Want to try a different bright hair dye - any alternatives to Schwarzkopf Live XXL?

[MrsMeow]

I currently use this in Red Passion, or other similar colours and am satisfied with how it colours my hair and leaves it feeling afterwards, but I'm getting a bit bored and fancy a change so wondered if anyone had other recommendations?

I've tried Crazy Colours etc but they don't do much and I don't really want to have to start bleaching my hair.

Thanks :)

See, I would recommend using the vegetable dyes (Crazy, Color, Directions, manic panic...) instead of the off-the-shelf permanent dyes.

The permanent dyes contain bleach so everytime you use them you are bleaching your hair.

With the semi vegetable dyes you bleach your hair once and re-colour every so often.

Way less harsh, especially if you use a bleach-bath for your roots. Bleach bath tutorial

I have just done this recently and my hair is soft and not damaged

About a year ago someone on MN mentioned Directions and I went out and bought a whole stack of different colours They are brilliant and last a long time.

My hair naturally is dark brown so I did have to bleach it to get very vibrant colours, but I suppose it depends on the natural colour of your hair OP, and also it depends how bright you want to result to be.

Anyway, here is a link to a UK shop that sells it for a really good price. Directions hairdye

Thanks very much both :) monkeyslut, thank you for the bleach bath link - that looks a much kinder way of doing it! The only thing that puts me off is, I used to have a 'slice' of hair bleached which I'd use a non permanent colour on, but it was so, so dry compared to the rest of my hair, especially on the ends, so I was put off bleaching my whole hair.

Needles, thanks :) we love directions in this house - I do a couple of streaks in DDs hair (she's almost 12) every school hols, looks fab and washes out before school goes back! She's currently sporting 'Tulip' at the minute!

My hair is also dark brown naturally. Not that I've seen my natural colour in years

Ohhhh needles, your link! They sell Nightmare Before Christmas and Iron Fist and Hell Bunny and I just want EVERYTHING!

I love that shop, I was in their store in Norwich the other day. I'm another fan of Directions, currently sporting a Pillar Box Red and black fringe :)

Am that you're able to get to their shop; I live in Northern Ireland, so is a little bit far to go just for a nosey at hairdyes. We do have similar places here, but don't think any of them sell Directions.

I had bleached the underneath of my hair (naturally dark brown) and done one side Cerise and the other Alpine Green. Looked great!

Dp isn't as keen on the shop as it usually ends up with him parting with ££ on Hell Bunny dresses

Could I do a bleach bath on my grey hair?

I love Hell Bunny so much, but I don't do dresses :( well, unless they're ankle length!

Coooooo that takes me back! Think I tried every Directions colour during my crusty/grebo/goth adolescence. May have to revisit as I'm still mondo into colourful hair, and still have no idea what my actual hair colour is.

Currently sporting Loreal Preference in Paprika Power, it's brave for a mainstream/normal hair colourant - very vibrant orange.

I wasn't going to post this but have no choice but to name and shame as Schwarzkopf are no longer replying to my emails.
Since 2019 i have used the same hair dye XXL live cosmic blue. Didnt do patch test as I've use this product for the last 2 years every 6 to 8 weeks never had any problem. Until 2 weeks ago. Saturday night I coloured my hair and could of leave it on 10 mins as it was burning. I wake up Sunday and my scalp is on fire and weeping so much my hair is stuck to my scalp. Later on Sunday the side of my head starts swelling. Monday morning I wake up looking like my face has exploded. After spending 6 hours at Birmingham Eye hospital as my eye was that swollen it had closed. Then a further 7 hours in heartlands a&e given steroids antibiotics for a sever allergic reaction. After 3 days the swelling finally went down.. but then I developed a rash all over my body which required further steroids and steroid cream. Over 2 weeks and I'm still feeling the effects of the sever reaction physically and financially.. cost me a fortune in taxis to hospitals and prescriptions charges for 9 different medicines. My left eye is never going to be normal again the swelling and rash has caused skin to sag on my eye lid. I contacted schwarzkopf and they admitted that they changed a perfumed ingredient in the product in May 2021, but didn't put any warning on the box that the product had changed !! If they had put a warning on the box that it had been changed i would of done a patch test.
LADIES DO NOT USE XXL LIVE !!!!
Sorry about the horrific photos but you need to see what xxl live can cause