Few beauty treatments feel as dangerous as dyeing your own hair. Even once you’ve pored over the shades to find the perfect colour, mixed your dye and followed the instructions to the letter, disasters still seem to occur.
Fortunately, you’re probably not the problem. The blame can often fall on the dye itself. Some are trickier to nail than others, or simply not formulated to give you the salon-quality finish you crave.
There are a range of things you need to take into consideration before you even purchase that first box of dye. Not all dyes are made equal – you can choose between semi-permanent and permanent options, with the former usually the healthier choice for your hair in the long run, as it’s typically free of ammonia.
You also need to think about the method of application. We’re past the point of just bog-standard box dyes. Now, there are easier ways to switch up your hair colour. Many are kinder to your strands, and are also much easier to reverse if you turn against the new you the moment you catch sight of your hair in the mirror.
To help narrow down your search, we’ve combined all of our experience bleaching and tinting our hair across the years to put together our guide to the best hair dye brands.
Read more:
L’Oréal Paris is the first stop for many on their hair-dyeing journey. Whether you’re looking to make a drastic change or a subtle touch-up of your roots, the brand offers a huge variety of natural-looking shades in both permanent and semi-permanent varieties.
Where L’Oréal Paris really excels is in the latter. Its casting crème gloss line has never let us down. Each of its more than 30 shades is free from ammonia and takes just 20 minutes to work its magic once you’ve mixed the formula and applied. The accompanying goji conditioner is incredibly nourishing, and you’re left with hair that actually feels softer and healthier than it did before dyeing, which is rare.
For something more permanent, excellence crème offers an equally impressive shade range and is enriched with keratin to keep both your hair and its new colour strong. We’ve always found the shades across both ranges accurate to those depicted on the box, but if you’re still not sure which is right for you, we recommend checking out the brand’s virtual try-on service.
Visit L’Oréal Paris at Boots.com now
From its packaging to its colour range, everything about Bleach London just screams cool. The entire brand is oriented around colouring bleached or naturally light hair, focusing on semi-permanent pastel and neon shades. It also supplies the necessities to prep and maintain it with bleaching and toner kits. No matter what your hair goals may be, every product in the line is similarly simple to use. All of its colours are colour creams, covering everything from a honey blonde (£6.50, Bleachlondon.com) to lime green (£6.50, Bleachlondon.com). These are applied to shampooed hair, then rinsed out after 30 minutes.
You don’t get loads of product from each bottle, meaning longer hair will need several to get the job done, which can tally up the cost a bit. Some colours also last much longer than others. Darker shades like bruised violet keep going for months, while pastels like bruised peach can fade in a matter of days. However, few dyes are this easy to use, making them perfect for beginners or those who are chameleonic with their hair.
Visit Bleachlondon.com now
While Garnier does dip into more exciting colours like rose gold (£6.99, Boots.com) and violet (£6.99, Boots.com), it’s best known for natural shades across its permanent nutrisse lines. Everything about its dyes is straightforward. To find the right shade, just use their handy numbering system – the bigger the first number, the darker the shade, while the second reflects its undertones, ranging from a neutral zero to a warm six. The dyeing process itself is also incredibly easy, taking around 30 minutes once the dye has developed.
Where Garnier really shines is in its aftercare. Each nutrisse dye comes with an absolute powerhouse of a conditioner, packed with avocado, olive, cranberry and shea oils. Our hair has never felt so soft and sleek. Its ammonia-free olia range also looks out for the quality of your hair post-dyeing, using an oil-powered formula to boost shine.
Visit Garnier at Boots.com now
Known for its wide array of colours, Shrine is a haircare brand specialising in semi-permanent hair drops. It was the first brand in the world to launch such a product, and it’s truly groundbreaking for anyone who likes to switch up their look on a regular basis. Simply pop some of your favourite conditioner into the bowl included in every kit, add a few drops of your chosen shade (or multiple shades, if you’re feeling experimental) and apply it all over your hair for 10 minutes. Rinse, and voila. Pastel hair heaven.
It sounds too good to be true, but it really is that easy. The more drops you add, the darker the shade – within reason. As is usually the case, most of the colours don’t make a radical difference to darker tones, and if you opt for a pastel it’ll wash out quickly, no matter how light your hair. You just can’t beat the Shrine drops’ flexibility, or the finish of its rose shade (£9.99, Weareshrine.com).
Visit Weareshrine.com now
You’re spoiled for choice when picking a shade from Schwarzkopf. The bulk of its options come from its live range, which encompasses both natural and bright, long-lasting shades. To create the best colour possible, these rely on a vibrancy serum that activates the pigments at the core of each strand.
