Navigating the world of at-home hair colour can be tricky. Even more so if you’re after something less temporary than even temporary hair dyes. Until recently, the only truly temporary options were either hair chalk (too fiddly), hair paint (leaks onto everything), or spray-on shades (turns hair into coloured straw).

If you’re a bleached blonde in any way, chances are you’ve already tried a purple shampoo or conditioner to ice up highlights and tackle brassiness. But there’s so much more potential in using these kinds of temporary solutions: enter the colour depositing hair mask. Like your average nurturing mask, these products contain intense colour pigments that temporarily (and I mean temporary) coat your strands. 

Lasting for a few washes to about a month, they’re the perfect way to boost your current colour or experiment with something entirely new – although the end result will be heavily influenced by your base hair colour (so deep brunettes won’t go blonde or red, but will take on a tint). Make sure to do a strand test on a small section (ideally at the back) so you can see the final colour.

As someone with bleached highlights that tend to go brassy, I’ve been using purple hair masks (purple shampoos are too drying) for years to balance my colour out and achieve a unique caramel shade that I’ve never managed with a hair dye. My hair is really weakened after bleach, so rather than go in with a hair dye and cause further damage, a colour mask is the perfect way to restore lustre while altering the colour. I only need to use one once a month, as I wash my hair twice a week. 

When I started to miss my natural dark brown hair, I picked up one of Moroccanoil’s Colour-Depositing Mask in Cocoa Brown and applied it to most of my hair, leaving a few highlights, and just like that I was back to my natural colour for just three weeks. 

My hair slowly went back to its usual shade, and I really enjoyed the midway point between dark brown and light brown along the way. I’ll definitely be experimenting with more colours and different brands.

Here, I round up the most highly recommended options.

Images: Ava Welsing-Kitcher/courtesy of brands