Does anyone know of a gentle permanent hair dye?

Henna? I had a fabulous vivacious Russian neighbor who swore by it. Her hair was auburn, though.

The secret, bitch, is to get any old dye, BUT, ignore the packet instructions. DON'T leave it on for 30 minutes, 20 mintues, or even 10 minutes. Leave it on 3 to 5 minutes TOPS. That way it will work as a natural addition to your existing colour, rather than looking like the flat brown or black rug you've no doubt given yourself.

R1 Henna is too damn messy and you have to leave it on for hours. Not to mention the color options are limited.

R2 How the hell does that work when it takes 10 minutes just to make sure it gets saturated evenly all over?

R2, how often do you have to do that?

R2

No, that will not work with permanent hair coloring. Perhaps a rinse or semi-permanent, but maybe not even then; you obviously know very little about these matters.

Permanent hair coloring moves through phases after being mixed with developer. It is called that for a reason, once peroxide is mixed with alkaline based hair "dye" it develops into target color. Many shades of brown are green when mixed, black often looks blue-violet.... After product is mixed in proper ratio over time that "green" will turn into desired shade of brown.

If permanent hair coloring is not allowed to fully develop results will be off to nonexistent, and certainly not very long lasting. Product needs time to open cuticile, remove natural hair color/lighten, deposit new color, condtion and close cuticle.

There is a saying in professional hair coloring circles; the first half to two-thirds of time is for coloring, while remainder is for sealing and conditioning. Makers of hair colors have tested them extensively to advise on best results for range of situations (grey, white, porous, already processed), and thus give recommendations for each.

Two or three minutes isn't going to do a thing with permanent hair color other than start opening up cuticle and perhaps a bit of lift.

As long as the price is over $9.00 you should be fine. They have some amazingly natural colors now (the last one I used had 'salon' in the title...).

I start with my grayest area (my temples/over ears) then wait a bit, then comb the whole bottle through for about 20 min.

Miss R6 = hair burner extraordinaire!

India ink.

Naturetint. From Spain. At Whole Foods

OP - all hair colors brand are the same. In a salon, the stylist can custom mix a color for you and add strategic highlights to break up the flat color. They can use toner to reduce any color that did not develop as wanted. This is why paying the salon is worth it.