Permanent Herbal Haircolour Gel 5N Light Chestnut - 135 mL

The color of my hair that you see in the picture I posted is a mix of 70% Herbatint 5N, 25% 6N, and 5% 4C. Photographed with my cheap cell phone in indoor natural light next to a window. I'm sitting on a faded burgundy sheet that covers a window seat. Herbatint does not come with an applicator bottle, so remember to rinse out and save an applicator bottle from the box of whatever brand of color you've been using previously (that's what I did....decades ago, and that bottle is still good to go : ). If you don't have an old applicator bottle lying around, you can always just get an empty re-fill-able (screw top) clear plastic condiment bottle with a pointy lid (the kind you would use for a line of mustard) at a dollar type store. I also always save one of the old, rinsed-out clear "activator" bottles that comes in the Herbatint product box to serve as my proportion mixing bottle for next time. That way I can easily use the nicely marked "ml" or "oz" lines on the bottle to do my own custom mixing. I like to use the "ml" measuring scale (see image I posted of the ml side of the bottle). You'll also need a "rat-tailed comb" to separate your hair, and some kind of flat, wide, narrow brush (like the kind you use in the kitchen to put glaze on breads, or the kind of white-bristled, "paint brush" you might pick up at a Dollar store, dollar tree, whatever. I found the brush I presently use in a dollar store, I think in the kitchen tool area, but also look in the regular "tool" or "household" area for something affordable that can work for you. If you can't get your hands on any of the above, save and use an old toothbrush to be your applicator tool; it's better than nothing for now. An old plastic "stadium cup" can be your mixing bowl if you don't have an applicator bottle. Herbatint does supply cheap, clear plastic gloves in each box, but they're too small for my giant "manual labor" hands, so I just use whatever better "disposable gloves" we have in the house at the time. (See my current color tools, including gloves, in my review picture that has "You Will Also Need" on the top of the image). I started going gray in high school; decades ago, and have been coloring since. Irish genes, stressful life, repeated traumas. I have had to color my hair most of my "adult" life. I also have multiple chemical sensitivity, which has gotten worse over the years, so I can only use products that don't cause my scalp to break out or burn. The Herbatint Color tints (green bottle) and Activator (clear bottle) that you mix with the tint are fine for me, and cause no allergic reactions. However, I can't use the Herbatint conditioner / Creme Rinse / Royal Cream that is supplied in the box. Warning: the conditioner / creme rinse they supply has a very strong fragrance. If you're sensitive to chemicals or fragrance, please patch-test all of the Herbatint products prior to use. I just throw away that little packet of creme rinse crap every time I open a new box of Herbatint. I use my own "fragrance free" conditioner after rinsing the color out with water in the shower. I found the Herbatint line (formerly Antica Herbavita) in a health food store during college, I think, and have been using it to color my increasingly gray (white) hair ever since, and I've never had a problem with any kind of allergic reaction (and I'm highly allergic to most products now; I can't use any fragrance shampoos, etc), and Herbatint's N series colors ALWAYS color my new white roots (and I have to color them every 2 to 3 weeks!) But, I cannot use the Herbatint Conditioner / Royal Creme, nor their shampoo. After nearly 30 years of coloring, Herbatint is still the ONLY hair color I use, or CAN use, as all the other "natural" or health food store brands I've tried have caused mild to sever scalp reactions (one - probably the other best selling nature-tinting brand - burned my scalp so bad that I lost a lot of hair). During my "dating years," I didn't want to look older than my chronological age, and with working full time, and taking care of family members, I no longer had time to do the time consuming and messy "herbal," henna, or coffee tint treatments (where you have to apply the leaf and powder pastes to your warm, moist hair, wrap your head in plastic and sit under a heat blower) that I did in my "youth." Who has 3 hours to a whole day to sit around and WAIT for stubborn white hair to absorb henna or coffee tingeing while there's work, school, and family to care for? And to repeat THAT process every 2-3 weeks as one's white roots come back in? Forget about it! Processes like that are for the wealthy, leisure class...who probably get other people to "do" their hair anyway. Using Herbatint takes, maybe, an hour total out of my life, every two to three weeks. That's do-able. Since you mix the Herbatint color tints (green bottle) and activators (clear bottle) as needed for your color and length of touch up needed, you can save the amount of tint and activator in their separate, resealable bottles for next time. That's affordable, even for a tint-mixer like me :) with shoulder-length hair. I customarily mix my color, shake it up good in my pointy applicator bottle, and apply to all my new white roots first. I let that process for 25-35 minutes, but I don't "drag the color out to the ends" afterwards each time I color. I only do a "drag through" (from the roots to the ends of my hair during the last 5 to 10 minutes of coloring) as needed, when my ends have faded badly or have become brassy from sun-fade. Repeated coloring with any "permanent color," even the most mild brands, like this one, can damage your hair length over time