Wella • Color Charm Demi-Permanent Hair Color • Hair Color
(73 reviews)
| Average Rating. | 4.3 |
| Would buy this product again. | 82% |
| Package Quality | 4.1 |
| Price | 2.0 |
| Ingredients | |
Twinklelilnha on 6/14/2013 11:03:00 AM more reviews by Twinklelilnha
Age: 19-24 Skin: Combination, Olive Hair: Black Eyes: Brown
The color came out how it was suppose to. But the smell of the dye was really strong and is still in my hair days later. When I
Was lathering this off, I lost a lot of my hair and felt like a box colored dye. I've used the other permanent ones and it didn't give me that dry affect. It is very drying to your hair even tho it is a Demi. Disappointed....
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*TOP REVIEWER* moonandtheriver on 6/5/2013 8:15:00 PM more reviews by moonandtheriver
Age: 36-43 Skin: Combination, Fair, Cool Hair: Brown, Wavy, Fine Eyes: Blue
I'm not sure whats up with this stuff. But I did the 1:2 ratio for mixing color, used a level that should have grabbed a bit darker than my natural hair color and then faded as every other hair color I've ever tried has (with the exception of L'oreal Casting which started out light golden brown and stayed light golden brown till it washed out. I miss that brand.) This color did nothing. NOTHING. No change. The color in the bottle changed, but didn't color my hair one bit and even the color I got on my forehead didn't stain my skin even the tiniest amount. This was my second attempt using this stuff, thinking I got a bad batch of developer the first time when this happened. So I re-bought everything and went even darker with my color choice. What a waste of money. Zero color change on both tries. And my scalp hates this stuff too...I never get the scalp crawlies after I color. This one was a good two days of that. Won't attempt a third try. I have never had a hair color NOT color my hair, even a little. It was like I did nothing at all to it. Now my hair feels pretty awful and I don't even have colored hair to show for it. So frustrating and what a disappointment. I was looking forward to trying this so much due to the good reviews!
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*TOP REVIEWER* lisa1 on 3/9/2013 4:30:00 PM more reviews by lisa1
Age: 36-43 Skin: Acne-prone, Fair, Warm Hair: Brown, Medium Eyes: Brown
Wow. Really good hair color. Definitely never going back to the salon or box color. Made my hair so soft while coloring i was able to comb through it with color in my hair. NEVER done that before! Rich color, covers gray REALLY well, brings out highlights in my hair. NO smell. When i rinsed it out, baarely any color ran. Made my hair SO shiny! Wow! Definitely go 2 shades lighter than what you want becuase it does run very dark! Worth Every penny! Will update to see if it fades and how it holds up for the month. LOVE it!
UPDATE 5/6/2013 - The colors are just way too blah and monochramatic. No shine to it after about 3 days...and it DOES dry the crap out of my hair.... Back to Garnier Nutrisse box color I go.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
julescobb12 on 3/2/2013 5:20:00 PM more reviews by julescobb12
Age: 19-24 Skin: Normal, Fair Hair: Blond Eyes: Green
I was pleasantly surprised with this product! I was very hesitant reading all of the reviews, as most people claimed that this product left their hair dry, and the color was not true to the swatch. I have light blonde hair with honey tones and very light blonde face framing highlights, with dark lowlights underneath. I decided to go with the light ash blonde color, 8A, mixed with 7G Medium Golden Blonde 1:1 because I wanted more strawberry blonde in my hair and the picture showed that it had very golden strawberry tones to it, regardless of it "ash" name. With the array of colors I had, I was VERY concerned with how the color would come out on my many different levels of hair. My hair turned out gorgeous!! Its literally just as I had wanted it. Yes, the color does run a tad dark but I used a little packet of clarifying shampoo and WOW.. I love it. Goes great with my pale and freckled skin. My hair does pull out a lot of red, looks a lot like Cintia Dicker's hair at a light strawberry blonde. My only concern is the smell, It was very flowery and strong..and now I hate that my hair smells like it! Its like a very cheap flower candle... But besides that I will definitely recommend this to a friend.
