Robert Craig Hair Color

10 Reviews

1. 

   brainyDove5

   Reply

   The good: no animal testing, doesn’t irritate skin, no offensive smell, easy to mix and apply.

   The bad: does not color white or gray, expensive.

   I applied the dark ash blonde to color my hair prior to a wedding, primarily to avoid the gray hair look in outdoor wedding photos. The color looked okay indoors, but we just got the wedding photos and I might as well have saved the money because my hair looks completely gray in the outdoor photos, just as though I had not colored at all. I didn’t want to purchase or use animal tested hair dye so options were limited. It’s my own fault for not giving it a trial run, but I do feel like I completely wasted my money.

2. 

   sugaryHawk1

   Reply

   I tried to cover my gray using nice and easy. What a disaster. This hair color corrected and fixed all the bread and orange and brought my hair back to natural. I wish I could post a picture. Thank you to all the customer service reps that walked me through it. Just amazing product

3. 

   ashamedCake5

   Reply

   This hair color seems to be made for dark haired girls. I mixed 1/2 #18 and 1/2 #19 for my dark blonde hair and it made it darker. I wanted to lighten/brighten it a bit. It doesn’t look bad but it wasn’t what I was going for.

4. 

   giddyApricots2

   Reply

   Essentially, what this product is, is a demi-permanent hair color. It uses hydrogen peroxide as an activator (as others have said here, you add water to the powder, it creates peroxide). So, if you plan to use this, just know that everything you read about demis, their coverage etc. applies to Robert Craig. Demis are NOT intended to really cover much gray, for example. They can, depending upon your hair type, but it is not really their job. It is a bit of a misrepresentation on the company’s part to state this claim “….hair color that delivers gorgeous, natural results without a trace of harmful peroxide, ammonia, alcohol….”. You are pouring peroxide on your hair, which is why many people report damage to their hair, when they were expecting none.

   If you have a Sally Beauty’s nearby, you can buy Wella Color Charm Demi Permanent for a fraction of the price, and their activator is hydrogen peroxide as well. You also don’t need to keep throwing away all the plastic coloring bottles that RC sends you in their box (when I used RC, I wrote asking if they could offer just the hair color, and not waste all that extra packaging, and they said they couldn’t do that). It was one of the reasons I stopped using RC, that, and I found it was very hard to control my hair turning unevenly dark in places, and becoming ashy. Their product may be very good for a demi, but because I didn’t understand that that was what it was, when I was using it, I didn’t really educate myself fully on how it worked. I think they really need to improve their website, marketing claims and the way they package their product.

5. 

   lyingBasmati5

   Reply

   I love this product as well. I buy more of this stuff then I probably need too. They just put up a Facebook page with a coupon. Check it out if your as gaga over Robert Craig as I am at

   !/pages/Robert-Craig-Salon-Products-Ltd/130739773674910

   *Note: You have to like the page to get the coupon… Or you can just view the page for its tips.

6. 

   chicTacos2

   Reply

   I have been using Robert Craig for at least 4 years now. I stopped for about 6 months, because I wanted to highlight with strips of color (L’Oreal Highlight Kit), but that left my hair so damaged. Back to Robert Craig, and loving it. This haircolor coats and protects with color, but does not open up the hairshaft. I recently started going to a stylist, and he wanted to know about my hair color, because it looked so natural, several highlights, looked like what he called young hair. I have moderately fine, shoulder length hair. I use a combo of colors from Craig, and mix with the Boden “frother” that you can buy through their online store (much easier than shaking). I use 3/4 teaspoon of clear, 3/4 teaspoon of chestnut brown, 1/8 – 1/4 teaspoon auburn, and 1/8-1/4 teaspoon golden brown- depending on the time of the year. I mix with the 3 ounces of hottish water, and work it into the roots all around. I have resistant gray everywhere now, and I do not regularly color the rest of the hair, just the first 4-5 inches from the scalp out. I then wrap my head in saran wrap, put a shower cap on, and then a warmed towel, and find something to do for about 40 minutes, then rinse out. It covers ALL the gray at the roots, and the color blends beautifully with the rest of my hair. The hair picks up the three different colors like highlights evenly distributed. My hair is healthy and shiney. I use this on my eye brows as well, although they would probably not recommend this. I could perm my hair if I wanted, because this hair color protects the hair shaft. Robert Craig also makes a kit that will allow you to highlight, but I am so pleased with this routine, that I have not tried it. I touch up at about 2 weeks with Clairol’s Root touch up, because it is so easy to use, and do a full scalp color with Robert Craig Haircolor every 3-4 weeks. I do wish that I could buy just the bottle of color, and not the whole box. I buy in bulk for the year, and I get this BIG box with the prepackaged colors with the bottle and the gloves and the extra conditioning shampoo (which I also use and love), but all I need are the little bottles of the color. By the way, Robert Craig color is cheaper than several other “coating” colors out there.

