Reactive Hair Editorial Team
This post was most recently updated on June 11th, 2023
Today’s at-home hair dyes have come a long way with formulas to care for hair and various levels of permanency. Splat offers an easy, affordable way to change your color. Read our Splat Hair Dye reviews to find out more. We discuss in detail their hair dyes backed up by ingredient breakdown and real-life user reviews.
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About the Brand
Manufactured by Developlus, Splat Rebellious Haircolor has been around since 1991. Ann and Dave Agrey developed a line of affordable, vibrant hair colors that’s made in sunny Corona, California.
As part of its core mission, Splat offers extensive, high-quality hair dyes ranging from temporary (1 Wash), semi-permanent (10 Wash to 30 Wash), and bold permanent colors in prices that don’t exceed $15.
Splat Rebellious formula is cruelty-free, gluten-free, vegan, and has no animal-derived ingredients or by-products. Next, we take a look at their hair dyes.
Splat Hair Color Line
Self-expression comes in many ways including through hair color. Whether you want to gain extra confidence or switch your color up, Splat might be a good place to start. They have multiple formulations with different levels of longevity.
Now, let’s take a look at the products.
Splat Bleach Kit
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If your intent was to get a fairly good color payoff, consider bleaching, especially ultra-dark & ultra-thick hair. This hassle-free mixing kit is ideal for all-over hair, tips, highlights, and ombré. It comes as blue bleach powder that offers 3-5 levels of lift while also helping cancel out yellowish, brassy tones.
Splat Lightening Bleach is infused with protein and fatty acids to minimize and protect your strands from damage. This complete kit also includes a shampoo and conditioner that help balance your hair’s pH after bleaching.
However, bleaching would completely ruin your hair if used incorrectly. Kindly prepare your hair a week prior by moisturizing your hair frequently to ensure your hair is in a healthy state. If you have damaged hair, it’s best to avoid bleach or leave the process to a professional colorist.
| What Customers Loved | What Customers Did Not Like |
| “It was very easy to use and while it is noticeably potent, it did not kill my hair as I properly conditioned it. In the end, I was able to achieve my goal with a supplemental white hair dye.” | “The powder was a bit clumpy and very hard to mix. The application was easy however the smell is beyond strong. I also had issues with it feeling like it was burning my scalp.” |
Splat Midnight Kit (30 Wash)
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Formulated specially to work for brunettes, Splat Midnight comes in 15 bold, deep hues – bleaching unnecessarily. This kit is suitable for those of you who have medium brown to pale blonde hair. However, lighter shades like Midnight Rosetta and Violet are only best suited for pale blonde hair.
If you come up with the idea to pre-lighten your hair prior, you’ll need to buy the bleach separately as it’s a bleach-free kit.
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The Midnight Kit is formulated without ammonia and hydrogen peroxide but with nourishing ingredients like baobab seed oil and quinoa extract. The color lasts a good 30 washes too. However, reviews about longevity are mixed, and it depends on your hair porosity and hair type.
| What Customers Loved | What Customers Did Not Like |
| “My hair is medium auburnish with grey, and Midnight Ruby dyed it really red without bleaching. It fades into a nice deep pinkish color, and the cool thing about the grey streaks is that they’re a different color pink, so it’s a little light highlights.” | “It’s quite messy and watery. The bottle was easy to set up and squeeze into my hair but it would just not stay on.” |
Splat Original Complete Kit with Bleach
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If you have the guts to sport extremely vivid colors, the Splat Original Complete Kit is your go-to. This complete kit is designed for light blonde to platinum hair, so bleaching is required for darker hair. There are 33 bright hues in this line and each kit also includes blue bleach powder and conditioning treatment.
This semi-permanent hair dye is also enriched with quinoa extract and baobab seed oil to add moisture, shine, and protection to your hair. Plus, the color will last for 4-6 weeks, depending on how often you shampoo.
When it comes to bleaching, you should not keep the bleach too long on your hair. Check every 5 minutes to see the lifting process. Processing time may vary depending on your goal and hair type.
| What Customers Loved | What Customers Did Not Like |
| “You can still use Luscious Raspberries if you have light/medium brown hair, it’s still VERY vibrant red, but it’s even brighter if you can get your hair to the yellowish blonde all over, which is easy to do with the bleach. It starts out a very vibrant red then fades to a really pretty light pink color.” | “Color was wonderful, but just to warn those who have brittle and/or fragile hair, the bleach is very strong. My hair broke and that is something that has never happened before and the bleach was only in for about 25 minutes.” |
Splat Melts Hair Dye
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Looking forward to getting a multicolored look but you are on a budget? Try Melts Semi-Permanent Hair Dye. Melts offers four kits of rich brown and vivid colors that allow you to customize your unique look. This line is best suited for those with light brown to light blonde hair.