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julilee on 3/1/2013 2:45:00 PM more reviews by julilee
Age: 25-29 Skin: Acne-prone, Fair Hair: Brunette, Wavy, Coarse Eyes: Hazel
I am not really as happy as I thought I would be with this color. It's gentle; it deposits well; I had a nice enough time applying it, but it's not without its faults. What I've written is not advice, as I'm not a cosmetologist. It's just my experience with this product.
My first problem with this color is that the floral fragrance is pretty darned strong. I guess it's to cover the peroxide, but I might actually prefer peroxide to this smell. I read complaints about it in previous reviews and when I started coloring my hair thought "Oh, this isn't that bad." After about 5 minutes, though, I got a headache (in a well-ventilated room with the fan going.) The smell still hasn't gone away after shampooing and conditioning my hair. Yuck.
I also have to complain about the colors. So they're a level darker than normal. That doesn't really bother me because I feel like you could choose the right level if you just took the swatches in the store seriously or looked at Wella's color chart online before making the trip to the beauty supply. My problem is that the darkest ash tone is a level 7. I have some golden tones in my hair from a previous color job, and the 3N is just a veil over the brassiness. You can see it shining through the dark brown, which is kind of awful. I just wish they had something ash-based in the brunette range so I could neutralize it. (Anyone have experience using the 7A for color correction on darker hair? I would love advice from an actual colorist!)
I don't think I will re-purchase Wella Color Charm. That said, I don't have anything against it. The smell honestly wouldn't be a deal-breaker if I loved the color. Having tried a range of box dyes, I have smelled worse. I just think that there's something better out there for me and my specific color issues.
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BulkyDecorativeClock on 2/4/2013 12:10:00 AM more reviews by BulkyDecorativeClock
Age: 30-35 Skin: Dry, Fair, Cool Hair: Brunette, Straight, Fine Eyes: Brown
I have used Wella for years. Once in a blue moon, I try another brand, but I ALWAYS come back.
I think the only important/unusual thing to really note about their demi-perms is that, like their permanent line, they turn out one level darker than they are labelled. That aside, they are very lasting & otherwise true-to-shade in my experience.
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*TOP REVIEWER* TeenBeauty on 10/26/2012 4:40:00 PM more reviews by TeenBeauty
Age: 19-24 Skin: Oily, Fair-Medium Hair: Blond, Straight, Fine Eyes: Blue
I remember trying this when I used to dye my hair blonde and wasn't a fan, but now since I have dyed my hair brunette, I LOVE this hair color! When buying this hair color you'll also need to buy the color charm developer also available at sally's (& if you don't already own a squeeze bottle to put the hair color in, get one at sally's; along with gloves :)
Then follow the directions and do a 2:1 ratio of developer:color. The first time I used this as a brunette (I was light brown then) I mixed two colors: 5N Light Natural Brown & 6W Dark Sand (as a previous reviewer rec'd) for 15-20 minutes (this is the usual amount of time I leave the dye on for). As everyone else has mentioned, your hair will come out 2 shades DARKER immediately after coloring (so my hair turned to a dark brown shade). I love how gentle this color is & how shiny it makes your hair look after.
I've used this brand 5 different times in the past 7 months (and I still get complimented how soft my hair is & how healthy it is by my stylist) and each time I mix different colors to get the right shade (and I'm still trying to figure out what it best for me).
-When I first used half 5N Light Natural Brown & half 6W Dark Sand, I found that it was just too dark for my taste & 6W gave my hair more red tones, which I wasn't into.
-The next time, I used 5N again & just a squirt of 6W (Liked this more, but still too dark right after).
-I then tried 7N Medium Natural Blonde because I liked the shade of the color sample (in sally's): right after I LOVED the color, but of course it faded within a week to a dark blonde/light brown shade.
- And lately I have been used half 5N Light Natural Brown & half 6N Dark Natural Brown. I think I'll be sticking to this, it's not too golden, not too red, not too dark; it looks natural & that's what I want.
