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The best temporary hair dyes for commitment-free experimentation

Go on, we dare you

By Briar Clark

Beauty Crew Beauty Editor / March 01 2021

If recent times have taught us anything, it’s that life is too short to be worrying about being safe with your hair. And with at-home haircuts being performed at an all time high, we think it’s the perfect time to ride the wave of chaos and mix things up with your colour, too.

Praise be for temporary and semi-permanent options that allow us to trial shocking shades of pink, dreamy pastel moments or just a quick colour revamp with ease.

Bleach your hair before application for standout, vibrant colour pay-off or simply layer over your natural colour for a quick hue update. Either way, these temporary hair dyes will wash out after a few shampoos so you can sample every colour of the rainbow, if you’re so inclined.

Manic Panic Classic Hair Dye

Boasting a vegan, PPD and ammonia-free formula, this cult-classic hair dye has a healthy wardrobe of colours to choose from, plus a handy pastelizer for customising your colour (a sure-fire way to amp up the cuteness).

Lasts: 4-6 weeks

Shade range: 50+ shades in a wide range of finishes including their cult pastelizer product.

Price: $28.95

Lunar Tides Hair Dye

For hair colour that’s so bright it almost glows, you can’t go past these ultra-saturated hues. Dabble in the world of metallics with one of their limited edition frosted picks or try one of their smokey shades for a grungy take on experimental colour that’s completely vegan and cruelty-free.

Lasts: 4-8 weeks depending on the colour

Shade range: With a whopping 40 shades to choose from, you’ll be changing hair hues all year.

Price: $19.95

BRITE ORGANIX Semi Permanent Hair Colour

Cruelty-free, vegan and organic, this is our top pick for the conscious beauty lover. Plus, the low price point and moisturising conditioner-infused formula doesn’t hurt either.

Lasts: 5-30 washes

Shade range: Available in 15 shades in a range of bright, pastel and metallic finishes.

Price: $10.00

KISS Tintation Semi-Permanent Color Treatment

Formulated with hair health in mind, you can look forward to stunning colour payoff that won’t compromise your precious strands. With an ingredients list that includes aloe vera water, argan oil, olive oil, collagen and keratin, your fresh new colour will also have shine to boot.

Lasts: 8-12 washes

Shade range: 14 hair-nourishing hues

Price: $15.99

L'ORÉAL PARIS Colorista Washout

Add a touch of pastel preciousness to any blonde, balayage or highlighted hair with this Priceline pick. Or, get-in-your-face colour with one of the vivid shades from the range that’ll last through a few shampoo seshes before you’re back to ground zero.

Lasts: 2-20 washes

Shade range: Eight pastel and vivid washout shades

Price: $16.45

Christophe Robin Temporary Colour Gel

Roots or hairline in need of a quick touch-up in-between salon visits? This ingenious at-home gel colourant allows you to cheat the system, topping up your colour with expert-level results - all from the comfort of your own home.

Lasts: 5-7 washes

Shade range: Available in the shades ‘Golden Blonde’, ‘Dark Blonde’, ‘Light Chestnut’ and ‘Dark Chestnut’.

Price: $51.00

Need some crazy-coloured inspo before you commit? Orange hair is the cool-girl colour to get into.

Main image credit: @billieeilish

Briar Clark

Briar Clark got her start in the media industry in 2017, as an intern for Marie Claire and InStyle. Since then, her keen interest in fashion and beauty has landed her gigs as a Digital Content Producer and Beauty Editor with titles like Girlfriend, Refinery29, BEAUTYcrew and beautyheaven. She loves the way seemingly innocuous topics like skin care and style have the ability to put a smile on people’s faces or make them think about themselves a little differently. A big believer in self love and experimentation, Briar has made a point of becoming the Australian beauty industry’s unofficial guinea pig for unusual treatments and daring hair trends. When she’s not testing out the latest beauty launches, Briar is big on broadening her horizons, mostly in the form of food but she’s also partial to travelling to new destinations both near and far (and of course, allocating an extra bag to bring their best beauty offerings home with her).