Once upon a time, perusing the best blonde at-home hair dyes meant deciding between a handful of brands and shades, wondering what color the dye would actually turn your hair. Maybe it'd be blonde; maybe it'd be full-on orange, or maybe nothing would change at all. Today's dyes are certainly more effective, and there are now dozens of options to sift through when you want to go blonde at home.
The shade is among the trickiest to perfect without professional help (especially if you're starting from dark hair), but thanks to some near fool-proof kits approved by thousands of shoppers, it's easier than ever to tailor your hair to the exact shade of blonde you want. Take a scroll to find the one best suited to you, below.
- Best for Buttery Blonde Hair: Garnier Hair Color Nutrisse Nourishing Creme
- Best for Wheat Blonde Hair: Naturtint Permanent Hair Color
- Best for Ash Blonde Hair: Wella Color Charm Liquid
- Best for Blonde Highlights: L'Oréal Paris Couleur Experte 2-Step Home Hair Color and Highlights Kit
- Best for Medium Gold Hair: John Frieda Precision Foam Color
- Best for Lightening Dark Hair: Creme of Nature Moisture Rich Hair Color Kit
- Best for Platinum Blonde Hair: L'Oréal Paris Excellence Creme Permanent Hair Color
- Best for Strawberry Blonde Hair: Clairol Nice'N Easy Permanent Hair Color
- Best for Silver Blonde Hair: L'Oréal Paris Superior Preference Fade-Defying + Shine Permanent Hair Color
- Best for Sandy Blonde Hair: Garnier Olia Ammonia Free Permanent Hair Color
- Best for Fragile Hair: Schwarzkopf Keratin Color Anti-Age Hair Color Cream
- Best for Sensitive Scalps: Herbatint Permanent Herbal Haircolor Gel
Best for Buttery Blonde Hair: Garnier Hair Color Nutrisse Nourishing Creme
Garnier has an extensive line of hair dyes, but nearly 22,000 five-star Amazon ratings attest to the Nutrisse’s best-in-class standing. It especially excels at a girl-next-door shade of buttery golden blonde, with shopper’s after photos comparable to a golden retriever’s glossy coat (in the best possible way). The shade 92 Buttery Blonde is especially gorgeous, although the formula in general has shoppers raving that they wish they could give it 10 stars.
“My favorite forever hair color product. After trying several home hair color products and having allergic reactions to them, I found Garnier Nutrisse Haircolor,” one shopper in their 70s writes. “The compliments I receive on this product are constantly coming.” As a bonus, people also rave about the included conditioner for softest-hair-ever results.
Shop now: $16; amazon.com
Best for Wheat Blonde Hair: Naturtint Permanent Hair Color Wheat Blonde
If you’ve ever found yourself scrolling through hair salon Instagram searching for inspiration, you’ve likely seen wheat blonde hair many, many times over. The cool-toned hue appropriately looks like a field of cool wheat, which means brassiness wrecks it in no time.
To perfect the hue without an astronomical colorist fee, shoppers love Naturtint Permanent Hair Color’s Wheat Germ Blonde shade. The brand’s dye is the rare one that doesn’t bathe your bathroom in harsh fumes, and the ammonia-free ingredients translate to shiny, healthy, beautiful hair despite years of dye.
Shop now: $55 for pack of six; amazon.com
Best for Ash Blonde Hair: Wella Color Charm Liquid
Similarly in the cool-toned family, the ideal ash blonde hair comes with subtle gray undercurrents for an incredibly chic, sophisticated look. Salons charge a gallon of money for the maintenance-intense color, but stylist-favorite brand Wella’s created an easy at-home experience with the shade 10A Palest Ash Blonde.
“Outstanding, long-lasting hair color,” writes one happy camper. “My hair is very prone to brassiness, but this color has kept it cool.” Need more convincing? The brand’s also behind Sophie Turner’s always-remarkable hair colors — and since ash blonde works from a gray base, it’s an easy lift for people naturally in the silver fox realm.
Shop now: $7; amazon.com
Best for Blonde Highlights: L’Oréal Paris Couleur Experte 2-Step Home Hair Color and Highlights Kit
L’Oréal’s highlight kit in Toasted Coconut takes all the mental calculations and guesswork out of creating expert highlights in the privacy of your own bathroom, customized to exactly the level you want. It’s immensely comforting to read through the kit’s reviews — one shopper details feeling like they had screwed it up in every possible way, and the results still came out looking extraordinary.
“Even with all my incompetencies, my hair color looks like the picture on the box,” they write of the kit, which involves one all-over dye and a finger-tip comb for follow-up highlights. “L’Oréal in its wisdom has once again saved us from ourselves and idiot-proofed this product.” Even picky shoppers say they’re in love with the “‘surfer girl’ beachy, golden blond” the kit imparts, writing that the color looks like they spent the summer in the sun (and fools their friends into thinking it’s salon-done).
Shop now: $14; amazon.com
Best for Medium Gold Hair: John Frieda Precision Foam Color
If you’re intimidated by the hair dye process, shoppers say it doesn’t get easier than this beginner-friendly mousse — and the one-step results are so flawless, even hairstylists say it looks good (and if you’ve ever visited a stylist post-home dye job, you know how rare that is).
