Choose the formula first, then the shade. The formula decides how long the colour stays: permanent hair dye grows out rather than washing out and gives the fullest grey coverage; demi-permanent and tone-on-tone colours enrich your own shade and fade softly over the weeks; semi-permanent colour rinses away over a set number of washes. The shade number then tells you two things, how light or dark the colour is and which tone it carries. At home, stay within a level or two of your natural colour, and let the pack's instructions lead every step.
Permanent, Demi-Permanent or Semi-Permanent?
The difference is in how the colour works. Permanent colour is mixed with a developer, a hydrogen peroxide cream or lotion. Together they open the outer layer of the hair so the new colour can form inside it, and they can lighten your natural pigment as they go. Demi-permanent and tone-on-tone colours use a lower-strength developer, so they add colour with little or no lightening. Semi-permanent colour needs no developer at all. It settles close to the surface of the hair, it cannot lighten, and a little of it leaves with every wash.
Several of the colours we have chosen are professional tubes. They come without developer, and each pack names the strength and the mixing ratio it needs. If this is your first time colouring at home, a boxed kit, with everything in one box, is the simpler place to begin.
Permanent Hair Dye for Lasting Colour
Choose permanent colour when you want a true change of shade, a little lift, or full coverage of grey. It does not wash out; it grows out, so the roots will need retouching as they grow.
Excellence Creme from L'Oréal Paris is a boxed kit made for colouring at home: a cream formula with Pro-Keratin, Ceramide and Ionène G in what the house calls a triple-care system, formulated for grey coverage. Koleston Perfect 7/0 from Wella Professionals is a permanent creme colour with Pure Balance Technology; its record describes a natural blonde with up to three levels of lift and full grey coverage. Majirel from L'Oréal Professionnel Paris is a colour cream with Ionène G and Incell, described as highly concentrated in caring agents and made for true-to-tone results; it goes on dry hair. Revlon's Revlonissimo permanent colour is built around its Ker-HA Complex 2X, with a care-and-shine finish.
- Excellence Creme Hair Colour
- Koleston Perfect Pure Naturals Permanent Creme Colour 7/0
- Majirel Colour Cream Hair Colour
- Revlonissimo Colors Metique Ker-HA Complex 2X Color Vibrancy Care & Shine Permanent Hair Color
Demi-Permanent, Tone-on-Tone and Gloss
These are the colours for refining rather than changing. Use one to deepen or warm your own shade, to soften the first greys so they blend, or to adjust the tone of lightened hair, the brassy warmth that creeps into blonde over time. Because they add colour without real lift, they fade gradually instead of leaving a sharp regrowth line.
Shades EQ Gloss from Redken is a conditioning colour with an acidic pH, mixed according to the instructions and applied to clean, towel-dried hair; the house describes it as semi-permanent, fading evenly over washes, and made for tone and shine. Color Touch Deep Browns 7/73 from Wella Professionals is a colour cream mixed before use at the ratio the pack gives, with medium coverage and a multidimensional brunette finish. Bond Enforcing Blonde Toning from Schwarzkopf, shown here in Ice, is a toning cream for hair at levels 8 to 10, a pastel shade that cools warm tones.
- Shades EQ Gloss Hair Colour
- Color Touch Deep Browns 7/73 Hair Colour
- Bond Enforcing Blonde Toning Hair Colour
Semi-Permanent Colour and Root Touch-Ups
Semi-permanent colour is the low-commitment choice: a tone refresh between permanent colours, or a softer shade to try for a few weeks. It blends grey rather than covering it. A root touch-up is more temporary still, staying on the hair until your next shampoo.
Color Fresh 5/56 from Wella Professionals is a ready-to-use direct colour liquid with a pH of 6.5. It needs no developer, lasts up to eight washes, and goes onto clean, towel-dried hair through a pointed nozzle. Light Dimensions Soft Color in 10P Pearl from Goldwell is a semi-permanent foam for light to very light blondes, with a five-minute processing time and Intralipid in the formula. Magic Retouch from L'Oréal Paris is a small root touch-up with a fine brush for the hairline and parting; it goes onto dry roots, needs a moment to dry, and lasts until the next shampoo.
- Color Fresh 5/56 Hair Colour
- Light Dimensions Soft Color Semi-Permanent Foam Colourant 10P Pearl
- Magic Retouch Hair Colour
How Do You Read a Shade Number?
The figure before the point or slash is the level: how light or dark the colour is, on a scale that runs from 1, black, to 10, the lightest blonde. The figures after the separator are the tone. The first is the main tone, the second a softer secondary one, and a 0 means a natural, balanced tone. So Koleston Perfect 7/0 is a level 7 with a natural tone, which Wella Professionals names natural blonde, while Color Touch 7/73 is a level 7 carrying two tones. Houses do not all number their tones alike, and some use letters: Goldwell's 10P is a level 10 Pearl. Always read the tone chart of the range you are buying.
To find your own level, look at your roots in daylight rather than your lengths, which hold old colour and sun. Then choose within one or two levels of it. Remember that colour does not lift colour: a permanent shade lighter than hair you have already dyed will lighten the new growth, not the dyed lengths.
Covering Grey
For full coverage, choose permanent colour and favour shades with a 0 or a natural tone. Grey hair has no pigment of its own to soften a pure ash or a bright copper, so on grey those tones can look flatter or brighter than the chart suggests. If your grey is only beginning, a demi-permanent or tone-on-tone colour blends it softly and grows out without a hard line. Where grey is densest, often at the temples and parting, apply first so it has the longest time.
Before You Begin
Follow the pack's instructions, including the skin test it asks for. Then:
- Do a strand test on a hidden section, to check both the shade and the timing.
- Use the developer the pack names, at the strength and ratio it gives.
- Wear the gloves, protect your hairline and your clothes, and keep a timer close.
- Apply to dry or towel-dried hair as the pack asks, working in sections so every strand is reached.
Aftercare
If the pack asks you to wait before the first wash, wait. Wash in lukewarm rather than hot water, and choose a shampoo and conditioner made for coloured hair. Use a heat protector before blow-drying or straightening, wear a hat in strong sun, and rinse your hair after swimming. Between permanent colours, a gloss or a semi-permanent refresh can bring tone and shine back to the lengths, so that only the roots need permanent colour each time.
If you are choosing for the first time, begin at the roots: find your level in daylight, then choose a shade within one level of it, in a natural tone.