7. 

   gleefulMacaw3

   Reply

   I hate going to salons to have my hair dyed. I do not have the time to sit in a salon, and I have always had too many hair disasters even at the best salons.

   So, I dye my own hair because I am more careful and gentle with my own hair.

   About five years ago I regularly used Robert Craig Chocolate Brown hair dye, when my hair was minimally gray.

   I loved it. It was a rich dark brown with red tones. It turned my minimal gray to a nice reddish brown. It looked highlighted.

   This dye left my hair soft and shiny with no detectable breakage.

   When my hair became more gray, it did not seem to cover the larger amount of gray that was growing.

   Therefore, I stopped using it for about two years and tried numerous other brands. Those brands covered my gray and there is a wider range of colors and the colors looked nice, but they all damaged my hair, after repeated use.

   After a noticing a lot of breakage after using various other brands of hair dye, I read suggestions on how to cover the gray at Robert Craig’s site..

   This time, I made sure my hair was washed the night prior and was free of hair products or leave in conditioners

   I also put half the required water in the bottle, and used two boxes for my long hair. I also left the dye on for 45 minutes on the new gray in total, and 30 minutes on the rest of my hair.

   I covered the gray first and pulled the dye through the rest of my hair after 15 minutes.

   It worked. It covered my gray. It looks great. My hair is soft and shines and has lovely reddish brown highlights.

   I am really glad I tried this product again. It is covering my gray and my hair looks healthier. Perhaps they changed the formula to cover gray better, or maybe my hair texture changed.

   I really like the fact that it has no odor, and it can be used right after I relax my hair.

   Also, I like the fact that I can try a much lighter color for my highlights and if I do not like it, I can dye over it immediately.

   This product is gentle. But it is deposit only so it will not lighten hair, and using a lighter color than your natural hair color will not lighten the hair. It will leave the natural color the same color.

8. 

   awedLollies8

   Reply

   *******Update: I’ve discovered that this is the best product to tone the color of blonde highlights. I’ve continued with my very blonde highlights on my medium brown hair, foil highlights done at a salon. Sometimes the highlights are a bit too ashy or too light, so I use #19 Light golden blonde just on the newly highlighted roots for about 5 minutes and they turn to the beautiful wheat colored blonde I was aiming for. It does not darken them, does turn orangey or too golden, just the blonde that we all want when we get our hair highlighted, it ‘fine tunes’ the color.
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   Stay away from these products unless you have money to burn. First of all extremely expensive, $10.99 a box PLUS shipping. (these are only sold online) Most importantly THESE PRODUCTS AND THE COLOR THEY PRODUCE ARE NOT GUARANTEED. You will NOT get your money back if you are unhappy with the products. I contacted ‘Karen’ for color suggestion on how to go from blonde highlighted hair back to medium brown. Never once was I told this should be handled by a professional. (which Revlon hair color customer service suggested.) Their color suggestions did not work, with highlighted hair it is extremely difficult to cover them up with a darker color without having it go bright red or purple like mine did, but I did perform strand tests first so my whole hair was not ruined. All together I bought 4 boxes of color per their suggestion, $44 DOLLORS WASTED. Oh, and by the way, it did not cover up any grays at all.