***Edit: I now just use 5N Light Natural Brown & it's the perfect, natural looking brown
3 out of 4 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
chrissystyles on 10/16/2012 2:58:00 PM more reviews by chrissystyles
Age: 30-35 Skin: Combination, Fair, Cool Hair: Blond, Straight, Fine Eyes: Blue
I purchased 7N "medium blonde" to blend my warm amber blonde hair with some highlights that had been growing out. The resulting color is a milk chocolate brown with an ashy green cast. I have washed 3x already to get the color to fade sooner. Surely any conditioning results are negated by the additional damage I will cause to strip this awful color. I don't understand how anyone can endorse a product whose color chart is at least 2 levels off. Color with caution.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
khvalles on 9/4/2012 6:51:00 PM more reviews by khvalles
Age: 44-55 Skin: Sensitive, Fair, Neutral Hair: Brown, Straight, Fine Eyes: Blue
This stuff is fantastic and i can't thank MUA reviewers enough for turning me on to it. I'd been using L'Oreal Superior Preference in Amber Shimmer for a couple of years and was happy with the initial results, but it lightened very quickly and my roots were very apparent.
I bought a tube of Wella Color Charm Demi in 7WG/Med Sandy Gold, small bottle of developer and a squeeze bottle and got started. Mixing was easy, the smell is much more pleasant and there is no stinging. Also rinses easily and left no color on my hair towels.
Had no idea that the L'Oreal developer was so much stronger and would leave my hair in much worse shape than the Wella. Even though the Wella is a demi-perm the color lasts much longer and regrowth is much less noticeable. I did go a shade lighter than my original choice because many reviews mentioned that colors tended to take quite dark. It's very cheap, too. A total winner!
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
elph on 8/26/2012 8:21:00 PM more reviews by elph
Age: 36-43 Skin: Sensitive, Fair, Warm Hair: Brown, Wavy, Fine Eyes: Blue
I've been buying Wella Color Charm demi permanent creme in Sandy Gold to add some warmth to my brown hair and make my grey look like highlights. I use it together 1:2 with Ion Sensitive Scalp volume 10 and it works very well. It adds a lot of shine without damaging the hair and it has good staying power. This one's a keeper.
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
foxywoods on 8/4/2012 5:34:00 PM more reviews by foxywoods
Age: 44-55 Skin: Other Hair: Other Eyes: Other
Based on the reviews I tried Color-Charm demi.
My goal was to blend out the gray around my face and try to match the lighter root area to my darker more color saturated ends.
I had about 2 to 3" of root hair that was not colored; the rest of my hair is varying stages of old permanent and semi-perm color.
My hair is long, about 16" from root.
I used 8N, Light Natural Blonde. I had also picked up 8A Light Ash Blonde. I intended to mix the two, but after doing a strand test, I could see 8N would be fine.
Strand Test: snipped off 3" off length, timed 20 minutes. Very slightly darker, on porous hair.
Washed hair, towel dried
Color: 1/2 tube application with bowl & brush**. Saturated scalp and hair to ears. Concentrated on gray at temples and hairline in front. Processed 20 min, covered with cap, no heat. Pulled remaining color through to ends last 5-7 minutes.
Rinsed and conditioned, just your basic conditioner for 5 min. Rinsed and air-dried.
Right after the color process, my hair felt a bit "coated" and plastic-y, but NOTHING like boxed color and that wad of steel wool feeling.
Washed 48 hours after process, slight "coated" feeling; 3rd wash back to normal.
The Color Result: Overall, not as dark as expected.
The gray coverage is rather wimpy, but that also could be due to my color choice, it being so light. I imagine with a richer color selection, the gray could be nice highlights.
Root to tip, the color match was better than what I had before coloring. I believe I went a bit too light, but I also was afraid of the color grabbing too much at the ends, so I processed accordingly.
The Color Charm developer is nice, the scent is OK. I did get a bit of the scalp "crawlies" but that happens with all haircolor I have had except for foils where they don't color right on the scalp.
The peroxide is mild enough where I don't have that floofy, dry feeling to my hair. AND No Annoying RED!!