The chocolate brown shades come with a lot of warm undertones. So, if you have blonde hair, make sure to apply it on well-toned hair to prevent hair from turning greenish. This kit also includes bleach to lighten up your hair for a vibrant color deposit.
| What Customers Loved | What Customers Did Not Like |
| “I have done two washes thus far and the colors have not faded. This product was really fun to use with the ability to add my own fade. The dark chocolate came out exactly the color it said on the side of the box under the bone-bleached area.” | “This hair color is extremely messy, and stains anything it comes in contact with for a split second. I’m 3 or 4 washes later, and haven’t had any noticeable fading yet.” |
Splat Double Lift Permanent Hair Dye
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If you’re a beginner and thinking of getting a bold color without bleaching, we recommend using Splat Double Lift. It is specially designed for virgin hair that has not been chemically- or color-treated. If you have bleached and predominantly gray hair, you can opt for the Midnight Kit.
Double Lift is a one-step coloring process that lifts your color to 4 levels and dyes in just 45 minutes simultaneously. Not only is it bleach-free, but it also contains aloe vera that retains your hair moisture and soy protein to improve smoothness.
| What Customers Loved | What Customers Did Not Like |
| “I have dark hair & have never found a red that did more than give my hair a red shine/halo until now. When this dye says it is a double lift and works on dark brown, it is not exaggerating! I got the red I have always wanted without having to bleach my hair first.” | “The color was better than expected. After 3 washes it still looks good. I disliked that it made my hair feel like straw as if I would have bleached it.” |
Splat Naturals
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Although purely “natural” hair dyes don’t exist, you can pick Splat Naturals, which is a 95% natural formula. It is available in 8 ultra-vivids that are great for ombré, dip dye, all-over, and streaks color transformation. Splat Naturals works best on naturally or bleached dark blonde to platinum hair.
Besides baobab seed oil and quinoa extract, it is also packed with pro-vitamin B5 which improves your hair hydration and shine. The color may last about 4-6 weeks depending on your hair porosity.
| What Customers Loved | What Customers Did Not Like |
| “Color turned out great. I have medium-dark brown hair and the color turned out to be a dark burgundy/plum color. The color is subtle and doesn’t smell like chemicals.” | “I purchased it blue. Everything gets blue every time I wash my hair.” |
Splat Hair Colors come with various pros and cons, so following the instructions properly would give you nice color results.
If you have thick and long hair, you’ll need more products for a better color payoff. Fine and damaged hair may not have the best color durability, so pay attention to your hair care routine for better longevity.
Next, let’s find out whether or not Splat Hair Dye is for you.
Is Splat Rebellious Haircolor Suitable for My Hair? – Things to Consider
Essentially, Splat Rebellious Haircolor won’t damage your hair as long as you strictly follow the manufacturer’s instructions. The company itself warns that Splat hair dye shouldn’t be applied on damaged, over-processed hair. So, it is crucial to pay attention to your hair health before applying Splat hair dye.
There are several negative reviews on Amazon and Influenster mentioning that Splat hair dye makes their hair dry and brittle. However, this can also happen if you don’t follow the manufacturer’s instructions to prevent overdrying of your hair. You need to understand whether the condition of your hair is ready for chemical processing, post dye care, and what your starting color is.
Most importantly, you need to ensure you do a strand test to see if their hair fibers would resist the chemical ingredients. The strand test is very important to do even if you have already dyed your hair. Plus, the damage would be minor if you properly take care of your hair before trying a new hair color.
Next, let’s check out the ingredients of Splat Hair Dye.
Is Splat Hair Dye Good? – Ingredients Breakdown
Even though Splat Rebellious Haircolor is vegan, it also contains chemical ingredients that help the product deliver long-lasting, vibrant color to your hair. These ingredients may cause hair dryness especially if you already have brittle hair.
Let’s take a look at them.
Chemical Ingredients
Splat hair dye requires alkalizing and oxidizing agents for the product to be working.
- Ammonium Hydroxide and Ethanolamine/ Monoethanolamine act as alkalizing agents to open the protective layers of your hair (cuticles). This allows the dye molecules to penetrate the hair shaft and stay permanently in the cortex.
