SoftSheen-Carson Dark and Lovely Fade Resist Rich Conditioning Color, Natural Black 372

My hair is dark brown and wavy. It is very thick and no dye has ever colored it the way this box dye has. My hair went from very dark brown to a beautiful caramel orange. I did have to get certain conditioners and shampoos for my hair to repair it as I redid the dye multiple times and had concern for my hair drying out, but it came out perfectly and my hair is happy and healthy.

Color comes out great very healthy hair dye and very easy to use just follow instructions always wear gloves while using this product and the outcome is very vibrant and appealing no fade for months and always keep dye hair moisture

Nice color

Context: My natural hair is black/extremely dark brown, fully virgin loose curly hair. It is generally very healthy (I use moisturizing products, take good care, and am blessed with quick hair growth). I have had bad experiences with hair dye in the past- as it has led to extreme damage; so I wanted to avoid bleach. Color I used: vivacious red! I’m hoping to eventually get a lighter copper color, but I’m going slow so I do not cause much damage. I also purchased several olaplex products to help repair any potentially hurt hair. Experience: According to the chart, I needed three boxes, but I did not want to use all of them at once in fear that it may not work the best. I used two boxes, thoroughly raking it through in sections. I saturated every strand and left it in for 45 minutes. Instructions were very easy to follow!! After washing it out, my hair felt very, very dry, and I used the deep conditioning masks right afterwards. This helped my hair feel much softer, but no color showed on my hair—except at the roots. I figured this was because I did not saturate the ends enough. Then, I waited for my hair to be 80% dry (because I am impatient), and I used the third box. This time, I didn’t take through and instead focused on patting on as much of the color as I could. I focused it heavily on my ends but started every pour on the roots. I left it in for a full hour this time, washed it out, used deep conditioner, and diffuser. While my roots are still lighter than my ends, I am happy with the color! And most of all, I am overjoyed by the soft, bouncy, and healthy state of my hair!! Note: this brand is made for Black individuals, and I am South Asian. The only reason it worked the best for me is because I have very thick, course hair—and it was a better option than other box dyes. I do not know if it would work well for other non-Black people, and I will not make an estimation.

First of all, I'm really happy with the product overall, and I actually just ordered a second box, which prompted me to write a review. I started with completely virgin, 2b dark brown hair. I am black/white mixed with a natural 3c curl, and very fine hair, but I always use a low heat iron to loosen the curl. I don't use any hair products except for raw African Shea butter and organic coconut oil. I wash my hair usually 1-2x a week, and waited 5 days from washing before bleaching. I left the product on for about 80 minutes altogether!! 50 minutes starting a half inch from the scalp, then another 30 applied at the roots. I also wrapped tinfoil around my hairline for the last ~25 minutes. I'm definitely happy with the texture of my hair afterwards, it feels completely soft and healthy in every way. It needed a LOT of toning but that's just because my hair is so naturally reddish so of course lightening automatically makes it bright orange at first. I recommend concentrated toning drops which you can apply directly to the hair, and/or add to your products. I'm going to apply again to achieve a more platinum blonde because I'm aiming for a "pink and white" cupcake Cyndi lauper inspired, more artistic look, and plan to add neon pink highlights. I recently moved from the country to a big city and I'm really having fun changing up my look to better fit the vibe of my awesome neighborhood. :) I'll update with the results.

I love this hair dye. Hasn’t broken my hair off and the color results are as I expected. I’ve used countless other brands, but this one works very well and no matter how dark my hair is, it works.

TL;DR: Severely damaged my hair, did not color my hair as claimed. I can't speak for the other shades, but Virtual Violet is simply false advertisement. I am no stranger to dyeing my natural hair, and I've used the Loreal Hicolor shades for a couple years now. Those are also no-bleach dye for dark hair, and I have never had a problem with them. What made me decide to give Dark & Lovely a try was the color on the front of the box; it claims to take a very dark hair shade to a very bright and vibrant purple, something Loreal does not offer. This was simply untrue. My hair was the same shade as the darkest shade of the samples on the back of the box, and I hadn't dyed my shoulder-length natural hair in about two/two-and-a-half years, so almost all of my hair was virgin, save for about two inches from the bottom. Not only did the dye not even come close to the shade pictured on the front of the box (at best, under direct light, it was a slightly reddish brown) it also gave me more damage than I have ever had, including when I bleached my previously-relaxed hair back in high school. For full transparency, I left the dye on about 45min, which is longer than they said to on the box, but I had done this before with Loreal and had no issues. Again, all but perhaps two inches of my hair was virgin, and not only was there significant damage to my hair (it's thinner now and it tangles and breaks extremely easily) I also had no real color to show for it. This was about a month ago, and for some reason, each time I have washed my hair sense then, the water has been faintly red, despite there being almost no visible change to my hair. If you have dark or natural hair and are looking for a no-bleach purple dye, I would recommend the Loreal hicolor shades for dark hair only. They are more red-purple than blue-purple, but at least they do not claim to be anything they are not, and they do work, so you will at least see results that will make up for any damage you may do to your hair.

Great price for two, however, I bought 2 of the two packs to dye my hair. I have locks so this didn’t come out as expected. The roots were done. However, the color did not stay in the hair in the Lock hair. My hair was black and it still black it never really turned Alburn. So you would have to look for another route to get the quality color that you want..