9. 

   decimalCrane1

   Reply

   UPDATE 10/2010: Still using this hair color… a full year later. I was having trouble covering the few greys I have (that are resistant lil suckas) and I now have to use LESS water (2.5 instead of the 3.0 they recommend). My hair is washed, w/a light conditioning on the ends… prior to application. I apply to almost dry but still slightly damp hair and leave it on the new growth for 1/2 hour… spray bottle of water to redampen & then comb thru & add more color to the rest for another 1/2 hour. This color is amazing… doesnt damage my hair and its MY color… just better. Very pleased!!!
   
   I have finally found what works…. after getting semi permanet color washes for about 6 months, the last girl basically MESSED UP my hair. i’m a medium ash brown… she used a golden brown… and i was RED ROOT RUSTED…. she attempted to fix it and it’s a semi so there really wasn’t much she could do…. she ashed twice & it still came up red (we have well water which also seems to cause a lot of red oxidation in my hair). WELL… i’ve tried two other semi’s to balance out the red… (ion wasnt bad, and color gems was a joke)… both washed out too quickly and i was back to red…. NOT horrible, just exactly what i don’t want.

   found Robert Craig online… they were EXTREMELY helpful and i decided to go w/the light ash blonde mixed w/the ash brown. 30 minutes roots time (and on the red mess figure another inch) and 10 minutes after i combed thru & added a little extra on the ends (but not much i didn’t want them soaking it all up and darkening)… PERFECT.

   the formula is a powder mixed w/water… extremely simple, and the consistency is watery, but using the bottle and nozzle, i found the “mousse” claim to be somewhat accurate because it sort of foamed and covered the root section very well. one box was MORE than enough for my long hair (bra strap length), and IT COVERED THE GRAYS… which i don’t have many off… BUT they are resistant little suckers and nothing else has done this quite so well.

   i’m thoroughly thrilled to have “MY HAIR” back.. .the shampoo they include is fine… i didn’t need to condition my hair afterwards (and feel right after coloring that sometimes strips away the color when you rinse causing it too bleed out of your hair)… i am thoroughly pleased, and i am feeling confident and little too hot for my own self right now…

   i believe the remainder (mixed the blonde & brown ash) will last me two touch ups. so for $15 (that’s rounded up including shipping) that’s a BARGAIN… it comes w/gloves that are more than adequate, the bottle for mixing which is a generous size… i wish for touch ups they’d sell just the powder… but i’m not gonna complain. this may be my HG color.

10. 

    pacifiedCurlew4

    Reply

    EDIT TO ORIGINAL: I talked to the very nice color expert at Robert Craig, and still could not get the color right. It was either too light/reddish (but definitely not “blonde,” even though the shade I was recommended to use said “blonde”) or way too dark and black/ash. Might be that it doesn’t work all that hot for people with fine, thin hair that’s quite a bit grey. Too bad, because it did leave my hair in great condition.

    —-

    I am so conflicted about this product. On one hand, it makes my hair gorgeous: Full, thick, undamaged, healthier-looking than if I didn’t color my hair. I actually like that it seems to wash out a bit after 2 1/2 weeks or so because then you never have roots – my hair grows very fast. It doesn’t damage your hair in the least to put this stuff on your roots (I don’t apply it to my whole head every time) – in fact, it seems to make my hair stronger and shinier. I can see how frequent application would be a huge pain to some people, though.

    On the other hand, I can’t get the color right! I have a lot of grey and it covers it up if I leave the product on for 45 minutes, but every color I’ve tried turns my hair a dark, ash color. I had a very expensive and difficult color correction three months back because my hair had gotten an ugly, one-toned, ash black. After that, I went to a Robert Craig shade that was meant to be much, much lighter and with red tones. I didn’t pull it through my whole head after the correction, but after three months the top of my hair is once again pretty black. Maybe better than it was before, but very, very dark compared to the part that was corrected (and that part of my hair is still dark, but a warm dark brown). I’m going to try a yet lighter shade, one that’s actually meant to be “the lightest brown shade” on my roots. I’m still going to have to correct the rest of the top of my head AGAIN, but at least I can see then if I can continue using this product after that.

    I hate to discontinue use, but I’ll have to if it doesn’t work. I’ll report back.