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InStyle / Reese Herrington
If you’ve ever gotten your hair colored or done a DIY dye job at home, chances are you’ve gotten a whiff of ammonia before. A common ingredient found in many hair dyes, ammonia is an active that makes strands more susceptible to color saturation. More specifically, celebrity hairstylist Michelle Cleveland says, “Ammonia raises the pH level of the hair during the oxidation process which in turn opens the cuticles of the hair, and allows the color to be deposited deep into the cortex of the hair.” In short: Ammonia has long been the key to, well, long-lasting color.
Considering the strong scent and often irritating nature of the ingredient, though, scientists have set out to find ingredients, such as ethanolamine, monoethanolamine (MEA), and sodium carbonate, that mimic ammonia without the aroma. Because of this, ammonia-free hair dyes are rising in popularity, with many brands hopping onto the bandwagon. While it’s great to have variety, a highly-saturated market means that it can be difficult to know which dyes are actually worthwhile. To help clear up any confusion, we researched the highest-rated formulas and chatted with celebrity stylists for their top picks.
Ahead, uncover the best ammonia-free hair dyes that provide rich, vibrant color.
Best Overall
Revlon Colorsilk Permanent Hair Color
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Walmart
What We Love: It’s sold in over 40 shades and it’s keratin-enriched, so it helps strengthen hair.
What We Don’t Love: Using this can sometimes create a tingling sensation on the scalp.
Revlon Colorsilk Beautiful Color Permanent Hair Color has wowed DIY dyers across the world with its ammonia-free, keratin-enriched formula that’s sold in over 40 shades ranging from ultra light blonde and chestnut brown, to auburn and jet black.
At-home users aren’t the only fans, though. Celebrity colorist Sharon Dorram, who owns Sharon Dorram Color at Sally Hershberger in New York City, also applauds the formula. “It touts keratin and silk amino acids [which reinforces hairs' strength], has a very good color range, and imparts beautiful shine,” she says.
Each box contains a bottle of the ammonia-free colorant, a bottle of the cream developer, and an ultra-hydrating cream conditioner to deeply nourish your hair after processing. The no drip-bottle design ensures a mess-free application, too. Simply part hair into four sections, apply the color, and let it sit for 25 to 35 minutes before rinsing out. It’s worth noting that some users report that the dye makes their scalp tingly, but those instances are few and far between (and a very minor inconvenience for vibrant, long-lasting color).
Active Ingredients: Isopropyl alcohol, oleic acid, ethanolamine | Type: Permanent | Shades: 41 | Size: 4.4 oz.
Best Budget
Clairol Natural Instincts Hair Color
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Amazon
What We Love: It’s made with 80 percent naturally-derived ingredients.
What We Don’t Love: This isn't strong enough to fully cover gray hairs.
In addition to being quite affordable, Clairol Natural Instincts Demi-Permanent Hair Dye is one of (if not the) cleanest at-home hair dye options on the market. Formulated with 80 percent natural ingredients, it’s a deeply nourishing coloring agent that’s designed to leave hair looking healthy and bright. Dorram is also fond of this formula, thanks to the inclusion of coconut and aloe vera, which helps to deep-condition hair during the dye process.
Available in 38 hues (including three red options), this ammonia-free dye will keep hair vibrant through 28 washes — this impressive longevity means you can extend the time between dye jobs, and ultimately save money in the long run. But if you're looking to cover stubborn gray hairs, you may want to go with something else because this formula isn't strong enough to fully cover them.
Active Ingredients: Propylene glycol, hydrogen peroxide, cetearyl alcohol | Type: Demi-permanent | Shades: 38 | Size: 10.4 oz.
Best Splurge
Madison Reed Radiant Hair Color Kit
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Amazon
What We Love: It promises 100 percent gray coverage and features a no-mess system.
What We Don’t Love: Some colors turn out darker than they appear on the box.
If your goal is to recreate a salon-like dye experience at home, the Madison Reed Radiant Hair Color Kit is a great option. “This permanent hair color is free of ammonia, parabens, and resorcinol, and includes nourishing keratin, argan oil, and ginseng root extract to help condition and strengthen the hair,” says New Jersey-based color specialist Jennifer Korab. “It's also available in many shades and provides multidimensional, long-lasting color.”
The well thought-out kit includes everything you need for seamless coloring at home: On top of the cream color and the conditioning color activator, you’ll also find a set of gloves, a cap, cleansing wipes, and Madison Reed’s color protecting shampoo and conditioner. And, the application process is pretty enjoyable because the ammonia-free dye doesn’t have a harsh, pungent smell.
