Collage: Jemeria Davison; Source images: Courtesy of brandsSave this storySave this story
Whether you want to try out highlights or go all-over, today's best at-home hair color kits have made significant strides from the box dyes of years past—think the formulas themselves (nourishing ingredients that won’t leave hair feeling stripped), shade selection (neutrals, bolds, the works), and ease of use. And, if you don’t want to make the full commitment, semi-permanent hair dye or tinted hair glosses offer a temporary shade shift. Some dye kits also include color-depositing conditioners that’ll help boost shine (Dullness, who?). Target-specific formulas, including those for grays or outgrown roots, can enhance your silver or extend your salon color without compromising the overall health of your strands—the options are endless.
Our Top At-Home Color Kits
- Best Permanent Overall: eSalon Made for You Custom Hair Color, $33
- Best Semi-Permanent Overall: Overtone Color Depositing Mask, $32
- Best for Blondes: Schwarzkopf Keratin Blonde, $12
- Best for Brunettes: IGK Permanent Color Kit, $31
- Best for Grays: AgeBeautiful Permanent Hair Color Cream, $12
Frequently Asked QuestionsLargeChevron
- How do I know what shade to dye my hair?
- How much hair dye should you use?
- How can I make my at-home hair dye last?
- Meet the experts
- How we test and review products
- Our staff and testers
Don't get us wrong, we love visiting our colorists, but the time (and cost) of getting professional dye jobs add up quickly. So, instead of keeping up with constant appointments, extend the life of your in-salon color treatments—or ditch them altogether, depending on what you're going for—with these vibrant at-home hair-coloring kits.
Best Permanent Overall: eSalon Made for You Custom Hair Color
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eSalon
Custom Hair Color Set
Amazon
eSalon
Why it’s worth it: Take the guesswork out of coloring your hair with eSalon's Made for You Custom Hair Color, a tailored service that features in-house colorists hand-mixing a color kit made just for you. Its high-quality, ammonia-free pigments are so spot-on that it's won five Best of Beauty Awards and four Readers' Choice Awards to date—no big deal. One of the reasons we love it: Allure tester Liana Schaffner previously said in her review of the kit that this is an ideal set for every skill level, even for hair dye beginners. "It basically makes DIY at-home hair color foolproof—the beauty equivalent of a soufflé recipe that won't collapse below sea level," she wrote.
After answering a quick set of questions about your hair texture, skin tone, amount of grays, and so forth, a colorist whips up a bespoke batch of permanent or semi-permanent hair dye, complete with application tips, delivered right to your door.
More to know
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- Formula type: permanent or semi-permanent
- Shades: custom color only
- Ammonia-free: yes
Best Semi-Permanent Overall: Overtone Color Depositing Mask
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Overtone
Color Depositing Treatment Mask
Amazon
Ulta Beauty
Why It’s Worth It: Rather than lifting the hair shaft to deposit pigment, Overtone’s Color Depositing Mask coats the outside of your strands to avoid compromising hair health. The semi-permanent, color-depositing hair mask (and a 2026 Best of Beauty winner!) comes in 38 whopping shades—from subtle neutrals to vibrant hues—to achieve rich, true-to-you color at home. As a nourishing mask at its core, the formula is infused with natural oils, including jojoba, castor, sweet almond, and coconut oils, to deeply moisturize, improve softness, and enhance shine as it transfers color. With gloves, apply the mask to dry hair in sections and leave it in for at least 10 to 15 minutes before rinsing so that you can achieve the most vibrant color.
Tester feedback from designer Briana Rengifo
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"One of the easiest hair dyes to use! I keep this on rotation as one of my favorites since it’s quick to apply and doesn't stain my neck or tub. And because it's a conditioner, it always leaves my hair soft, silky—and a totally new shade depending on my mood." —Briana Rengifo, designer
More to know
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- Formula type: semi-permanent mask
- Shades: 38
- Ammonia-free: yes
Best for Vivid Colors: Good Dye Young Semi-Permanent Hair Color
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Good Dye Young
Good Dye Young Semi-Permanent Hair Color
Amazon
Ulta Beauty
Why It's Worth It: If you’ve been toying with the idea of color, Good Dye Young's Semi-Permanent Hair Color has a vibrant lineup of neons and jewel tones to play around with. Fitting for essentially every hair type, this Hayley Williams-backed formula provides fun, pigmented color that doesn’t quickly wash off, including a variety of ultra-electric colors, like magenta, royal purple, green, and teal. The formula helps reduce the risk of damage with a conditioning and strengthening blend of sunflower seed oil, hydrolyzed rice protein, and glycerin, which are also all heroes at fighting color-fading and dryness. And because it's infused with bergamot essential oil, the citrus scent provides plenty of uplifting vibes. If you're looking for something a tad more low-key, check out the Best of Beauty-winning DyeDeposit, a color-depositing mask.