Seemed I had flyaways right after and I was a bit nervous at first - but the day I colored and next two days we had rainy, hot, humid, damp and muggy weather on an island that is coolish muggy and damp all the time anyway. Once the dry weather was back, my hair looked great.
Huge Plus: Shine! Nice, real shine in my hair, like I had not used any chemicals at all.
Next time I will try the next shade down, a level 7. Just to get better grey coverage? Also will get the Pore Equalizer which I skipped this round...so we'll see. This works for now.
**Use a tint&toner bottle, not the bowl method. The Wella mixture is even drippier than the Ion semi-perm stuff - with the bottle you can easily measure the color and developer too, and you can still use a brush if you like.
5 out of 5 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
MissDuckie on 7/19/2012 3:10:00 PM more reviews by MissDuckie
Age: 19-24 Skin: Combination, Fair-Medium, Cool Hair: Brunette, Straight Eyes: Brown
Well, I will start by telling you that I'm naturally a medium/dark neutral toned brunette. A couple of years ago a stylist over-processed my hair to make me blonde. I wish I had gone to a higher-end salon, because I know now, that the lightening results you achieve are like 90% based on the quality of the product. Point is, I ended up with fried hair that drove me nuts! I decided that although yes, blonde is sexy, healthy and shiny hair is sexier. Sooo about 7 months ago I decided to go back to brunette. I went to a new salon, where the stylist dumped a blend of warm and neutral brown demi-colors on my head. It looked great! Not such a fan of the red tones on my hair BUT I know that when trying to cover blonde, depositing red pigments is highly recommended. Besides, the red was really only visible when I was in the sun so it was fine. I knew that being demi colors, they would fade and I would need to return every 2 months or so. And BOY did they ever fade! Into a "dirty penny" copper/brown. Not flattering! So, every 2 months I'd need to go to the salon, pay $80, only to have my hair fade back to this nasty "dirty penny" color again. So I thought to heckkkkk with this, I'm done with this vicious, expensive cycle.
ENTER WELLA DEMI-HAIR COLOR:
I wanted to take my reddish/light brown hair back to my natural hair color : medium/dark brunette, in a neutral to cool tone.
I decided that I don't need to use any more red to cover up my blonde anymore, since my last stylist used a red-brown the last few times I went in. So I swung for the fences and went with 4N, aka Neutral medium brown. I wanted my hair to be, if anything, dark brown as opposed to medium. I got what I wanted. It came out very dark (no red) when it was first done, but as expected, it faded a fair bit by about the 3rd wash. Once it faded that bit, the color was just perfect. Wayyyy less red, slightly lighter than the darkest brown. Perfect. Can't wait to do it again so I can get ALL the red out. YAY.
Spent like $11 bucks at Sally Beauty supply. Beats the heck out of box dye.
Ps- ladies!! PLEASEEEE do not use box dye. EVER!! I feel like sharing with you the fact that I have NO self-hair dying skills.. When I dyed my hair with box-dye, it was horrible because you could tell I did my roots first, as they were a different color/fried (HOT ROOTS) compared to the rest of my hair.. with WELLA, there was absolutely no hot roots, like what happened with the box dye. And it totally should have happened again, since I SUCK at dying hair and left it on my roots for waaayy too long. Again. Yay for being able to choose a nice, gentle developer. Unlike box dyes where they all come with the strongest possible developer! And you don't typically even NEED a strong developer to deposit a darker color.. Ughh, they make it seem like box-dyes are for dummies, but really, if you mix your own colors and use a weaker developer, (almost) it's fool proof compared to box dye. Not to mention, if you ever want to lighten your hair after you've dyed it, box dye makes that 2193879864986129469642 times harder.
I will buy Wella Demi Colors again and again. No more salon visits for me to upkeep my color. And never ever ever again will I use box dye. Saving money, and saving the health of my hair baby!!!