We love almost everything about this kit, but we noticed that some of the colors turn out a bit darker than they do on the box (especially in the brown and red ranges). Because of this, we recommend opting for one shade lighter than the color you’re going for to get the closest match.
Active Ingredients: Stearyl alcohol, propylene glycol, ethanolamine | Type: Permanent | Shades: 36 | Size: 1.7 oz
Best Drugstore
Garnier Olia Oil Permanent Hair Color
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Amazon
What We Love: It’s infused with 60 percent oils, so it’s super hydrating and nourishing.
What We Don’t Love: It can sometimes leave hair feeling extra greasy — even after rinse-out.
Hoping to really pump up the shine factor while enhancing your color at home? Korab suggests reaching for the Garnier Olia Oil-Powered Permanent Color — a drugstore dye beloved by over 10,000 Amazon shoppers. “It’s infused with natural flower oils and is made without ammonia, parabens, and silicones,” she says, applauding the shine-enhancing formula.
Because of the oil-enhanced formula, this dye can also make hair look a bit greasy, though, especially if your hair leans oily. We recommend only using this if you have dry or normal hair to see the best results.
Active Ingredients: Hydrogen peroxide, cetearyl alcohol, sodium cetearyl sulfate | Type: Permanent | Shades: 32 | Size: 6.3 oz.
Best for Natural Hair
SoftSheen-Carson Dark and Lovely Fade Resist Haircolor
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Amazon
What We Love: It’s infused with argan oil and vitamin E, so it’s hydrating and shine-enhancing.
What We Don’t Love: The formula is much thicker than other options on our list, making it a bit difficult to apply.
Formulated with shea, avocado, and olive oil, Dark & Lovely Fade Resist Rich Conditioning Hair Color is designed to protect, relax, color, and hydrate natural hair. Best of all, the non-drip hair color is easy to use and promises 100 percent gray coverage.
While most hair dyes are naturally damaging to hair, this formula actually works to strengthen, condition, and repair hair with its moisturizing ingredients. The same nourishing ingredients make the consistency of the dye very thick (like a deep-conditioning hair mask). This makes it a bit difficult to apply — we recommend wetting your hair during the dye process so it spreads a bit easier.
Active Ingredients: Cetearyl alcohol, palm oil, behentrimonium chloride | Type: Permanent | Shades: 18 | Size: 7.05 oz
Best for Gray Hair
Naturtint Hair Dye
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Naturtint
What We Love: It’s made with 92 percent naturally-derived ingredients and promises long-lasting gray coverage.
What We Don’t Love: It can sometimes leave a slimy film behind during rinse-out.
Gray hair is notoriously difficult to cover up. And while we’re all for embracing our grays, we understand if you feel more confident with a quick coloring. If you want to cover your grays at home with an ammonia-free dye, Naturtint Permanent Hair Color is the thing to grab.
The gel formula is designed to impart beautiful color and notable shine. “It includes natural ingredients such as oat, soy, and coconut oil to help nourish and protect the hair,” Korab adds, noting that the color payoff — which offers long-lasting gray coverage — is remarkable. The payoff is so impressive that it can take a while to fully rinse out the dye post-processing, and while rinsing, hair can feel rather slimy. Don’t get discouraged: An extra lather of shampoo for gray hair will leave your hair feeling soft and fresh.
Active Ingredients: Alcohol, propylene glycol, ethanolamine | Type: Permanent | Shades: 35 | Size: 5.75 oz
Best Kit
Hally Color Cloud Atomic Blonde
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Hally
What We Love: It comes with a fully-stocked kit, including hair clips and under-eye masks to help you relax during the process.
What We Don’t Love: There’s not a large color range to choose from, and most of them are bright colors like pink or blue.
Coloring hair at home can be confusing — especially if it’s your first time. But having a handy kit with everything you’ll need to have a seamless process makes it a bit easier. We love Hally’s Color Cloud Kit because beyond including the dye, developer, hair clips, and gloves, it also features some quirky additions, like stress putty and under-eye masks to make the dying process more relaxing.
As a demi-permanent formula, this dye washes out after four to six weeks, making it ideal for beginners who just want to test out a new color. Though, keep in mind that there aren’t many hues to choose from. The kit only comes in seven color variations, and while there are some natural colors available (ash blonde, milky brown, and soft black) many of the options are a bit more bright: Think fiery red, rose gold, and ocean blue.
Active Ingredients: Isopropyl alcohol, propylene glycol, ethanolamine | Type: Demi-permanent | Shades: 7 | Size: 8.8 oz
Best Highlights Kit
Revlon Color Effects Frost & Glow Highlights Honey
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Amazon
What We Love: This fully stocked kit helps you effectively apply highlights at home.