Tester feedback from former senior news editor Nicola Dall'Asen
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“You can mix your Good Dye Young shade of choice into your conditioner for a boost of pigment in between touch-ups, but this formula is so long-lasting, you probably won't need to—and that's on Good Dye Young being low-key magical.” —Nicola Dall'Asen, former senior news editor
More to know
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- Formula type: semi-permanent
- Shades: 6
- Ammonia-free: yes
Best for Beginners: John Frieda Precision Foam Colour
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John Frieda
Precision Foam Colour
Amazon
Why It's Worth It: "Anyone who's applied hair color knows that dripping [product] is an annoying part of the application process," says Los Angeles-based hairstylist Damian Monzillo about the advantages of foam application. Enter: John Frieda Precision Foam Colour, a permanent hair dye that’s a solid entry point for newbies—and an Allure Best of Beauty Award winner. Not only are you left with zero streaks most of the time, but best of all: a "clean bathroom and hairline," Monzillo says—a perk that everyone, especially beginners, benefits from. Plus, you won’t have to scroll online for an application guide: The kit comes with everything you need to nail the best color possible, including gloves, an after-color conditioner, and straightforward instructions. Keep in mind that most box kits come with a 20 volume developer, which means that the formula can lift hair "exactly one level lighter than where you currently are," Monzillo points out.
To ensure a seamless, natural-looking dye job, Monzillo recommends using a little bit of Vaseline on and around your hairline to prevent any color lines from sticking around. He also advises dividing the hair into half-inch sections while dyeing to allow the color to absorb better. Take note: The results are always better when you take your time.
More to know
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- Formula type: permanent
- Shades: 19
- Ammonia-free: no
Best for Blondes: Schwarzkopf Keratin Blonde
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Schwarzkopf
Keratin Blonde
Amazon
Walmart
Why It's Worth It: Blondes may have more fun, but being a bottle blonde comes with its challenges: Whether natural or dyed, blonde hair is often more brittle, fine, and dry than darker hair, making it more damage-prone. The solution? Bicoastal celebrity hairstylist Marc Mena looks for a formula “that considers the hair’s condition as much as the finished color,” such as Schwarzkopf’s Keratin Blonde. Its three-step Bond Forcing System starts with a pre-color serum consisting of vitamin B6 and hydrolyzed collagen to condition dry ends and prep the strands for color. The color lightening kit itself—promising all-over blonde up to nine levels—infuses keratin with hydrolyzed silk and apricot kernel oil to reinforce the hair structure and minimize breakage as it lifts. It’s topped off with a two-in-one purple conditioner that pairs anti-brass benefits with a hydrating keratin complex for stronger strands.
More to know
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- Formula type: permanent
- Shades: 10
- Ammonia-free: no
Best for Grays: AgeBeautiful Permanent Hair Color Cream
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AGEBeautiful
Permanent Hair Color Cream
Amazon
Sally Beauty
Why It's Worth It: Allure editors celebrate aging in all forms—grays included. While grays are a common reality of getting older, the truth is aging hair also experiences changes in texture and shine, making it difficult to color. Though we can’t reverse or halt grays, New York City-based colorist Tiffanie Richards calls AgeBeautiful’s Permanent Hair Color your best friend for gray hair coverage, whether you’re embracing the silver or looking to conceal grays. With soft neutrals and warm-to-cool grays, the kit is fitting for all stages of the graying process. Plus, it's more akin to a conditioning hair treatment, with ingredients such as biotin, melanin, keratin, and peptides that West Hollywood, California-based hairstylist Jess Gonzalez recommends for replenishing dry, dull mature hair.
