I’m always itching to lighten my hair when Summer comes round, but I’ve also played around with bleaching these curls one to many times to finally realize I don’t have the patience for the upkeep. So instead I tested out some temporary hair colors and I have been LOVING the results! Here’s a break down of the colors I tried.
Seeing Red
I wanted to “dye” my hair red for my birthday, and opted to try out the, As I Am Curl Color in hot red. This product is marketed as a flake free enhancing curling gel that provides medium hold and should be applied on damp or dry hair using gloves and retails for $7.99. I ordered mine online from Target, applied it to the front section of my hair (as the last styling product, while it was damp) and dried with a diffuser. I was pleasantly surprised at how bright the color looked on my jet black hair.
on wet hair 
Fully dried hair
Pros for the As I Am Curl Color
- Inexpensive: Retails for $7.99
- Vibrant color pay off on dark hair
- Easily washes out with shampoo
- Provides medium hold
- Doesn’t dry out your hair
- You get 6oz for 8 bucks!
Cons
There’s really only one con to using this product, and it’s that it transfers EVERYWHERE. Although I made sure my hair was 100% dry. It still got all over my clothes, hands and pretty much everything I touched.
This color lasted a few days until I washed my hair again. (I tied my hair in a scarf at night to not stain the bed/pillow)
Copper Babe
Next up I tested out Curlsmiths Hair Makeup in the color Copper. This is marketed as a strong hold curl styling gel and temporary color all in one. It claims to give no transfer, and no crunch and washes out in just 1 wash. It is also meant to give your girls definition. You can apply the color on damp hair and make sure it’s fully dry to avoid color transfer. After washing and styling my hair I applied this product as the last step to my wash and go routine, focusing on the front half of my hair. It does have a bit of a metallic effect to it, and it made my black hair look slightly brown. But I found that once your hair is almost dry when you apply an extra layer of this gel color it gives the illusion of highlights which I loved!
How it looks in natural lighting 
How it looks indoors, with a ring light
Pros for the Curlsmith Hair makeup
- Great color payoff for dark hair
- Gives great curl definition
- Buildable coverage (apply a second coat of dry hair for a more intense color)
- Looks surprisingly natural
- Little to no transfer.
Cons
- It’s expensive, retails for $19.99 and you only get 3oz, as apposed to the 6oz you get for half the price with As I Am curl color.
After testing both hair colors out for a few weeks, my favorite one is by far the Copper hair makeup gel by Curlsmith, due to the fact that it has minimal transfer, and great color pay off for my jet black hair.
Both products work great and have pretty good color pay off, it just depends how much you’re willing to spend on them and if of course you don’t mind the color transfer from “As I Am curl color” then that would be the more affordable option. However if you’re looking to stretch out the color for a few days and want minimal transfer then I would definitely suggest the Curlsmith hairmakeup gel.
Which one would you try?
Drop your thoughts below!