What We Don’t Love: It’s only sold in three colors.
Ammonia-free highlight kits exist as well — and Revlon Color Effects Frost & Glow is hard to beat. Sold in three colors (Blonde, Honey, and Platinum), the box includes a special Light Zones Cap, spatula, mixing tray, highlight powder, developer, instructions, and even shampoo and conditioner.
The Light Zones Cap is a unique innovation that makes it easier to determine where to apply the highlights. Simply place it over your head and pull the pieces of hair you’d like to highlight through the slits — it keeps the rest of your hair protected and out of dye’s way to ensure you don’t experience any mishaps. The one downfall of the kit, though? We wish there were more color options that spanned further than blonde.
Active Ingredients: Potassium persulfate, sodium stearate, sodium metasilicate | Type: Permanent | Shades: 3 | Size: 8.47 oz
Best Fun Colors
Arctic Fox Vegan and Cruelty-Free Semi-Permanent Hair Color Dye
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Amazon
What We Love: The colors are bold and extremely pigmented.
What We Don’t Love: The end result can sometimes be inconsistent with the box images — be sure to take your current hair color into consideration for the best results.
Craving a major hair change and want to experiment with ultra-bright colors? Look no further than Arctic Fox Semi-Permanent Hair Color. With options spanning from neon yellow to deep teal and even sterling silver, it has every fun color covered.
Korab also thinks it’s an excellent pick for anyone looking for a drastic change. “It’s vegan and cruelty-free, and includes nourishing ingredients such as soy protein, jojoba oil, and grape seed oil to help condition and protect the hair,” she says. When applied according to the instructions, results can last four to eight weeks, so it’s also a great option for folks who want to test out a color before committing to it long term.
It’s worth noting that some shoppers say that the color didn’t turn out exactly as depicted on the bottle. Arctic Fox includes a chart with each bottle of color, though, that depicts how it will look when applied to different hair colors. Make sure to look at the chart to get an idea of how it will look on your natural hair before purchasing.
Active Ingredients: Cetyl Alcohol, glycerine, glycerol stearate | Type: Semi-permanent | Shades: 30 | Size: 4 and 8 oz options
Best Strengthening
Schwarzkopf Simply Color Permanent Hair Color
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Amazon
What We Love: It’s made with oat milk, soy protein, and argan oil to hydrate and strengthen hair.
What We Don’t Love: This isn’t the most long-lasting option on our list — the color tends to wash away more quickly than others.
There’s no denying that coloring your hair can break it down over time. Because of this, it’s helpful to look for strengthening formulas to help build your strands back up. According to both Dorram and Korab, the Schwarzkopf Simply Color Permanent Color is a fantastic option. “It includes a nourishing oat milk and soy protein [blend] to help protect and strengthen the hair,” Korab explains. With 18 shades to choose from, this healthy hair dye also completely covers grays for a vibrant, youthful finish.
One note: While it’s marketed as a permanent color, we found that this doesn’t last as long as other options on this list. We recommend extending the time between washes to keep hair vibrant — or if you really love a color, you may want to buy a few boxes.
Active Ingredients: Cetearyl alcohol, ethanolamine, hydroxyethyl-p-phenylenediamine sulfate | Type: Permanent | Shades: 18 | Size: 5.7 oz
Best for Sensitive Skin
Herbatint Permanent Haircolor Gel
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Amazon
What We Love: This hair dye is dermatologist-tested and safe sensitive skin.
What We Don’t Love: It’s not the best option for adequately covering grays.
While nixing ammonia from hair dye is a surefire way to make the formula more tolerable, some folks may still experience a scalp or skin reaction. Thankfully, Herbatint Permanent Haircolor Gel — which is dermatologist-tested on sensitive skin — exists.
What sets this product apart is just how far down in the ingredients list ethanolamine is. While the ingredient is thought to be a better alternative to ammonia thanks to its lack of a pungent odor, some people still find it to be irritating. Since it’s much less concentrated in this formula, though, it’s been shown to be tolerable across the board.
Beyond protecting the scalp, this dye also offers gorgeous, vibrant color payoff in 38 shades. Plus, with the addition of eight herbal extracts, it acts as a natural toner to ward off brassiness and soothes the scalp. If you’re trying to cover grays, though, you may want to look elsewhere because this isn’t as effective on that growth.
