What are the longest lasting colours

Special effects are the longest lasting. I've never used them myself as I like changing colour every few months. Atomic pink seems to be the most permanent one and people often have to cut it off to remove it completely.

Keep in mind that even the strongest colors will fade, and may fade to a slightly different color. Reds tend to fade to pink or orange and purples to pink or blue (and sometimes that blue fades to green).

Ion Sky Blue is pretty much impossible to remove, I've only seen 1 person get it out with out completely destroying their hair.

Sparks Orange Crush has given me permanent orange staining, it's very pretty but annoying because I have a band of orange that never fades as much as the rest of the orange.

SFX Atomic Pink/Virgin Rose, Ion Sky blue, Pravana yellow would give you the colours you need to mix a whole rainbow.
Atomic Pink can sometimes be very red toned so not ideal for mixing purples, Virgin Rose is more purple toned you could mix a perfect magenta from the two. Pravana Violet could be used instead

I've had to cut Directions Turquoise out of my hair in the past. I've heard Directions Plum is also pretty much permanent too.

Crazy colour capri blue. Even repeated washing with head and shoulders wouldn't get it to relinquish my hair. I have 2 bottles left that I'm never using again (I used it over crazy colour fire to create a purple which lasted a few washes where the blue then eradicated the red base I had)

Took 4x bleach powder/shampoo/oil washing and having coconut oil on my hair for hours beforehand to get it to a mint green (it was still blue after the first one, light blue after the second, teal after the third and then mint green)
If not I doubt it would have ever faded.

Thank you everyone for the colours  😀 I will do some research on them all

Another thing to remember about a lot of colours that last a long time, if you're going to be doing more than one. They are often highly pigmented and bleed a lot when washing, which can then muddy up other colours. You'll have to wash each colour separately to help avoid that, but it can still happen as the water runs over other parts. There are some that tend not to bleed at all, but others that bleed constantly, even when dry.

Another thing to remember about a lot of colours that last a long time, if you're going to be doing more than one. They are often highly pigmented and bleed a lot when washing, which can then muddy up other colours. You'll have to wash each colour separately to help avoid that, but it can still happen as the water runs over other parts. There are some that tend not to bleed at all, but others that bleed constantly, even when dry.

That is something I knew but hadn't even considered for this. Thank you for the great advice. I might not go that route now you mention that. I would prefer higher maintenance then being stuck with something ugly

It's still possible to keep it looking nice and pretty, it's just a bit more faff when you're washing. Avoid using colours known for rub off when dry. When washing, make sure you wash each section separately, and make sure when putting the colours on, you don't put the lighter colours on the bottom. Or top if you wash your hair upside down!

It's still possible to keep it looking nice and pretty, it's just a bit more faff when you're washing. Avoid using colours known for rub off when dry. When washing, make sure you wash each section separately, and make sure when putting the colours on, you don't put the lighter colours on the bottom. Or top if you wash your hair upside down!

Thank you so much for your help. I do have one question left though. My end plan was to do a rainbow with only small sections for each colour. I was going to practice with less permanent colours first as I haven't dyed my hair for about 8 years due to work and such. I always thought though that some colours didn't do this though. Do they all? If they do I might have to think about doing bigger chunks as I can't spend one whole day just to wash it. Sorry if I have spelling or grammar mistakes my phone doesn't seem to like the spell check

The Pravana Locked In range have been shown not to bleed or transfer on the hair even if you have very small sections. They fade after 4-6 weeks from what I've seen.

If you have a rainbow, some bleeding will help to make it look blended. So the red is next to only orange and purple. it makes a more orangey red and a redder purple where the colours meet. Bleeding is only a major problem if you have opposite colours next to each other eg blue and orange will make brown where they meet, or if you have strong colours next to light ones. Allow for some bleeding and make your yellow section larger than you ideally want it

If you can get Dare hair colour that stuff sticks really well.... Too well in my case .
I used the purple and it was a great colour but now I want to go lighter it's stubborn 🙊

The biggest tip I can give for getting the most of your colour is getting the base right (prelightening). If you lift your hair to a nice icey ash/silver plat blonde base, any cool shades (Turquoise, Blues, purples and even pinks (pink is a cool diluted red) will fade to an icey pastel version of itself, getting some lovely other shades from 1!

Red's, Oranges and warm shades also colour best over a copper/blonde base, as the warm tones stick to it better!

In my personal experience the colours that have lasted the longest for me are the darkest shades (most rich in pigment) from the Directions range. My favourites being Pillabox Red, Midnight Blue, Alpine Green and Cerise.

I'm yet to try special effects and manic panic but I hear they're very good too!

And last but not least! In the salon I work at I use Elumen by Goldwell. Now this stuff is as permenant as you can get. It's industrial strength! It  just does not wash out and because it's a light reflective colour, it fades to a pastel version of itself, and just doesn't shift! Which is fantastic, but the only downside is that I've had to grow it out because it's impossible to strip/bleach out.
So if you colour your hair often it's recommended to stick to semi perm brands 🙂

You can find Elumen on EBay, it's quite expensive to buy as its only suppose to be for salons but it's absolutely worth the extra cost.

the cuticle. Also avoiding using super high heated styling tools because this contributes towards fast fading colour.