If you're feeling the need for a makeover, the easiest way to start is by colouring your hair. There's never a right or wrong time to begin your experimentation journey, and if that's the path you wish to go down, we're here for you. We'd also argue that temporary hair colours work even better if you’re not ready for the commitment of permanent hair colours. When it comes to the act of colouring, of course, you could go to the salon and get your hair dyed professionally, but if you’re looking to do a touch-up, or aren’t too fussy about the result and would prefer a rougher look, or have an impulsive need to transform your life in the dead of the night, then we’ve rounded up brands that do everything from ammonia-free hair colours to synthetic dyes, all of which are available online.
Tried, Tested & User Reviewed: Here's Our Pick Of The 7 Best Hair Colour Brands
Birds Of Paradyes
There’s always a temptation to go bright pink or neon green, and if you want to blindly pick a brand for that, choose Paradyes. The colour is semi-permanent, vegan, vibrant and easy to apply. Homegrown, the brand understands women’s hair, and the colours can be used on all hair types. What’s cool is that when you wash your hair post dye, it feels soft and smells nice. They currently have 15 shades, with an experimental colour of the month every now and then. Tried and tested by a few of us at LBB, we love them for their high pigment and non-damaging formula.
Price: INR 895 upwards
Pro-Tip: They also sell bleach and conditioner ideal for coloured hair.
BBLUNT Salon Secret High Shine Creme Hair Range
An Indian brand (from a popular salon chain), BBLUNT knows what Indian hair needs. Specifically keeping in mind the impact of hard water, the ingredients in the colours will offset the damage that hard water causes to your mane. Promising salon-like results, the hair colour lasts long, leaves your hair soft and shiny, and is ammonia-free! The hair dye are available in basic browns and a red. Users say that their hair got extra glossy after use, and didn’t have the 'ammonia' smell that most other brands do. Of course, if your hair is pre-lightened, the colour will be more vibrant and true to shade.
Price: INR 200 upwards
L’Oreal
After Garnier, L’Oreal is probably the most popular hair colouring option available for home use. L’Oreal Paris Casting Creme Gloss is a range of semi-permanent hair colour, which are cream based. This works best on pre-lightned/bleached hair, and ideal for those of you who don’t want to commit to any particular colour. It lasts up to six weeks. This dye only coats the outer layer of your hair, and is available in 11 ammonia-free shades.
The L’Oreal Paris Excellence Creme Hair Colour range features permanent hair colour options, and is ideal for covering greys. It’s gel based, comes with a developer (a hydrogen peroxide element that helps lighten hair, and is mixed with bleach and/or hair colour to deposit colour into the hair cuticle), and available in 38 shades. This one does come with ammonia however.
L'Oreal Paris Hair Color Root Retouch is an instant (and temporary) fix for covering up undyed roots between colour sessions. Spray based, this only lasts till the next wash, but great for emergencies. This is available in dark brown and black.
Price: INR 533 upwards
Streax
An Indian brand, Streax has been providing professional colour options for a few decades now. Deriving their ingredients and formulations from Ayurvedic practices, their range is highly pigmented as it is easy on the pocket. They currently offer two types—for global hair colouring (all your hair) and small sachets of dye for giving yourself temporary highlights. Available in vibrant purple, green, red and blue to name a few (and regular browns and blonde as well), the Streax Ultralights Highlighting Kit is great for those of you who want to experiment. It comes with a developer (that lightens hair), which you’ll need to mix the dye with. The colour stays on for four weeks if you wash your hair twice a week.
Price: 131 upwards (on Nykaa)
Pro-Tip: They also have instant shampoo hair colour in black and brown if you need something between appointments.
Biotique
Known for their clean, cruelty-free, vegan and herbal formulations, Biotique has hair colour options in their offerings too. Developed specifically for Indian hair, the colours they offer are brown, dark brown and black shades. These are all ammonia-free, and even the cream developer contains fewer synthetic components than other brands. But this results in you hair feeling drier, and the colour fading quicker, as it lasts for around four weeks if you wash your hair twice a week. Each colouring kit comes with Biotique’s colour protection shampoo and conditioner as well. Be sure to be generous with your deep conditioning treatment if you colour your hair with Biotique’s dyes.
Price: INR 180 upwards
Indus Valley
For those of you trying to avoid synthetic chemicals, get the hair colours from Indus Valley. Organic, vegan and derived naturally (ingredients include rose, amla, tulsi, and wheatgerm among others), if you’re not too fussy about the colour staying for a long time, this is for you. You can pick from two options:
For various shades of browns and blacks, when you want to colour greys, the Indus Valley Organically Natural Hair Color will sort you out. All you need to do is mix the powder with a gel that comes with a kit, apply it post shampoo and keep it on for up to 45 minutes.
The other option includes picking up their henna and indigo to give you a rich brown. Of course, you can use them independently as well.
Price: INR 160 upwards
Pro-Tip: Deep conditioning is a must if you're using this one. Men, they also have dyes for beards!
Sadhev
Another brand that makes natural and organic hair colour is Sadhev. They have a double process hair dye, which basically includes brown and black. Dye your hair brown, and then black over that for a natural finish. The ingredients include henna, indigo and amla, known to naturally condition the hair, the dye is also chemical-, cruelty-, and paraben-free. For those of you who have prematurely greyed fast, the double process hair dye works best, and if you just have a few strands or sections to cover up (and the hair isn’t stark white), use the single process one. As it’s natural, the colour wears off in less than a month but causes the least amount of damage.
Price: INR 557 upwards