Although the results are definitely intense, some shades – like amethyst (£4.79, Boots.com) and lilac (£4.79, Boots.com) – have a habit of fading after a few weeks, despite being marketed as permanent. For longer-lasting results, we recommend the Ooleo intense line. While it only offers natural shades, the colour is richer and infused with oils to keep it healthy, thus protecting your colour for longer. Whichever dye you choose, both lines typically require multiple boxes to tackle very long hair.
Visit Schwarzkopf at Boots.com now
The namesake of Josh Wood Colour is the award-winning expert himself, so of course it knows good hair dye. Its line of permanent dyes is free of ammonia and comes with the brand’s secret weapon: the shade shot. This helps create a multi-dimensional colour by infusing the dye with the undertone of your choice. That sounds confusing, but it couldn’t be easier to use. You just mix in the shade shot with your dye and proceed as normal, avoiding the flat finish you get with a lot of box dyes.
For an even easier way to jazz up your hair, we also recommend the gloss and glaze collection. This is essentially a semi-permanent colour treatment hair mask that washes in. While most don’t work on darker hair, there are even a few offerings to add some temporary warmth to your strands. Results are effective, fun and short-lived enough to spice up your ’do for a week or so.
Visit Joshwoodcolour.com now
The name tells you everything you need to know about this brand. Since the 1950s, nice’n easy has existed to provide everyone with top-notch hair colouring from the comfort of their own home. Today it offers two different lines – one permanent (£12.78, Boots.com), and one semi-permanent (£5.15, Boots.com) that’s free of ammonia – which deliver equally solid results.
Its permanent range is undeniably the most practical. Colours are never patchy, and consistently accurate to that depicted on the box. The formula is an oil-infused creme that leaves your hair with a lovely sheen, and you can even buy a lot of the shades with an accompanying root touch-up kit, to help delay your next full-dye. The blonde shades were most impressive here, with a lot more variety than we’re used to across cool, neutral and warm undertones. While we’re also a fan of the semi-permanent shades, we do find the colour loses its wow factor a little too quickly for our liking.
Visit Clairol nice’n easy at Boots.com now
Hair dye isn’t Umberto Giannini’s primary focus, and yet the brand still manages to do it so well. Its permanent Flowerology hair colour range is 100 per cent vegan and free from ammonia, not to mention filled with natural, organic, hair-loving ingredients like vitamins C and E, camomile and orange-peel extract that leave your strands silky smooth, combined with the colour lock conditioner.
These dyes have more of a gel-like consistency than we’re used to, which helps with the application process as it doesn’t accidentally drip away from your hair, and you seem to get through less product than usual on longer hair. That said, just be sure to follow the instructions to a tee and shampoo out the dye rather than just rinsing, as it can leave a bit of a residue. Admittedly, the range also lacks variety with just seven shade options, but makes up for it with fewer harsh chemicals than most of its competitors.
Visit Umbertogiannini.com now
As if a line of cult classic shampoos and conditioners wasn’t enough, John Frieda added permanent hair dyes to its roster in 2018. Unsurprisingly, its formulas totally break the status quo. Instead of lathering onto hair, its range foams up instead. This is more than just a gimmick – it allows it to penetrate deep into strands to create deep, rich colour, as well as reaching all the tricky spots you might miss with a regular dye, making it a lifesaver for anyone with particularly long or thick hair.
At 16 shades, the brand’s colour range isn’t the biggest but it does cover most bases. In our experience, the darker shades last much better than the lighter, blonder options. However, all the colours look very natural and it’s difficult to mess up applying dye via foam.
Visit John Frieda at Boots.com now
Revolution is best known for its make-up, but it recently launched its own line of hair tones. Don’t mistake these for toners – they’re powerful enough to tint even darker hair, thanks to an innovative line formulated specifically for brunettes (£6, Revolutionbeauty.com). If, like our tester, you’ve spent years jealous of how easy it is for blondes to transform their hair, this is your time.
Available in midnight blue, berry pink, Californian orange, green envy, purple velvet and merlot, they couldn’t be easier to use. Just apply all over dry hair (longer or thicker hair may need two or three bottles) and rinse after 30 minutes. While they promise colour for between two and 15 washes, green envy left us with a tinge for over a month and a half (as is often the case for blues, greens and purples). Results aren’t quite as dramatic on very dark hair, but did still leave a colour deposit. Blondes can even get in on the fun too (£6, Revolutionbeauty.com).
Visit Revolutionbeauty.com now
For the latest discounts on hair products and other beauty offers, try the links below:
Give dyed hair an extra helping hand with our best hair vitamins for stronger, glossier locks