Zuvi ColorBox Review: A Hair Dye Printer That Struggles

I will say that I think this product could be interesting in a few scenarios. If you like to dye your own extensions, or if you continually change the color of a strand and don’t need to buy tons of full-size containers of dye, or if you’re a parent with kids who are always dyeing their bleached ends, then this might make sense. And the resulting product smells good. I also like the included container that allows you to store leftover dye. If you’re specifically looking for faded pastel tones, I still think you should just… get some hair dye and dilute it with conditioner.

ScreenshotZuvi app via Louryn Strampe

Ultimately, in my assessment, the product does not do its job. And even if it gets better, even if eventually you can get black pigment to help darken the shades, or if Zuvi switches from using primary colors to using cyan, magenta, and yellow, or if the company starts making it easier to bleach your hair at home, or if the use of generative AI stops and Zuvi starts standing behind its own results… in the end, you still end up with a machine proprietary that uses proprietary cartridges, all of which will become paperweights if the company goes bankrupt.

I combed through all the results I could find from other reviews on the internet. I’m not a licensed cosmetologist, but I’ve been coloring my own hair for about 20 years and have yet to see a more impressive result than what the user could have gotten for less money from their local beauty supplier. Semi-permanent fashion dyes come in hundreds and hundreds of shades, all of which can be mixed together. It may take some trial and error to dial in your perfect pink, blue, or red, but it can be done without a machine. Your local beauty supply store probably has an associate who has been dying your hair for decades and will be happy to point you in the right direction. And respectfully, if you can’t figure out color theory or add conditioner little by little to dilute your own dye, maybe you should go to a professional and save yourself the trouble of doing it incorrectly. The Zuvi ColorBox adds more guesswork instead of removing it.

While I like the low upfront price, professionally done color corrections are very expensive, and Zuvi’s refill cartridges (around $22 each) could easily cost the same amount as the supplies to dye your hair with local beauty products, especially if your hair is long, thick, and/or curly. And I like the idea of ​​reducing dye waste, but again, you don’t need to buy a gadget for this.