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*TOP REVIEWER* ltgee on 7/16/2012 3:50:00 PM more reviews by ltgee
Age: 36-43 Skin: Oily, Tan, Warm Hair: Brunette, Straight, Fine Eyes: Brown
after reading tips and reviews on mua i picked up 5N, light natural brown. last night i was trying to achieve a light brown and i got a medium brown. which is fine because i know it will fade after i start shampooing it. i have been using boxed hair dyes for 15 years and this is my first time "mixing" my own batch at home (the next lightest color was blond btw). i have brown, stick straight asian hair thats highlighted. i like to do my own toner at home (instead of paying $50.00 bucks to my guy who confessed that toner was really just watered down hair color). i also like the ombre look. i put in the activator first and then the color second. 1:2 ration like the tube says (1 part color to 2 parts activator lotion). NO chemical smell! fabulous. the dye was very liquidy and thin so next time i will buy a squirt bottle instead of brushing it on. i only did my roots and 3/4 of the way down i sporadically fingered combed the dye into my hair so i could get the ombre look. i let it sit for 15 minutes, hopped in the shower, did not shampoo-just conditioned, blew dry it and went to bed. woke up this morning and am loving the color! its a beautiful brown with no discernible red or golden tones. and 3/4 of the way down it turns into my highlights-loves it! it was SO easy, SO cheap and my hair is not dry or straw like. amazing! i will definitely repurchase. what i would do differently is buy a squirt bottle, cape and a measuring cup for the activator lotion. purchased at sallys. i normally have to buy 2 boxes for my long hair but one tube would have been enough! i had plenty of leftover dye that i had to send down the drain. total bargain & salon results.
4 out of 4 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
onecanadiangirl on 6/29/2012 12:35:00 AM more reviews by onecanadiangirl
Age: 25-29 Skin: Combination, Fair-Medium, Neutral Hair: Brown, Wavy, Fine Eyes: Brown
Wanted to leave a detailed review of this product since I benefited so much from reading these reviews in choosing a hair colour brand. Had never dyed my own hair before and was very nervous, even though I was just refreshing my dark brown colour; previously dyed at the salon, also with demi-permanent (never used permanent colour). My natural colour is a medium-light mousey (ugh) brown with around 5% grey.
Opted to use the bowl and brush method to really get at my roots and at the greys around my temple area. In choosing a colour, wanted the 3N (darkest natural brown) shade but purchased 4N (medium natural brown) instead *due to advice on these boards*. It was the right choice - my hair turned out a rich dark brown, almost black colour. I like when the colour comes out a little darker when first dyed because that way I know it won't fade out so fast.
Bought the Color Charm Activating Cream (which from what I understand is essentially a level 10 developer with some added conditioning ingredients). Mixed 2oz (entire tube) of colour with 4oz activator/developer and got to work brushing it on. First time, so kinda awkward to do by myself, especially the back. But managed just fine. Ended up with quite a bit of dye left over (about 2oz left of total 6oz of mixture) despite having really saturated my hair with dye (my hair is medium length, past shoulders but not too far down back).
Covered hair with a shower cap and used the diffuser attachment on my blow dryer to heat my hair a little (for 5 about minutes) so that the dye would 'take' even more. Left the dye on for another 20 minutes after that for a total of 25 minutes.
Hopped in the shower, added a little bit of water to hair, and worked dye into a lather. Then rinsed out and shampooed with cool water and gentle shampoo, followed by a deep-conditioner meant for immediately after colour treatment.
Hair felt silky and smooth before I was even out of the shower. I like the 'coated' feeling that demi-permanent dyes give my hair because it is quite thin and this serves to add a little volume. My hair felt healthy when I got out of shower, and I was happy with the initial result of the colour. I was surprised at how little dye came out on my towel - I assumed a lot would come out because I thought I had really saturated my hair with the dye - but my white towel wasn't that stained.
Blow dryed my hair and inspected the colour. I am quite happy. Application is even and colour is rich. My hair feels soft, smooth, and healthy. I haven't straightened my hair yet (figured I'd do that tomorrow and give it a little bit of a break tonight), but I imagine it will be even smoother and shinier when I do.
Plan to deep condition my hair weekly with the same conditioner I used immediately post-dye (it's an 'Ion' brand packet I bought along with the dye at Sally's - will probably go back for full size bottle of it).
