Whether it’s highlights, lowlights, or double-process blonde, hair-color has the power to transform your look. Here, we suggest some kits to get you started.
The oils in this formula aren’t just for deep conditioning — they also help deposit color onto strands. In other words, your shade will last longer and look richer than it would with a typical at-home kit. We went balls-out and tested the most difficult of all hair colors to maintain: cherry red (060). And yes, it lasted until our roots grew in four weeks later.
L’Oréal paris Féria Wild Ombre
This kit lets you customize your grown-out highlights by brushing on color a few shades lighter than your base shade. For a dramatic effect, paint the color on all strands from chin-length to tips. Or, keep things subtle by holding the brush vertically and sweeping it over small, staggered sections, focusing on the ends, suggests colorist Christophe Robin, global color designer for L’Oréal.
Clairol is barrelling this year with a new take on an old classic. The brand has revamped the formula for its Nice ‘n Easy hair dye using the ME+ molecule, which is supposed to diminish the risk of developing an allergic reaction to the dye, if you don’t already have an existing allergy to it. Of course, even with the upgrade, you still get the same gorgeous at-home color that makes this one a drugstore staple.
Executive Beauty Director Jenny Bailly used this 2017 Best of Beauty Award winner eight hours before a flight and woke up with her grays seamlessly blended. “This one gave me full coverage and rich, shiny color that lasted until the professional color appointment I finally made it to a month later. Before my next trip.”
Take the guessing out of coloring your hair — eSalon is a service that allows you to get a color kit made just for you. After answering a set of questions about your hair texture, your skin tone, amount of grays, etc., one of their colorists whips up a bespoke batch of permanent or semipermanent dye to be delivered right to your door.
Go all Katy Perry and dye your entire head blue or opt for a carefully placed streak of purple or soft pink tips. It’s your world. This brand carries the boldest shades (Purple Haze, Green Envy, Electric Banana); brush them on your lightest section to avoid ruddiness. And commitment-phobes rejoice: the color rinses out after four to six weeks.
Perfect for those with damaged hair, this color system prevents oversaturation of dye so color comes out evenly from roots to tips. Plus, the mango, coconut, and shea butters in the ammonia-free formula made our hair noticeably smoother and shinier.
The whipped texture of this dye is “foolproof,” according to colorist Rona O’Connor. “The light consistency is easy to work through the hair, so the color stays even from roots to ends.” After one application of Dark Chocolate Brown, we were left with pretty, rich brunette strands (and not a single drip on our walls).
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