Colour Dye Recommendations

Please post your colour dye make & variety and your experience with it so far!

Updated: 10th February 2014
(I'll be maintaining this long term and adding in more of everyone's advice to the first post - any corrections, please let us know. Thanks to everyone's help!)

Reds:

Special Effects - Nuclear Red

sXedevitchka: "only lasted one wash in cold water...[but]...most awesome, most bright color I've ever used"

Snowflake Love: "no problems faded real nice"

Punky Colors - Poppy Red

Alexis: "Rub[s] off on anything it touches...turn[s]...pink after 10 washes or so"

Punky Colors - Flame

CorpseQueen: "nice red/orange, fades more to orange...very long lasting...hard time getting out!"

L'Oreal Colour Rays - Red

Sonic Architect: "permanent, very vibrant and required no bleach at all"

L'Oreal Excellence HiColor - Red

Jenni Dunfee: "really pleased...regular permanent dye...it doesn't really fade"

L'Oreal - Red Brown

nicole: "fades quick"

L'Oreal Excellence HiColor - Magenta

Jenni Dunfee: "really pleased...regular permanent dye...doesn't really fade"

L'Oreal Colour Rays - Red

Snowflake Love: "LONGEST lasting red I ever had and its definitely bright"

Beyond the Zone - Candy Apple

CorpseQueen: "nice shade of red, fades fairly quickly to a lovely pink...lasts a month or two"

nicole: "works amazing"

Manic Panic - Vampire Red

OctyOck: "not as dark as it looks in the bottle...really intense eye popping red"

Colorsilk - Red Brown

nicole: "fades quick"

La Riche Directions - Pillarbox Red

Kobalos: "good colour match, but took longer to settle in...didn't fade much in 1st wash...is lasting forever! :)"

Pinks:

Punky Colors - Rose Red

Toxic: "rub[s] off on walls...only did it bad night after...after 2 or 3 washes it stopped"

Special Effects - Atomic Pink

Cassy: "lasted over nine months"
LenaBean: "stayed in...even after dyeing it brown and then bleaching back to blonde!"

Special Effects - Cherry Bomb

Alexandra Sloan: "awesome!...lasts for months...best for the first week...after a few washes it does get lighter, but still stays really vibrant"

Color Fiend - Pink

Sonic Architect: "took but I needed to touch up every few days"

Splat - Pink

Emily Beth: "vibrant...will last about 2 months & fades into cool peach BUT destroys my hair if I try to maintain boldness of pink"

Manic Panic - Candy Pink

Jenni Dunfee: "pretty decent...reapply after about 3 weeks...because it starts to look too orange"

Manic Panic - Hot Hot Pink

Pamparius the Sailor Man: "This is very pink and fades extremely slowly."

Beyond the Zone - Pink

nicole: "works amazing"

Fudgebox Paintbox - Pink Moon

Raspberry Razorblade: "it came out really bright and lasted ages!"

Schwarzkopf Live Color XXL - Raspberry Rebel

Mali DeLan - "It's extremely vibrant and it fades in sort of a pleasant sunset-looking pink."

Greens:

Adore - Forest Green

Emily Beth: "lasts a really long time AND doesnt fry your hair"

Punky Colors - Spring Green

CorpseQueen: "Amazing shade and it lasts a long time"
Protagonist: "Its the tops."
Kaarina Rotten Crotch: "is fucking amazing"

Alexis: "has stayed in my hair for months"

Punky Colors - Forest Green

CorpseQueen: "Super great...lasted a few months...leaving hair tinted light green"

Special Effects - Iguana Green

LenaBean: "absolutely the best color I have EVER had"
Sonic Architect: "needed touched up about every week or so"

Special Effects - Limelight

lil Lauren: "DON'T get tho bc it wont stay in that long bc its such a lite color"
Khaos: "if your hair holds color well...touch it up after a few weeks...well worth it"
Hangman XIII: "no money for bleach...looks good"

Electric Lizard - Forest Green

CorpseQueen: "didn't take AT ALL didnt even tint her hair"

Manic Panic - Electric Lizard

Sonic Architect: "did not take at all"

N'Rage - Green

ZachWilson: "outlasted manic panic and splat. Without redying form the first 2."

SplaT - Neon Green

ZachWilson: "lasted about 1 week without fading from blonde"

Directions - Spring Green

Lotte: "didn't take at all...looked completely washed out already"

Kobalos: "Left it in over night to take...washes out quite easily. Bright vibrant colour"

Fudge Paintbox - Green Envy

Raspberry Razorblade: "was pretty average and came out way more yellowy."

Blues:

Stargazer - Coral Blue

Kobalos: "Needs bleached hair...24hrs to dye in, with enough, makes alright colour...1/2 strength after few washes"

Directions - Alantic Blue

Antikia: "didn't last for very long"

Manic Panic - Shocking Blue

mike-o-psycho: "fades too fast about a week & it is almost greyish" (from swimming)

Manic Panic - After Midnight Blue

Sonic Architect: "stayed really well"
Jenni Dunfee: "did the best in my hair....would last me about 4-6 weeks before...needing touched up"
Alexis: "really dark navy almost blue....washes out in 2-3 weeks & slowly turned...green after that."

Color Field - Blue

Sonic Architect: "two weeks or so and still looking decent"

N'Rage Mix and Go - Blue

Jenni Dunfee: "looked horrible and spotty and grey...Made me leary of bleach and dye in one"

Turquoise:

Manic Panic - Turquoise

Jenni Dunfee: "probably my favorite...faded pretty fast [daily wash]"

Alexis: "did not turn out at all on my natural dirty blonde hair."