I am excited to see how this colour fades and holds up in the coming weeks, and how it makes my hair feel. As I said before, am quite happy with this product and, barring any awful fading, I am going to save lots of moola dying my own hair instead of going to the salon! Yay to that!
As a note, I have been considering dying my own hair for months now and had bought 2 pharmacy dye boxed kits but chickened out both times. Glad it worked out that way because after chickening out I did more research, found these boards, and read up on this product. I liked what I read and I'm glad I tried this instead of pharmacy dye. A couple of months ago, I would have never thought I'd be mixing my own dye rather than just using a boxed kit since even the thought of dying my own hair and foregoing the salon was nerve-racking for me.
In total, I bought 2 brushes (a smaller and larger one, but really only used the larger one); a cheap shower cap; the 2oz tube of colour; 8oz bottle of activating cream (which I have half left of); gloves; and vaseline to put around my hairline to prevent staining of my skin (which worked like a charm). All told, I probably spend around $25 for this first go at dying my own hair. In the future when I only have to buy the colour and activator, each dye job will cost less than $10 compared to the $60 + tip salon trip.
I'm a happy girl and wanted to share my experience with anyone reading this who is considering dying their own hair and wanted to do their research like I did.
Thanks MUA!
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Jenniferla32 on 5/25/2012 1:56:00 PM more reviews by Jenniferla32
Age: 36-43 Skin: Normal Hair: Brunette Eyes: Brown
Yet again, MUA was right! With some help from a fellow MUAer (thanks kikuchijones!), I decided to dye my own hair with this! I've used permanent box colors in the past, but have been professionally colored for a couple of years....what a pain paying that money and that tip every 4-6 weeks! I was a bit confused with the whole "developer, volume, ratio" talk, so I think that's why I was hesitant.
I have dark brown hair and a few grays...and my hair grows like a weed. Went to Sally's and bought a tube of color 5N (light natural brown), the smaller bottle of the activator (if you read the bottles, it tells you what activator goes with what color (ie, permanent, demi, etc), some gloves, and a mixing bottle (prefer this over a brush...I think :) I also bought the pre-dying spray from Ion (I think it's Ion..purple bottle). Sprayed that on my dry hair, dumped half the bottle of activator in the mixing bottle (I think it was 4oz), and squeezed the entire tube in (2oz, I think). Shook, and applied to my roots and about 3in down. After about 20m I took the color through, but stopped at the ends (my ends really absorb color). Waited another 5m then got into the shower- added some water to my hair and massaged, then rinsed. Then shampooed with a light shampoo and used a heavy conditioner. I love the smell of this dye- it's strong, but NOTHING like the usual smell of dye. No staining on my face or in the shower. Blowdried my hair and it looked just like it did before I dyed- only refreshed and very natural! Healthy, and just normal! I mixed too much color, but since it was my first time, I was just learning. I might get creative down the road and mix a little clear in with the dye, or add a darker/warmer brown in, but this is perfect. Dark brown hair with no real undertones = 5N (light natural brown). For the price, which was nothing, this is amazing. Won't be dying in the salon again!!!
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
*TOP REVIEWER* melinda_ on 4/12/2012 12:43:00 AM more reviews by melinda_
Age: 36-43 Skin: Acne-prone, Fair-Medium, Warm Hair: Other, Fine Eyes: Blue
I've used this many times when I've dyed my highlighted hair darker. It comes out very nice. It doesn't damage my hair and it lasts. The only problem is the colors run really dark. Like others said, get a few shades lighter. I got level 6 and mixed it with a 7 and it came out very dark brown on me, close to black. My hair is porous and just soaks up the color and it lasts for many many months on me, without lightening. Since I usually dye highlights, I don't use ash because it could turn green because highlights are porous. I also have pretty fine hair to boot.
I later tried a 7or an 8 (I don't recall, but I've probably tried both at separate times) and it STILL came very dark.
