This Semi-Permanent Dye Will Give You The Pastel Hair You've Been Dreaming Of
And it's under $10!
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Do you (like me) want a little hair change this summer? But in a don't-love-spending-money way? Say hello to my little friend — this L'Oreal Colorista Semi-Permanant Hair Color.
It's $8.51 on Amazon and comes in seven colors for blonde, light brown, or bleached hair, and four colors for brunette hair! I am, like many people, weirdly obsessed with pink right now, so I went with the color "Soft Pink" (pictured above).
For reference, this was my level of blondeness immediately pre-dye.
I have dirty blonde hair by nature and blonde highlights by my hairdresser Andrea, who is a queen.
Here's what comes in the kit: a bottle of the color itself, a brush to apply it, and a bunch of gloves so your hands don't turn pink.
Tip: Don't use the dumb brush unless you're an actual hairdresser. Gloved fingers are where it's at.
Full disclosure: I didn't exactly follow the directions, and it STILL WORKED. Really well.

They say to shampoo and dry your hair before applying. Well, I have lots of frizzy hair that takes a long time to dry, so I just decided to apply it to my three-day-old hair with curl cream already in it and see how it goes.
I also left the dye on for longer than they said I should, but honestly I was watching RHONY and got distracted.
I stand by it.
Because I really ~massaged~ it into my hair and left it on longer than I "should" have, it faded to the color on the box after 2-3 washes. Which totally works for me because I loved the stronger pink color AND the faded pastel. And that means less reapplying and less product used overall. AKA even less $$$.

I *DO* use sulfate-free shampoo regularly on my curly hair anyway, so I definitely think this helps keep it from fading.
For any other frizz-prone folks looking for great and cheap hair products, Garnier Fructis Curl Nourish shampoo & conditioner is my jam.
TBH, I actually shampooed it out of my hair a little when I first applied it (you're only supposed to rinse). My hair was kinda dirty and I was afraid the pink might be tooooo bright since I left it in for like 45+ minutes. So this is what it looked like after the first shampoo:

I stand by this too.
After two shampoos it looked like this:

And after three shampoos it looked like this:

Still a really nice and pretty pastel pink!