Bright, non-natural AND non-permanent hair colors that work without bleaching?

[Kragey]

So, I abso-freaking-lutely love funky colored hair, but because I'm working towards becoming a professor, bleaching my waist-length hair and permanently dying it bright blue is frowned upon. :P Hence, in the past couple of years, I've used L'oreal's Color Pulse dyes about 3 times to get unnaturally red hair. The thing is, they've apparently discontinued the Color Pulse line. D: I know I can look for it on eBay, but for something like hair dye, I'd rather buy it from an actual store.

Hence, I'm looking for a new temporary/semi-permanent dye that is NOT a natural color (black, brown, blonde, auburn), preferably bright red or bright blue, but will still show up well on non-bleached hair. My hair is naturally light brown with a decent amount of red in it, so it's not like I'm trying to go over black hair. :P

I've seen some of Manic Panic's semi-permanent colors on their website, and a few people have used them on their hair with nice results (such as the amplified Vampire Red). However, I've heard that you have to leave it on FOREVER (all day, in some cases), and that it stains your skin for more than a week afterward. :/

Bleaching is a non-negotiable; I will NOT bleach my hair, so please do not suggest that! And I've never met a "comb-through" or "spray-on" color that wasn't absolutely disgusting. :P Besides, I'm looking for all-over color.

[Tahti]

Special Effects dye is very good, long lasting and pigmented. I used to dye my (non bleached, ginger) hair pink with Stargazer magenta, that was good too.
Unfortunately for very bright unnatural colours, you're not going to get a great effect unless you bleach - you will get colour, but it will fade out very, very quickly.

True blue dye will absolutely NOT show up properly on any hair that isn't bleached, or blonde - dying it over red toned hair will just create a murky brownish effect. I used to have blue hair and I had to bleach it out a lot to get the colour right, because any leftover yellow will make the blue dye look green.

Red is easier to come by though, and can be dyed over hair - for a pillarbox colour red however, you would have to bleach... unless you bleach your hair you won't be able to get truly bright colour. (I'm speaking from experience of 3+ years of dying my hair unnatural colours)

Here's a site that sells SFX dye - BU special effects manic panic pink hair dye accessories

Hope you find something that works!

[Tahti]

Here's a picture for reference - this was the first time I dyed my hair blue, so it wasn't fully bleached white blonde, in fact the ends were quite dark. (I know you don't want bleach, so this is a suggestion for a dye that has lots of pigment)
I used SFX Blue Velvet, which is a very pigmented purple based hairdye, nearly navy. I think this would be your best bet with SFX (which really is the best hairdye IME) because it doesn't fade overly quickly, and would just maybe cover up your hair significantly to give a blue effect.

The nicest red I've found is SFX Devilish, a dark deep red which lasts forever.

[Meisje]

I have used both Manic Panic and Directions and neither will stay more than a few washes on unbleached hair, so you might want to steer clear of them.

[Kragey]

Yeah, it looks like Special Effects may be the winner...I love their reds! Thanks a ton, ladies.

[shatteredshards]

I can attest to it, you're not going to get blue without bleaching. My natural hair color is dark blonde, and when I tried a Manic Panic blue (don't remember the name), I left it in for hours and got a slightly green tinge that was gone the next time I washed my hair. When I decided to get serious about going blue, I bleached the carp out of my hair and used SFX Blue Mayhem (and it was awesome).

As for SFX reds, I've used Nuclear Red and Blood Red, Nuclear on both bleached and unbleached hair, Blood only on unbleached but layered ontop of a permanant red dye (some shade of Feria). I've also mixed the two, which does come out a really nice solid red (Nuclear is like neon red on bleached hair, if that helps).

[Meisje]

I found an old photo of myself on haircrazy... it's a really nice red I used --- Directions Poppy Red. But I'm very blonde and I had to pre-bleach to get this vibrancy.

Hair Photos :: HairCrazy.info - A guide to alternative hair styling

I also used Manic Panic Vampire Red (which was pink on me) on unbleached and it lasted until it turned a cotton candy color. (This is it halfway gone)



On unbleached I used an orange Manic Panic, which washed out the next time I washed (tinged my old highlights orange for a several washes).




I dyed my friend's unbleached hair with (I think) Cotton Candy pink and a purple and it washed out quickly.



Basically --- veggie dye will wash out of nonbleached hair very quickly and the color impact will be minimal.