More to know
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- Formula type: cream
- Shades: 87
- Ammonia-free: no
Best for Brunettes: IGK Permanent Color Kit
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IGK Hair
Permanent Hair Color Kit
Amazon
Shop
Ulta Beauty
Why It's Worth It: IGK's Permanent Hair Color is an easy-to-apply formula recommended by Lorena Martinez Valdes, a Chicago-based colorist, for its vibrant, dimensional color. (Translation: It makes you look like you've just stepped out of a high-end salon.) "It focuses on increasing the shine level, which many at-home color kits lack," Valdes notes. For natural or dyed brunettes, that makes all of the difference. Plus, New York City-based hairstylist Gillian Doland says the shade range consists of modern, rich, and natural hues, so results appear far from flat and streaky. The formula also leaves your hair feeling softer and smoother with moisturizing squalane and glycerin, among other nourishing ingredients.
More to know
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- Formula type: permanent
- Shades: 21
- Ammonia-free: yes
Best for Darker Shades: Madison Reed Radiant Hair Color Kit
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Madison Reed
Radiant Hair Color Kit
Amazon
Ulta Beauty
Why It’s Worth It: According to North Carolina-based hairstylist Taylor Murphy and Doland, Madison Reed’s Radiant Hair Color Kit is your best bet for salon-quality results. Its dark, dimensional shade range offers complete gray hair coverage and all-over color in just 35 minutes, while a strengthening, circulation-boosting blend of keratin, argan oil, and ginseng root extract helps protect hair health. Bonus: The formula comes in a thick cream texture that has zero harsh smell (it’s ammonia-free!), zero drips, and zero mess.
More to know
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- Formula type: permanent
- Shades: 33
- Ammonia-free: yes
Best for Roots: DpHue Root Touch-Up Kit
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dpHue
Root Touch-Up Kit
Amazon
Dermstore
Revolve
Why It’s Worth It: Don’t let overgrown roots get in the way—especially if this Best of Beauty-winning root touch-up kit from DpHue has anything to do with it. It brings color back to life with 100% coverage (even on stubborn grays) until your next salon visit. The set also precisely conceals roots and the hairline—kudos to its application process, which includes mixing bowls, gloves, processing cap, and flat-bristled applicator brush (which you can use for mixing, parting, and applying)—for results that last up to two touch-ups. Plus, the gentle cream formula deposits color with low ammonia (high levels can strip cuticles of moisture) to help maintain the integrity of your strands.
Tester feedback from executive beauty director Jenny Bailly
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"I have naturally medium brown hair with blonde highlights throughout and used the dark blonde shade. I woke up the next morning to a perfect match—and no grays. This wasn't my first root touch-up rodeo, and other kits just haven't been able to stamp out all my truly stubborn, pain-in-the-ass grays, and/or the color has faded away in a week or two. This one gave me full coverage and a rich, shiny color that lasted until the professional color appointment I finally made a month later." —Jenny Bailly, executive beauty director
More to know
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- Formula type: permanent
- Shades: 7
- Ammonia-free: no
Best Hair Gloss: Kristin Ess Signature Hair Gloss
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Kristin Ess
Kristin Ess Signature Hair Gloss
Amazon
Ulta Beauty
Why It's Worth It: Think of this Kristin Ess hair gloss as a conditioning toner: Not only does it boost your color's vibrancy (no matter how long it's been since the salon visit), but it also keeps your hair feeling healthy and looking super shiny. Recommended by bicoastal hair colorist Cherin Choi, its Alkaline Neutralizing System (a gentle pH system) adds a layer of much-needed protection, preventing hard-water minerals from being deposited onto your hair and scalp, plus an Anti-Oxidant Complex (a.k.a. a proprietary blend of conditioning ingredients such as avocado, sunflower seed, and castor seed oils) that helps slow the color fading process and keep your hair vibrant for longer. All in all, your color will last three to four weeks and gradually fade depending on how often you wash your hair.
More to know
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- Formula type: temporary
- Shades: 8
- Ammonia-free: yes
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I know what shade to dye my hair?
The first rule of thumb—and a solid piece of advice to live by—is that looks can be deceiving. It may seem like your dream shade is staring right at you, but our best bet is to turn the package around and see how the formula will actually look on your hair type, explains hairstylist Andrew Fitzsimons, who the Kardashian-Jenner family has on speed dial.
"Be sure to thoroughly consult the chart on the side or the back, which gives a better indication of where your hair color will end up, based on your beginning hue," says Fitzsimons. Dana Ionato, a New York City-based colorist, agrees: "The color always ends up lighter than the model's hair on the packaging [because] the developer in at-home permanent dyes is very strong—stronger than the ones we use in the salon—so it lifts the color and makes it lighter than what you see on the box."