Punk Colors - Turquoise

CorpseQueen: "AMAZING COLOR & long lasting, fades to nice light blue after few months"

Purple:

RAW - Purple

Sonic Architect: "washed out in a day"

Manic Panic - Purple

Jenni Dunfee: "only lasted about a week...but it turned such an ugly color"

Manic Panic - Ultra Violet

Alexis: "nice and darkish for a few days, but eventually turned my hair grey"
LenaBean: "turned my hair navy blue for three weeks. It was icky!"

Schwarzkopf Live Color XXL - Cyber Purple (permanent)

Lotte: "darker purple...more subtle and not so 'eccentric' and extremely vibrant colour"

Schwarzkopf Live Color XXL - Mystic Violet (permanent)

"more on the pink side...more subtle"

Punky Colors - Plum

Alexis: "its dark and last forever. It also smells really good."

Punky Colors - Violet

Snowflake Love: "so far lasting really nice. The ends of my hair are fading to a bleach white/purple look"

Ion Brights - Purple

braids: "color can vary depending on how much you use"

Yellow:

Punky Color - Bright Yellow:

Alexis: "Lasted quite a while on...bleached hair....re-dyed...before ever needing to touch it up"

Colorsilk - Blonde

nicole: "always comes out copper or orange/yellow"

Orange:

L'Oreal Excellence HiColor - Copper

Jenni Dunfee: "really pleased...regular permanent dye...faded a little during the summer/swimming"

Punky Colors - Flame

CorpseQueen: "nice red/orange, fades more to orange...very long lasting...hard time getting out!"

Special Effects Napalm Orange

Steve: "when first dyed its a borderline red but fades to the definition of orange. Think crayon colors."

Special Effects High Octane Orange

Nahtch: "more red than orange...Its now been about a month, now its much more orange"

White:

Manic Panic Virgin Snow

Alexis: "[On]...super dark brown- black hair...40 vol bleach...is supppper light and as close to white as"

Black:

Nice & Easy - Natural Black

Jennifer Rose: "decent permanent, stays colorfast & doesn't fade to ugly gray/green shades"

Manic Panic - Raven

Alexis: "washed out in a week"

General Brand Advice:

http://www.mohawksrock.com/forum/topics/what-hair-dyes-work-best-for-u

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Kobalos on September 13, 2012 at 8:28am

That is lovely! How many washes does it last with it being unbleached hair?

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Permalink Reply by Craig Griggs on September 13, 2012 at 11:20am

Bit of an update on the Manic Panic Electric Lizard. I bleached my hair with manic panics own bleaching kit and then dyed it with the electric lizard amplified dye took really well and was super luminous, about a month on its faded down to a bright blondey green. The different shades are because i originally had black and pink in my hair and the pink took to the bleach a lot more

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Permalink Reply by Kobalos on September 17, 2012 at 11:51am

I feel sorry for two people on the right - they got cropped out the shot! haha

The green(what was the actual colour description for the amplified dye?) faded to a nice strong yellow though here. Seems from a Google, the amplified ones glow in the dark?

I got some yellow last week, so will be interesting when I try it, to see how it compares.

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Permalink Reply by Craig Griggs on September 17, 2012 at 2:03pm

Yeah this isn't the best picture of it but unfortunately its the only one that i could find, in the dark it is still visible slightly but where it actually glows is under a UV or Black light (Wish I had got a picture) It glows! It's pretty cool. It's a hard one to describe because its not quite green enough to probably say its a green, it's just really luminous!

I've got some purple which i'm gonna put in tonight see how it goes :)

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Permalink Reply by Kobalos on September 17, 2012 at 4:58pm

Sounds pretty cool - though hard to imagine just how it looked - would be exceptionally cool to see UV 'hawk and feet dancing in glow-in-UV sneakers. Mmm...I'll have to check out YouTube to see if anyone has done that combo later. haha

Yep, always a pity when you don't have enough pics, I now make sure I take them where I never used to. :) Worth it, looking back.

Good luck with the purple!

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Permalink Reply by Kobalos on September 17, 2012 at 6:45pm

And the YouTube answer is: None! :'( Not even a good example of UV hair dye, never mind mohawk and sneakers glowing together. heh Amazing isn't it, how in the world of people, there are still some things not on the Internet yet. =)

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Permalink Reply by Craig Griggs on September 18, 2012 at 9:12am

It's tempting to try it as i have a pair of bright neon orange vans, and these things glow like nothing else under UV, too bad i can't dance haha

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Permalink Reply by Kobalos on September 18, 2012 at 9:46am

Too bad. haha

Never seen someone wearing bright orange vans - high tops? (usually everyone goes for very bland navy or black low-tops) Hey, if you had the red & yellow dyes I plan to try mixing to get some orange in my mohawk, that fit right it with your trainers! haha

And how'd the purple take?

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Permalink Reply by Raspberry Razorblade on September 13, 2012 at 4:26pm

Most of the bright hair colours I've used are Fudge Paintbox ones, cos it's way easier to get in NZ than any of the others. The green one (green envy) was pretty average and came out way more yellowy. Fave so far is the pink moon one, it came out really bright and lasted ages!

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Permalink Reply by Kobalos on September 17, 2012 at 11:48am

I like the colours here - what's the blue/purple one?

I've not tried Fudge Painbox yet - haven't seen it available over here in the UK. Reds & pinks do seem to hold well for me too - just trying to find a good blue that lasts seems hard. :)

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Permalink Reply by Raspberry Razorblade on September 17, 2012 at 5:47pm

The purple one was Directions - Violet, but it faded waaaaay faster than the pink. I can't get the paler blues to stick in my hair, but I just put through Electric Blue (Fudge again) and it seems to be staying a bit better...