Active Ingredients: Hydrogen peroxide, etidronic acid, trideceth-9 | Type: Permanent | Shades: 38 | Size: 4.56 oz
Best Color-Depositing Conditioner
dpHue Gloss+
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Amazon
What We Love: It’s a color-depositing conditioner, so it can be used as often as you’d like.
What We Don’t Love: The Copper and Strawberry hues can stain skin.
Not one for mixing dyes or waiting around for your hair color to process? With the dpHUE Gloss+, you can quickly enhance your color while in the shower. The color-depositing conditioner is designed to deepen your current color while boosting shine. Depending on how long you leave it on — between three and 20 minutes is the recommendation — your color results will vary. In that way, it’s an especially great formula for folks looking to maintain their color between salon appointments.
We’ve seen great results with just about every shade offered, but you may want to steer clear if you have red hair. Both of the red hues (Copper and Strawberry) are prone to staining skin.
Active Ingredients: Cetearyl alcohol, propylene glycol, behentrimonium chloride | Type: Semi-permanent | Shades: 12 | Size: 6.5 oz
What to Keep in Mind
Ingredients
Hair dye is known to be drying. As such, Dorram says it’s wise to always look for formulas enriched with aloe vera, coconut oil, argan oil, and vitamin E to restore and maintain your hair’s hydration. Furthermore, Cleveland says to keep an eye out for formulas infused with natural keratin, as it will help strengthen strands during the dyeing process. Madison Reed Radiant Hair Color Kit contains both argan oil and keratin to simultaneously condition and strengthen hair during the dye process.
Color Range
Many at-home hair dyes come in an impressive shade range — a majority on our list are offered in over 30 hues, with our best overall winner, Revlon Colorsilk Beautiful Color Permanent Hair Color, offering an impressive 41 options. While selecting a brand with a wider variety of color options may seem like the best thing to do, Dorram suggests first determining if you want to go lighter or darker, then look at the options.
“When choosing a hair color, it's important to consider your skin tone and natural hair color to find a shade that will complement your features,” says Korab. “It's also a good idea to do a strand test before coloring your entire head to ensure that the color turns out as you expected.” Building off of this, Dorram also recommends sticking with a color that is either two shades lighter or darker than your current color for the best results.
If you’re looking for a more fun color, like blue or pink, we recommend Arctic Fox Semi-Permanent Hair Color or Hally Color Cloud.
Dye Type
Ammonia-free hair dyes exist across three categories: Permanent, demi-permanent, and semi-permanent. According to Korab, permanent hair color typically uses a developer in place of ammonia to activate the color. These dyes, like Herbatint Permanent Haircolor Gel, are designed to last the longest.
Demi- and semi-permanent dyes are shorter-lived. “Demi-permanents require a mixing agent (developer) to gently push the color slightly under the cuticle for some gray coverage; semi-permanent hair dye, however, does not require a mixing agent and typically only lasts about four to 12 shampoos before fading,” Cleveland explains. Additionally, she points out that both semi- and demi-permanent dyes only deposit color. “Meaning they will only make hair darker,” she says. “Typically, they will only cover gray hair up to 70 percent.”
Your Questions, Answered
Are ammonia-free hair dyes better for hair?
They can be. “Ammonia-free hair dyes can be better for you if you have a sensitive scalp, skin, or eyes,” Doram says. Additionally, she says that if you’re sensitive to scents, ammonia-free hair color is less pungent, and thus more tolerable.
It comes with its drawbacks, though. “If you are trying to lift and deposit color onto the hair, like in a gray coverage situation, an ammonia-based color is ideal for the best coverage,” celebrity stylist and #Mydentity founder, Guy Tang, says. “If you want a natural grow out, then an ammonia-free hair color would be best; or if you’re looking for a temporary color.”
Are ammonia-free dyes effective at covering grays?
While certain ammonia-free dyes will cover gray (like Naturtint Permanent Hair Color), Tang admits that he finds ammonia-based color to be the most effective. “Especially when covering coarse gray hair,” he exclaims. That said, he admits that ammonia-free hair color works well for blending gray hair.
Is ammonia-free hair dye safe to use during pregnancy?
While ammonia-free hair dye is thought to be gentler and ultimately safe to use during pregnancy as a result, all of the experts we spoke with recommend consulting your physician before dyeing your hair while pregnant.
Why Shop With Us
Rebecca Norris has covered beauty for nearly 10 years. For this story, she chatted with hairstylists Sharon Dorram, Guy Tang, Michelle Cleveland, and Jennifer Korab to determine the best ammonia-free hair dyes of 2024. With their advice in tow, she was able to round up the highest-rated, most-effective formulas the market has to offer.
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