When comparing Special Effects vs Splat, the Slant community recommends Special Effects for most people. In the question“What are the best semi-permanent hair dyes for unnatural colors?” Special Effects is ranked 8th while Splat is ranked 16th. The most important reason people chose Special Effects is:
Special Effects comes in [28](http://www.specialeffectsusa.com/hair_dye.html) fun shades.
Question Ranking
Pros
Pro Variety of colors
Special Effects comes in 28 fun shades.
Pro UV reactive colors
Some dyes react under blacklight (Atomic Pink , Nuclear Red ,Cherry Bomb, Hi-Octane Orange, Joyride, Cupcake Pink , Bright as F#@$ Yellow, Napalm Orange).
Pro Very vibrant color
Pro Extremely affordable and accessible with many shades
Pro Red hue is extremely resilient
It will be in your hair until you dye over it or cut it out.
Cons
Con Never fade
I had their atomic pink on the ends of my hair and it tinted any color I put over it pink for six months after I dyed it and that was AFTER diluting it with conditioner.
Con Thick formula
The formula is so thick it’s difficult to apply. Also very difficult to get out of the bottle.
Con Fades quickly
Many of the colors start to fade noticeably after a week or so.
Con Stains everything, color washes out for weeks afterwards
Unless you use proper conditioner sealers.
Con Bleach packet is extremely damaging
Con Both bleach and dye are extremely damaging and drying to the hair
Con Lightening kit that comes with it is not of good quality
Con Colors runs when it gets wet
If you have this in your hair when it rains it will run unbelively. Any sort of wetness makes it run even heavy sweat.
Con Fades very quickly
After 3-4 washes the color will leave a little tinge of the old color along with the faded color
Con Dye itself does almost nothing to re-hydrate your hair
When using splat, make sure to follow up with a protein hair mask or using a sulphate-free shampoo.
Con Cheap
You get what you pay for. It’s low quality hair dye that damages your hair and the color doesn’t last. This is what people who don’t know any better use or people who are too stupid to look online for quality dyes.