Right now, I'm in a blonde phase, but if I decide to go darker, I'll try a 10N and see how that goes. When I go darker I'm usually looking for a dark blonde, not brown. Level 10 would end up an 8 if my calculations are right, but I'd do a strand test to see how it turns out since they go so dark.
I used to mix it with half clear to dilute it, but it still comes pretty dark. I think I'd use 1/2 10 N and 1/2 clear or 1/2 NG next time to see if that makes it come lighter.
Definitely use a few shades lighter and do a strand test your 1st time.
Also, don't use pore filler if you're highlighted because then you'll really grab color and your hair can turn much darker than you want. That's only for grays and for people whose hair has demonstrated to not grab color.
It only gets 4 lippies because I wish they had even lighter blondes, so a level 13 could be a 10, for example.
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AlexAlexAlex on 4/11/2012 10:22:00 PM more reviews by AlexAlexAlex
Age: 25-29 Skin: Dry, Fair Hair: Brunette Eyes: Hazel
I am a believer! If you are getting a single process semi-permanent hair color (especially if it is darker than your natural color) in a salon, cancel your next appointment. Call a friend and go to sally beauty. Pick up one or two tubes of wella color charm in a shade lighter than you want to go. If it looks weird on those little hair samples, well, those little hair samples always look weird. Also pick up the special developer. Its different than the normal wella developer
Go home, mix 2 developer to 1 color. I used a kitchen scale with that reads grams to get a perfect 2:1 ratio. Twenty minutes on and salon-quality hair color.
I am amazed, and actually feel stupid that I've been paying $70 to get pretty much the same hair color. I just used 5N light natural brown, which tuned out a warm chestnut on my hair. I had some red in it already from my last salon job, and the 5N didn't totally drown the red (although I wish it would), but I'm afraid I would probably need a double process to get all the red out.
All in all, this stuff is great. As I said, as good as what you would get for a single process in salon.
5 out of 5 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
catherinesophia on 3/15/2012 9:48:00 PM more reviews by catherinesophia
Age: 30-35 Skin: Normal, Fair Hair: Brunette Eyes: Hazel
I am in love. I have been spending thousands of dollars a year to get my hair professionaly dyed and cut and I have taken all of my hair stuff in house. I read a lot of reviews of this hair dye, and I have been using it now for about 6 months. I only dye the roots each month, as I have a number of grey hairs, and although my natural hair color is dark brown, I use the light brown shade of this dye. I also stopped using sulfate shampoos, so the color just doesn't fade. I wash my hair every other day using DevaCurl nopoo, and my hair dye never fades now. I only have to dye the roots because my hair grows so fast.
I have been paying very close attention to the areas that have been dyed (1:1 ratio with the developer) and it is not broken or dry. In fact, it looks thicker and shinier than the rest of my hair. The hair dye is rather drying if you are not using sulfate shampoos (there is SLS in the dye itself), but you can protect your roots by first applying coconut oil to your hair about an hour before you dye it. I did this for the first few times, but I decided to stop, because I no longer use detergents to wash my hair, so I'm afraid that the coconut oil will make my hair look oily, and I wont be able to wash it out. If you are using regular shampoo, just oil your hair before you apply the dye. It works really really well.
I dye my hair every 4 weeks (I make a calendar reminder, but I can start seeing the greys popping through after 3 weeks), and I just section it out, apply the dye, then sit in the bathtub for 20 minutes. I wash it out using a very gentle cleanser, and I swear that it never fades. My hair is rich, dark and shiny. I have very very delicate hair that breaks at the sight of any chemicals, so I was very cautious about dying my hair with anything. This does not damage my hair. I actually think it might my hair appear thicker. I only need to use 1/2 tube to dye the roots each month, so it costs me $1.50 a month to keep my greys in check. Compared to paying $100 every two months, I don't think I will ever go back to getting my hair dyed professionally. Heck, I think my hair dresser may have been using this dye on me anyway :)
I have about 5% greys, but because my hair is so dark, it is really noticeable, and the roots are also very evident. The light brown makes the greys look like they are blond, and it gives the rest of my hair a beautiful dark rich brown shade. The color has a lot of dimension and it doesn't look like I dye it at all.
