What was the best brand and shade of hair dye you've ever used?

[goldcopperbrown]

I've used Satin before and I must say it was long lasting and not damaging. Surprisingly Nice N' Easy wasn't too damaging either, but I have had bad experience with L'Oreal Superior Preference. How about you guys? What was the best brand (and shade) you've ever used?

[ladylovecraft]

To me, all standard permanent dyes have been damaging... my hair just doesn't like them. My hair loves special effects (it's actually a vegetable dye), but that only comes in unusual 'rainbow' colors, so definitely not for the standard market.

[UltraBella]

Matrix Colorsync (Demi color) level 7 CR (copper red). Wow was that beautiful. It stays vibrant on me for months. I know everyone says red fades fast, but not this red on my hair. Loved it !
BUT, my natural color is dark ash blonde and my hair grows really fast, so the upkeep was a pain. I covered it with a level 7 Neutral, added some highlights and I am currently very happy.

[SurprisingWoman]

When I colored my hair I used the L'Oreal semi perm that you buy at Sally's. It took five boxes to color my hair with the thickness and length. I would vary the colors based on the season and what I was in the mood for.

Light auburn was almost always a player
Sunlit copper
Med golden brown
Medium auburn
golden blonde
sometimes clear for shine

It was quite handy. It would take one large bottle of processor for five boxes of dye. I would mix it all in a large plastic cup and mix it with a spatula. I would put dye in two squeeze bottles to do my roots, leave it on there (it was usually a nice auburgine color) for half of the processing time, use the spatula to cover the length with the rest of the color in the cup, let allll of my hair process while I washed my tools in the sink, stick my mixing/application tools under the sink where they would stay for anywhere from four to six weeks until I did it all over again. Then I would hit the shower.

My hair was in great shape and If I were to color my hair again I wouldn't hesitate to do it that way again. I just got tired of the upkeep.

There is a pic of my hair in my photo album.

[Luna12345]

Feria, nice and easy, garnier-light golden brown

[ibleedlipstick]

Feria with a developer from Sally's. DO NOT USE THE BOXED FERIA! It is multiple types of evil.

I use blue onyx.

[milagro]

I like Redken but it's not sold for home use, at least here, and I eventually got tired of having to go to salon to dye roots every 4 weeks. They also used Goldwell on me but it's a bit too golden to my taste (though it was NGB mix).
Now I use Renbow Colorissimo with 6% developing creme to dye it myself and it works just as fine. I have to mix two shades to get the exact my colour. And lately I started to do coconut oil pre-treatments - thank to ktani and her thread.

[Lianna]

I've used L'oreal Excellence Creme for years, usually 7, but I'm loving 7.31 now. :)

http://www.loreal-paris.co.uk/hair-colour/all-over-color/excellence/dark-caramel-blonde.aspx

It's called dark caramel blonde.