Shoppers setting out with dark brown hair write that they love the golden blonde the Light Natural Blonde 9N shade gives them, and the texture isn’t just a gimmick. “I’ve dyed my hair numerous times with box dye, and nothing beats the coverage of foam. No blotches,” the shopper says, and another agrees that the drip-free formula’s gray coverage is top-notch.
Shop now: $12; amazon.com
Best for Lightening Dark Hair: Creme of Nature Moisture Rich Hair Color Kit
Taking dark brown and black hair to blonde isn’t for the faint of heart, but the before-and-after photos from Creme of Nature’s Lightest Blonde set are so gorgeous, it’s like the brand bottled good lighting. The dye and lightener come with high praise from shoppers with naturally curly hair, who write that their blonde is still going strong four months later. Almost as impressive: One person says their hair actually feels softer post-dying than before, and another says it lasts even through daily swimming in chlorine
Shop now: $8;amazon.com
Best for Platinum Blonde Hair: L’Oréal Paris Excellence Creme Permanent Hair Color
Platinum blonde hair that doesn’t feel like it’s going to snap off in your brush is something of a white whale, both figuratively and literally. Working with any amount of bleach does a number on hair, but shoppers say L’Oréal’s cream formula in Extra Light Natural Blonde is phenomenal. “Hair dye from a box that looks professionally done? This is it,” reads one review, and multiple others say it stacks up to $170 salon jobs.
Another review, from a cosmetologist of 30 years, is just as good: “This is the best product I’ve tried on my hair. It doesn’t make my hair break off, and it’s TRUE to the color. The conditioner that comes with it makes my hair soft, stronger and very manageable.” No wonder the combination’s earned 7,000+ five-star Amazon ratings.
Shop now: $7 (Originally $9); amazon.com
Best for Strawberry Blonde Hair: Clairol Nice’N Easy Permanent Hair Color
Toeing the line between ginger and blonde, strawberry blonde hair looks gorgeously unique on everyone who tries it. The key is finding a formula with depth, and Clairol’s Medium Copper Blonde delivers: Shoppers compare their new hair to a wearable “rose gold jewel,” a true strawberry blonde crown that “shines and glows.” Reviewers say it leaves their hair feeling soft and light, and the color is rich and vibrant beyond their expectations (and bright orange fears).
Shop now: $5 (Originally $8); amazon.com
Best for Silver Blonde Hair: L’Oréal Paris Superior Preference Fade-Defying + Shine Permanent Hair Color
Shoppers with silver hair say this L’Oréal range is their go-to for dimensional color on the fringe of silver and blonde, and say the $9 box of Soft Silver Blonde is able to replace $120 highlights. The process is so easy that one person says their 13-year-old granddaughter was able to apply the color with ease, the end result a sandy silver that blends beautifully with grays that grow in. Others call it the “best hair color” they’ve ever used, toning away brass and overt yellow hues.
Shop now: $9 (Originally $10); amazon.com
Best for Sandy Blonde Hair: Garnier Olia Ammonia Free Permanent Hair Color
When a product comes recommended by a DIY veteran of 40 years, you know it’s extremely solid. Garnier’s Ammonia-Free range comes with nearly 13,000 five-star Amazon ratings, and per shoppers, the Medium Pearl Blonde Hair Dye and Dark Blonde shades are the ones to grab.
Thanks to the infallible results, multiple people say it’s the only box hair dye they’ll use; the former is a beachy tone right in between blonde, red, and gray, and the latter a medium blonde that effortlessly covers grays. “I am beyond happy with my results with this color! Not only did the color process itself have NO smell (such a wonderful relief) but it actually made me blonde with no brassy, copper aftermath,” one person says. “It’s like a godsend for boxed hair color.”
Shop now: $8; amazon.com
Best for Fragile Hair: Schwarzkopf Keratin Color Anti-Age Hair Color Cream
It pays to tread carefully when it comes to hair dye, and even more so when your hair is already fragile or damaged. Going blonde can notoriously leave even the most healthy hair stringy and broken, so when tons of shoppers write that they’ve found a treatment that leaves their hair’s health fully intact, our eyes are wide open. After trying several brands of hair color, one person says Schwarzkopf’s stands out for leaving hair “naturally smooth, with no odd textures or damaged feeling.”
Since the brand’s “Enhanced K·Bond-Plex” repairs hair as it’s being colored, you’re not left frantically searching for a rebonding treatment to undo damage in the aftermath — and according to shoppers, the Silky Blonde shade of Schwarzkopf’s Keratin Color Anti-Age Hair Color Cream leaves strands beautifully golden. All hail genius technology.
Shop now: $10; amazon.com
Best for Sensitive Scalps: Herbatint Permanent Herbal Haircolor Gel
When you have a scalp that’s sensitive to certain common ingredients, coloring your hair can be a nightmare akin to the third layer of hell (we’re talking burning, rashes, hair loss, scabs — Dante could never). If that sounds familiar, shoppers write that they’ve found solace with Herbatint’s low-ammonia formula.
“As close to ‘natural’ as you’re going to get with hair dye,” writes one person, and more marvel at the lack of smell and burning, and the shine the formula leaves behind. Even those with eczema on their scalp say it’s non-irritating, and the Honey Blonde shade in particular covers grays with ease.
Shop now: $15 (Originally $20); amazon.com
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