Even if you consult the back of the box for guidance, it can still be tricky to figure out your perfect shade. According to Ionato, for at-home permanent dyes, your best bet is choosing a color that's a touch darker than what you're going for because of the strong developer. But for semi-permanent dyes, it's the opposite. "Semi-permanent formulas don't have a developer, meaning they get darker and darker the longer you leave them in your hair, so it's safer to choose a color that's a bit lighter from the get-go," Ionato explains.
According to Fitzsimons, conditioning is another crucial step you don't want to miss. "Using a deep conditioner at the end of the dyeing process seals the cuticle, so your strands stop absorbing the color," he says. “If you skip conditioning, you'll end up darker than you expected.”
How much hair dye should you use?
You’d be surprised by the amount of product you might need to use to completely transform your hair. According to bicoastal hairstylist Meri Kate O’Conner, hair can quickly soak up hair dye, especially if it is damaged—meaning your cuticles are lifted and more porous—which can lead to missed spots once you run out of product. “Never try to stretch the formula—insufficient saturation [flat or streaky dye] is one of the biggest causes of patchy color,” mentions Mena.
Your hair length and density also play a factor in how much product you use. “If you have short or fine hair, one box will typically be enough, but if you have long, thick, or very dense hair, I always recommend having two boxes on hand” to completely saturate your strands, says Murphy. So when in doubt: “It’s always better to have extra color than not enough,” shares Gonzalez.
How can I make my at-home hair dye last?
To make your hair dye last, aftercare matters most to maintain color vibrancy. As a start, Mena recommends waiting at least 48 hours before washing your hair, incorporating a sulfate-free, color-safe shampoo on wash days, and always rinsing with cool to lukewarm water. Instead of conditioner, Richards says to swap it in with a hair mask to keep your cuticles healthy—Mena adds that this step is especially important for blondes, brunettes, and redheads. You’ll also want to avoid heat-styling (unless you use a heat protectant) as often as possible, excessive sun exposure, chlorine, and frequent use of clarifying shampoos—all of the above can accelerate fading.
Meet the experts
- Cherin Choi is a bicoastal hair colorist.
- Gillian Doland is a New York City-based hairstylist.
- Andrew Fitzsimons is a Los Angeles-based hairstylist.
- Jess Gonzalez is a hair colorist at Flore Salon in West Hollywood, California.
- Lorena Martinez Valdes is a colorist at Maxine Salon in Chicago.
- Marc Mena is a bicoastal hairstylist.
- Damian Monzillo is a Los Angeles-based hairstylist and colorist.
- Taylor Murphy is a North Carolina-based hairstylist.
- Meri Kate O’Connor is a colorist at Salon Benjamin in West Hollywood, California, and New York City.
- Tiffanie Richards is a master colorist at Louise O’Connor Salon in New York City.
How we test and review products
We always enlist a range of testers for our makeup vertical, but hair-care products and tools are another story. While there are certainly products that can be used across different hair textures, lengths, curl patterns, thicknesses, colors (natural and unnatural), and needs, hair products are often created with specific consumers in mind. Many are created in order to address a concern (dandruff, breakage, brittleness) or to work most effectively for a specific hair type (4C curls, wavy hair, gray hair). You wouldn’t want to pick up a purple shampoo that’s only been reviewed by someone with, say, auburn hair, or a diffuser that's never been tested by anyone with curls—right?
For our review of the best at-home hair color products, we enlisted the help of multiple editors, writers, contributors, and professional colorists to find the most vibrant, long-lasting hair dye formulations. Testers considered performance across four primary categories: efficacy, texture and experience, fragrance, and packaging. For more on what's involved in our reporting, check out our complete reviews process and methodology page.
Our staff and testers
A beauty product is a personal purchase. You might be searching for a face cream to address persistent dryness or a new nail product to add to your Sunday self-care routine; you may simply be browsing around for the latest launches to hit the hair market. No matter what you seek or your individual needs and concerns, Allure wants to ensure that you love anything we recommend in our stories. We believe that having a diverse team of writers and editors—in addition to the wide range of outside testers and industry experts we regularly call upon—is essential to reaching that goal.
After all, can we really say a skin-care product is the "best" for people over 50 if the only testers we've solicited opinions from folks who have yet to hit 30? Can we honestly deem a high-end diffuser worthy of your hard-earned cash if it's never been tested on curls? We're proud that our staff spans a wide range of ages, skin tones, hair textures, genders, and backgrounds, which means that we are able to fairly assess any beauty product that comes into the beauty closet.
