CurlyNikki says: I did it. Back in 2013. I used a now-discontinued Maybelline cream eyeshadow and you couldn’t tell me nothin’. ‘It went hard’, I say, as I make my lemon balm tea and turn on some Gregorian chant music and snuggle in for the night at 7pm. It was a marvelous time 🙂
3 Best Products for Natural Hair When You Want Color but Refuse to Bleach It
by Team CurlyNikki
Sometimes we just want purple hair right quick. It’s not even that serious. But what we DON’T want is a second big chop lol. We don’t want to deal with the drama of the bleach and the foil and the highlights and the dryness and the eventual breakage. We don’t want My Little Pony clips ins. We are grown. We don’t what colored braids. We are over them. We just want purple hair for a sec, and we want it as purple as our sweet potatoes.
And thankfully in our year of the Lord 2026, we have options. Here are three ways to wear visible color without lightening your curls first:
| Pick | Best for | Price |
|---|---|---|
| As I Am Curl Color | An inexpensive wash-out color experiment | $7.99 |
| Curlsmith Hair Makeup in Copper | Copper pigment with styling hold | $15 |
| Overtone Vivid Violet Treatment Mask | A longer-lasting purple deposit | $32 regular / 8 oz |
As I Am: when we want to try the idea first
As I Am Curl Color is a temporary color gel sold in shades including copper, red, purple and silver. It works on dark hair (!!!) and has an easy application and drying process. But make sure your hair is completely dry and transfer-proof before sliding on that white tee or sitting back on somebody’s couch.
Curlsmith: when copper is the whole mood
Curlsmith Hair Makeup in Copper combines temporary pigment and styling gel. Copper is the pick when we want a warm metallic-looking finish on selected curls or throughout the style, with hold built into the same step.
Apply as directed and let it dry before touching or fluffing. Curlsmith describes this as makeup rather than a structural color change. That is the appeal: we can experiment without asking bleach to create the effect. Still, “temporary” does not mean we skip the strand test or assume there will never be transfer.
Overtone: when we want color to stay awhile
Overtone Vivid Violet Treatment Mask is the semi-permanent option. It deposits color through a conditioning treatment, and the result depends heavily on the starting shade. Dark hair may show a subtler tint (especially outdoors in direct sunlight); lighter or porous hair may take a much stronger deposit.
Wear gloves, protect surfaces and strand-test for both the result and the fade. This is not the one-wash option. If we need our exact previous shade back by Monday morning, a lingering violet deposit is the wrong commitment, however cute the initial result looks.
Read More:
The Best Shampoo and Conditioner for Curly Hair: 2026 Top Picks
11 Best Leave-In Conditioners for Curly Hair in 2026
9 Best Lash Growth Serums in 2026 for Longer, Fuller-Looking Lashes
9 Best Gels for 4C Hair in 2026, According to a Natural Hair OG
11 Best Edge Controls for 4C Hair in 2026 That Actually Hold
Batana Oil for Hair: Benefits, Hair Growth Claims, How to Use It and My Honest Review
Indian Hair Growth Secrets: The Exact Oiling Routine for Long Natural Hair