- Moreover, Splat bleach contains Hydrogen Peroxide that acts as an oxidizing agent. It works by removing your hair’s natural pigments and making them colorless. Eventually, it leads to making the color appear vibrant once you apply the hair dye.
- Other oxidative ingredients in Splat hair dye are Ammonium Persulfate and Potassium Persulfate. Both also help accelerate the bleaching process on your hair.
- Resorcinol is also present in Splat hair dye. It reacts with hydrogen peroxide to deliver long-lasting color. In addition, since resorcinol has green-colored molecules, it also helps balance purple hues and can be used with other chemicals to get specific shades.
If you prefer chemical-free hair dye from Splat Rebellious, you can opt for Splat Naturals. It is free of ammonia, parabens, resorcinol, PPD, bleach, and sulfate.
Splat hair dye is also enriched with plant-based, hair-nourishing ingredients. Now, let’s take a look at them.
Plant-Based, Hair-Conditioning Ingredients
These ingredients are beneficial to help moisturize your hair and minimize the risk of hair damage. Let’s check the benefits of each ingredient.
- Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice helps add moisture and softness to your hair. It also contains fatty acids which are beneficial to improve hair’s elasticity.
- Cocodimonium Hydroxypropyl Hydrolyzed Soy Protein acts as a hair conditioning that promotes soft and shiny hair. It is also beneficial to reduce the static electricity of your hair, making it less frizzy and easy to manage.
- Hydrolyzed Quinoa is rich in amino acids which are beneficial to condition your hair by creating protective barriers on your strands, making it shinier and more hydrated.
- Hydrolyzed Adansonia Digitata Seed Extract is also known as baobab oil. It is loaded with fatty acids which may promote moisturized and strong hair.
These ingredients sound promising in helping nourish your hair. However, you should not completely count on them to get the moisturizing benefits. It is best to well-prepare your hair and perform a strand test before using Splat hair dye to help minimize the risk of hair dryness.
Other Hair-Loving Ingredients
Given below are other ingredients of Splat hair dye that also have promising benefits for your hair.
- Glycerin acts as a humectant that hydrates your hair by absorbing water from the air’s humidity.
- Pro-Vitamin B5 helps add moisture, shine, and softness to your hair.
- Silicones (Trimethylsiloxyamodimethicone, PEG-12 Dimethicone, and Amodimethicone) also appear in the ingredient list of Splat hair dye. One study shows that silicone in hair dye helps reduce color vibrancy fading.
- Paraffinum Liquidum (Mineral Oil) helps improve product consistency and promote soft and well-moisturized hair.
These are the standout ingredients of Splat hair dye and what they do for your hair individually. Next, let’s check out Splat hair dye reviews from various users.
Splat Hair Color Reviews – Before and After Pictures
We cover real-life user experiences from various users with different hair types, hair textures, time results, starting hair colors, etc.
Results of a woman with fine, wavy hair after using Splat Bleach Kit. It lightened her hair very well with minimal damage although the result is a bit off from the picture on the box.
Results of a woman with wavy, pre-lightening hair after using Midnight Ruby. The first picture shows her hair turning bright red after two washes. And after six washes, the color gradually faded to hot pink.
Results of a woman with straight, pre-lightening hair after using Original Complete Kit in Ombre Ocean for all-over color. Her hair turned to green teal color after leaving it for 1-3 hours. After one week, the color looked more muted and started fading further in two weeks.
Results of a girl with long, brunette hair after using Melts in Milk Chocolate & Purple Plum after 2 weeks of washing. She got nice brown hair on top and light pastel purple on the bottom of her hair.
Results of a woman with dark brown, auburn-tinted hair after using Double Lifts in Warm Red for all-over transformation. The dye gave the results exactly as advertised without the unwanted orange color.
Results of a woman with straight, natural strawberry blonde hair after processing her hair with Splat Naturals in Red for 30-45 minutes. The dye turned her hair to beautiful plum red and left it feeling soft & shiny.
Next, let’s take a look at the possible side effects of Splat Rebellious Haircolor.
Possible Side Effects of Splat Hair Dyes
Splat Rebellious Hair Colors contain numerous ingredients ranging from chemical to natural ingredients. We’ve covered their benefits before, here we discuss the disadvantages of them which may cause unwanted adverse effects on your hair and skin.