if you're not careful. So be careful, and pay attention to the recommended "wait" (or "processing") times that are recommended in the product instructions that come with the product. Repeated coloring of the same hair for too long, or too often, with any "permanent hair color" (that uses some kind peroxide type "activator") can make your hair brittle, dry, and straw-like after repeatedly coloring of the same hair length, so if you don't want "straw texture" hair, only color your roots when you have to, and only do the "drag through" as needed to "refresh" your color, and for as short a time as possible at the end of your 20-25 minute root color. Your hair beyond your new roots, the length of your hair that "still looks colored" and which has previously been colored during it's "life" on your head, has gotten more brittle and more porous over its life, so it needs far less time to color than your fresh, young, new roots. Be careful, be cautious, stick with the recommended "setting" times, and do not leave permanent color product on your hair any longer than absolutely necessary to achieve the color you want. Any hair coloring "success" and resulting "healthy looking hair," is partially the brand's "fault" and partially the "practitioner's" fault. For the best result, for me, I've found that my hair needs conditioner after I do my color rinse out. As long as I stick to the recommended times, and only do "drag through color" as needed (not each time I color), Herbatint treats my hair well, and I achieve very "natural looking color" and quality of hair for my age (mid fifties). I have changed which Herbatint colors I use as I have aged, and during the times in my life that I've felt differently about how I look. The "harsh" look that a too-dark hair color, or a "way too light" or "too blonde and washed out" color can give to one's appearance, as one's face tans, lightens, or "sags with age," can be very unflattering, or even "shocking." I was born "auburn." I have hazel brown eyes, and NOT the pink and white skin of my freckle-face, red-haired, blue-eyed Mom, but rather the more swarthy and "easy to tan" French people skin of my light brown over hazel brown Dad. Looking at my face, you could easily understand why paler folk may have once called people with similar heritage as mine, "frogs." :) The wrong tint added to my hair color can definitely make my tone skin look even more green-yellow to olive-y than it already is! I used 2 N on my white roots in college (when I was young, and looked young), and that looked awesome then, but as I've gotten older, I've had to lighten up a bit, just to not seem too "harsh" or "severe." During Middle Age (40s), 4N looked more natural, and the sun brought out the red highlights that made me look "natural auburn" again. Any Herbatint "N" series color below 4 N (N, 2N, 3N) can look "magic marker Black" on porous, long-time colored, or "aging" hair, so perhaps don't "drag out" the lower N colors throughout your length every time you color. Herbatint does not really "lift" dark color-treated hair, it only ADDs color to hair, so if you're undecided on which tint (which N color) to choose, go with the lighter choice (the higher N number). If you're wanting light brown, for example, go with "5N" or "6N" rather than 4N. You can always make a light color darker, but it's really, really hard to make a too-dark color lighter again. If you have already gone too dark with an Herbatint color, just wait it out. Herbatint does sun-fade and get a tad bit lighter every time you shampoo, so it will lighten in time; usually before you need to touch up your white root re-growth. Herbatint colors add color, but they don't really "subtract" or "lift" color from previously color-treated hairs, so err to the lighter rather than the darker the first time you choose a new color. It's recommended to use an Herbatint N series color as your base, if you're roots are more white than your former natural color now. The N series has always covered the whites / grays for me. You can highlight an N series to better match your former "natural" color by mixing a high percentage of the N color with a lesser amount of one of the tinting series (R for red highlights, D for Golden, C for "Ash" ). During my middle age, the Golden tints looked appropriate, and I wore a 4D or 5D, depending on the season. Sun fading gave me enough of the auburn-reddish highlights, but in my later 40s to 50s, as the quantity of gray (white) hair overtook the proportion that was still "natural" dark brown color, the Gold ("D") series colors looked too "yellow" or "brassy," and the R series too red for my complexion. Warning on the R series: even the Herbatint hotline ladies recomend "only add a cap full of the "R" series color to your mix the first time." Sage advice. I recently tried a cap of the R, added to 80% 5N, 19% 6N, and my husband said "too red for you." So, be careful with the R series. If you find yourself too Red, then add a bit of a "C" Ash to your next Herbatint mostly "N" based color mix to tone down the Red. If the N series of Herbatint that you like starts looking "too red" or the D tints "too brassy" to you, you can always try to add a bit of the "C" series, the Ash colors, to get your hair back to a more neutral natural color. It worked for me, and seems a better match to my "easily tanned" skin and brown eyes. Sorry this was so long, but I tried to answer most questions I've ever had about Herbatint, and hopefully help out another person with limited funds and limited time to spend on hair color make a more educated decision on where to spend their "hair coloring and time" budget :), and which Herbatint colors / Tints in the series to try.

