These Color-Depositing Conditioners Make Hair Coloring SO Easy!

Source: Jeff Vespa/WireImage/ Getty Images

Dyeing your hair every color of the rainbow is all fun and games… until you’re left with crazy breakage and dull strands. (Let’s not even talk about the cringey bleach fails.) But there’s a newish category of products in the “fashion hair color” world that’s making it possible to have your colorful coiffure without sacrificing hair health.

We’re talking about color-depositing conditioners, which are basically nourishing hair conditioners formulated with pigments. Instead of traditional dyes that can damage your hair, you’re literally giving your hair some TLC while simultaneously transforming it. Rad, yeah?

Oh, and did we mention that they’re also super easy to use? There’s no mixing required, and you can rest easy knowing they’re a near-zero chance of a post-rinse meltdown. You also don’t have to bleach your hair first, and some color-depositing conditioners even work on dark hair. Below we’ve listed some of our fave color-depositing conditioners.

oVertone Coloring Conditioners, $32 each

You can thank oVertone not just for being a pioneer in the color-depositing conditioner space, but for the fact that they have 14 hues to choose from! Specifically, they make 10 fashion colors (including rose gold, green, and magenta) and four “neutral” options to enhance your current color – black, silver, ginger, and brown. They even have an entire line dedicated to people with dark hair, which is rad, though most of their colors work on any color that’s “lighter than jet black.”

Brite Instant Color, $8 each

Source: Brite

Not only is every single product made by Brite is cute AF, but their entire line is vegan and ethically made. We’re shouting out their Instant Color, which comes in three different pretty hues: pastel pink, pastel purple, and turquoise. It’s a moisturizing formula free of ammonia and parabens, and the color lasts anywhere from five to 30 washes.

Lime Crime Unicorn Hair Full Coverage Hair Color, $16 each

For the longest time, the founder of Lime Crime, Doe Deere, kept silent about her perpetually vibrant hair. Her fans wanted to know how the heck she had such gorgeous, pastel-hued hair that wasn’t begging for a deep condition. Eventually, she revealed her well-kept secret and debuted a line of pre-mixed, semi-permanent hair color formulated with a conditioning base.

The product now comes in 21 bold colors and is a true semi-permanent dye. In 2017, Lime Crime launched a color-depositing conditioner version of the OG product that’s available in five fashion colors: peach, purple, fuchsia, pink, and blue. The payoff isn’t quite as vibrant (which some prefer), but it is more conditioning than the dye. Some people choose to use the dye, then keep their color vibrant with the color depositing shampoo/conditioners.

Moroccanoil Color Depositing Mask, $28 each

We’re really digging Morocconoil’s ultra-nourishing formula here. In addition to pigments, each color depositing mask is made with apricot kernel oil to soften and hydrate, an amino acid blend to nurture and boost shine, and antioxidant-rich argan to protect and repair. The masks come in seven gorgeous shades, including platinum (a tinsel-like silver), aquamarine, and Bordeaux. Make sure to check their handy guide to choose a shade that’ll work on your current hair color.

Have you ever dyed your hair a “fashion color”? How did it go? If not, would you ever consider using a product like this? Let’s get the convo rolling in the comments below.