- Some Splat hair dyes contain resorcinol which is considered a strong sensitizer by the Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety. If you have sensitive skin, you may experience a skin rash, itching, and redness. However, resorcinol is considered to be safe when used in hair dyes up to 1.25%. If you prefer resorcinol-free, you can opt for Lime Crime, Manic Panic, Artic Fox, or Madison Reed.
- Splat hair dyes are not fragrance-free. You can opt for Splat Naturals (Pink Hair Dye) which is free of fragrance.
- If you’re pregnant – especially in the first trimester – it is best to stay clear from Splat hair dye. Speak to your doctor for alternatives. If it’s possible to dye your hair, avoid on-scalp coloring and always wear gloves.
- Splat permanent hair dye and bleach kit contains ammonium hydroxide and ethanolamine that break your hair’s natural protein and moisture. Eventually, this process leads to your hair becoming dry and brittle, especially if you have over-processed hair which may worsen the damage.
- Hydrogen peroxide may irritate your scalp and weaken your hair follicles over time. If you already have extremely dry and brittle hair, it is best to avoid using Splat Bleach Kit to prevent unwanted effects.
- Since Splat Bleach Kit contains resorcinol, don’t sniff the powder because it may irritate your nose and cause coughing, wheezing, or shortness of breath.
Next, let’s take a look at alternatives to Splat Rebellious Haircolor.
Alternatives to Splat Hair Dye
Today, there is an abundance of hair colors for you to choose from. Whether it’s a hair color kit or semi-permanent dye that is ready to use without developers, you’ve always got options. Here we provide three alternatives that may fit your criteria.
Madison Reed
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Madison Reed offers customized hair color kits with Smart 8-Free: No Ammonia, PPD, Resorcinol, Parabens, Phthalates, Gluten, SLS, and Titanium Dioxide. This award-winning hair color offers 100% gray coverage that lasts for up to 4 weeks.
The color kit is also packed with hair-loving ingredients, such as keratin, argan oil, and ginseng root extract to boost hair’s moisture, softness, and shine while coloring. A pack of this kit costs you $30 that comes with a cream color specially customized for you.
Manic Panic
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In terms of bold, vivid colors that last longer, Manic Panic won’t let you down. This vegan-friendly formula is free of harsh chemicals, such as ammonia, resorcinol, paraben, and PPD (just a few names). It is also enriched with hair-conditioning agents like aloe vera to help fortify your hair.
This semi-permanent hair dye may last for 6 weeks and will gradually fade, making the hair color appear brighter. You can get this hair color for $14.99 (4 fl oz) on Amazon.
Insert Name Here (INH)
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While Splat hair dye isn’t an option for damaged hair, INH Hair may be a great alternative for you. It is designed to be safe for dry, damaged hair who look for gentle, vibrant temporary color. INH Hair Color is free of sulfate, bleach, and any harsh chemicals.
The formula is enriched with conditioning ingredients like baobab oil and glycerin to nourish and protect your hair. The color will gradually fade with every wash, depending on your hair’s porosity. When it comes to pricing, INH Hair Color costs around $18 for 6 fl oz.
Bottom Line: Good for Well-Prepared Hair
Splat hair dye offers a wide range of hair color options that are various in different levels of permanency. So, you won’t find it hard to pick the right shade for you. Unfortunately, Splat may not be a good option for dry, damaged hair. Many users also reported that it won’t stay long on their hair.
However, Splat Rebellious is good at delivering vibrant hair color as long as you follow the instructions very carefully.
Hope this review was useful and helped you get a better understanding of Splat hair dyes. Leave us with questions or thoughts in the comment section below.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does Splat hair dye usually last?
The manufacturer claims Splat hair dye lasts for 4-6 weeks depending on your hair type, hair porosity, and how often you shampoo. However, many users reported that the color vibrancy only lasted for about 2-3 weeks.
Does Splat hair dye bleed a lot?
According to several users, Splat hair dye does bleed a lot during the first few washes. Some also reported that it also bleeds when you’re sweating or stuck in the rain.
Is Splat hard to get out of your hair?
If you have healthy hair, Splat is easy to get out of your hair. You can use a mixture of baking soda and lemon juice or clarifying shampoo to help remove the color. However, if you have damaged hair, it is best to let the color wash out gradually with regular shampooing.
Is Splat hair dye one-time use?
You can opt for Splat 1 Wash which is a temporary hair color. The color will get out of your hair after 1-2 shampoos.
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