I like them. I’ve been using John Frieda’s foam hair color since it came out (used a variety of other ones before then) and love it compared to other at-home types. I had one bad experience with it, got a bad batch or something where it was drippy (which foam isn’t supposed to be) and they replaced the box, haven’t had another problem.
At-home hair dye is the sort of thing you should educated yourself about before trying, and follow all the directions carefully. I work retail and most of the complaints I see about dye comes from people who didn’t bother to follow directions or expected things that weren’t possible (putting light brown dye over hair that has been dye black over and over again is not going to produce medium brown hair!)…
Yellow brand hair dye. The best I’ve used, not messy and very pretty color payoff. And it lasts, won’t fade. I sound like a commercial, lol.
I love playing with at home dye! With a bit of research I even went platinum blonde over the summer and didn’t suffer any of the dreaded breaking or fall out I always read about. After bleaching I saturated my hair with vitamin E and left it on for near 24 hours, it went from dry straw to plump and soft 😀
The newish foams are soso easy to use I <3 them
I’ve started using L’Oreal Excellence HiColor in Red for all over flaming red color. It’s very vibrant and holds really well. The best part is that I tought my husband to apply it so I don’t miss any sport in the back. Sometimes I will go over the whole thing with Special Effects High Octane or Nuclear Red to make it really pop.
I love going to Sally’s and buying my own hair dye. I use 2 bottles because my hair is so thick, so I like that I can mix two colors. I like going darker, but going lighter without professional help is a nightmare!
I use box dye but replace the developer with lower strength stuff from Sally’s. Half the problem with home dyes fading is because the developer is too strong, especially if you are going darker. I dye my blonde hair black violet using a combination of Schwarzkopf Brilliance and 3% peroxide. I don’t get fade and my hair is good and strong. I’ve been dying my hair for years, have been many colours all done at home with help from either my best mate or my bf.
Sally’s is the best. I’ve been dying my own hair for over a decade now. Nothing tops the customization you get from mixing your own. There’s toner, developer strength and consistency, protein fillers etc. to help modify.
I’ve been using henna as a hair dye for about a year now, and I absolutely love it. You can get some really gorgeous shades with henna; I’m using a shade called burgundy (which, because of my blond hair, ends up a really intense bright red), and there all kinds of reds, oranges, browns, and blacks available too! The initial bright color does fade in a few days, but I look like a natural redhead (not super bright but definitely orangy-red) for over a month! Plus, it’s really good for your hair. If you’re interested in going red or brown, I think you should try it. It can be a little messier than box dye, but I definitely prefer it!