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*TOP REVIEWER* enamacheylove on 2/23/2012 11:24:00 PM more reviews by enamacheylove
Age: 19-24 Skin: Combination, Fair, Neutral Hair: Blond, Medium Eyes: Green
Let me start off by saying, I decided to use this because of an awful previous experience. Anybody reading this is probably very confused at this point. Let me clarify, I used 1N (black), realized that I hated the blue-black look, tried everything I possibly could to fade it and turned to bleach, effectively destroying my hair. But it was my fault in the end, and the lasting power was astonishing, even the hairdresser bleaching it out was like, "what did you put in your hair?! It won't come out!". Keep in mind that this was in the summer, and I was in the sun 24/7, in the ocean for a good portion of time, and showering 2x a day with Prell for about 2 weeks before giving up and turning to bleach. So now I was going for an ultra dark brown, but one that was far from blue-black (think Zooey Deschanel, Adriana Lima, Miranda Kerr, etc.). I've been using Ion Color Brilliance Permanent Creme and while the color always came out great, it would fade to a light/medium brown in 4-5 washes, which was ridiculous. So remembering Color Charm's magical ability to not fade, I decided to give it another shot, this time in 4N. I was really tempted to use 3N, but I'm glad I didn't. I figured that even if 4N came out too light, atleast it wouldn't be the dull, faded, mousy color I had. Well, I'm glad I listened to all the reviews because it came out VERY dark, exactly the color I wanted actually, and nowhere near medium brown. To top it off, my hair is super duper shiny. But despite being really dark, it has perfect natural undertones that are hard to get with dark brown hair dye. It doesn't have those dead giveaway "fake" undertones, such as dark red or brassy gold, and is absolutely nowhere near blue-black. Another thing about this is that it has one quality that virtually no other hair dye has, slip! That's right kids, when I was applying this it felt like a conditioner and made combing through beyond easy with no breakage, allowing perfectly even application and half a tube was more than enough to cover my head of thick, long, dense wavy/curly hair. This was not the least bit damaging, it was a little bit drying (but ofcourse it's going to be, it does contain peroxide after all) but it was nothing a hair masque couldn't fix immediately. The most important thing was that it did not make my hair any more fragile or breakage prone, and that is a big deal. Having had badly damaged hair before, I know that having weak/fragile/damaged hair is an absolute nightmare that only time (as in, growing it out) can fix. After using Kerastase Masquintense as a post-color treatment, my hair was softer and stronger than ever, and my hair actually looks a lot less frizzy after using Color Charm. I just did this today, so I can't speak about the longevity of this particular shade just yet, but judging by my prior experience, it will be impeccable. If I don't update, you can rest assured that it's taking the sun and sea (or in my case right now, sun, wind, heat, and general New England winter abuse) as well as it did some time before :)
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brizzo on 10/20/2011 8:48:00 AM more reviews by brizzo
Age: 44-55 Skin: Oily Hair: Brown Eyes: Brown
Okay, thanks to all you wonderful ladies and your reviews of this product, I decided to try it. I have medium brown hair that is wavy, very fine and somewhat porous. I decided to wet the hair first and towel dry well so my hair was not extremely wet upon application. I used the Dark Golden Blond (6G) as I had heard from all of you to go lighter than you wanted. I mixed it in a bowel, applied it with gloves on and left it for 20 minutes. It is perfect! Almost the exact same of my natural color but just a tiny bit darker, barely noticably darker. I do feel it covered the grays but not maybe as well as I'd like. I don't have many grays at all but the ones I have are on the top of my head by part line and just underneath on the sides so I either see them on top when my hair is down or when I pull up the front/sides of my hair in a clip I can see those side underneath ones. I think because I used a dark blond it covered the grays only lightly. But there wasn't much choice. If I had used a medium brown, my hair would have been black!
My question to anyone and I hope someone will please, please respond, is how often can I safely use this system? Once every three months or can I do it sooner if the gray coverage doesn't last? Please advise!! Thank you!