color is brilliant, 100 percent gray coverage.

This product was recommended to me by my former local health food store owner (I have since moved). He told me his wife had tried all of the healthier hair color products and this was the only one she would use. He also carried other brands but I know he was a very honest man from many, many dealings with him. I have not tried all of the other products as she did, but I have tried a couple of healthy hair colors beside this one and I must say this is the only one I will use also. If you use the product with an N in the number, it covers grey very well. The color is excellent and it lasts longer than other over the counter brands....even the not healthy ones. The way it is packaged you get two colorings out of one box....and with the savings I received from this company, this is a true bargain. I really love this product!!

I used this to cover my 20% gray hair and mixed it with Herbatint Haircolor Gel, Permanent 6C, Dark Blonde Ash (1/2 & 1/2). It did come out very dark with red undertones which I did not want and thought the Dark Blonde Ash would counteract that. I did it on Memorial Day, it is now 7 weeks after and I need to reapply. (Should have earlier) My hair did lighten after every wash and I did like it after awhile. The reddish tint is not so bad, it didn't turn orange like I had my hair turn when done in a salon. It did leave my hair feeling soft, not like straw which is what the vegetal chestnut hair color did, but it was close to my natural color and didn't cover the gray. I wanted to try the product out before putting permanent on. There also isn't a noticable line with the growing in of hair between the colored and new. I called the company and the expert colorist told me to go lighter next time for permanent with a 6N not a 5N. The package is enough for two applications, I will use this up since I will be putting it on the roots for 40 minutes and the rest of my hair for 10, I don't expect it to be that dark this time.

This hair color is awesome! I have been using it for many years. I love that it is herbal & doesn't harm my hair. It is cruelty-free, which is a requirement for me. It comes in 2 little bottles & you can use as much or as little as you need & save the rest to use next time. One bottle is the color & the other is the developer. Now they added a tube of conditioner for after you shampoo, which is wonderful. It's made in Italy. It has no ammonia or harsh chemicals whatever.

I used this product to dye my hair for the first time and it was the best. I didn't damage it, it looked natural and lasted a long time.

I like that this hair dye doesn't contain some of the more troublesome ingredients that other dyes have. It is easy to use, but note that you have to have your own bowl to mix it in. My hair is medium-length and I love that I can mix up just half of the contents for a treatment and save the other half for the next time I color my hair. I use a light brown color and it covers gray well, and lasts a decent amount of time before I have to re-color.

My update several months later is that the color didn't fade fast and didn't turn red which some of the other natural color products do. It also didn't dry out my hair as other products do. It is definitely a dark brown at first and now months later is medium. I'm happy with it and will but it again soon along with an application bottle. Hope it doesn't smell fishy again and I won't lose much hair like last time. It works good and the color was darker but accurate to what's on the box but it smelled fishy. Also there's no application bottle, just two small bottles of the chemicals, gloves and royal cream packet. The royal cream is to be applied on your forehead and neck to avoid stains but isn't really necessary. The instructions later said to use it after you shampoo so I guess it's also like a conditioner. I wish they included an application bottle put instead they want you to buy their kit which I wasn't happy about. I ended up mixing it in a plastic bowl and luckily had an application brush laying around. I did lose a lot of hair in the shower when I rinsed it off. I'll update once I see how it lasts and if it turns reddish.