Directions

Directions is a British semi-permanent hair colour brand based in Shoeburyness, Essex, and owned by the manufacturer La Riche Ltd [2]. According to the company, it has produced bold, vivid hair colour continuously since 1981, and it marked its 45th anniversary in February 2026 [3]. Some retailers and informal sources list the brand as "La Riché Directions," but its own site and packaging use simply "Directions," with La Riche Ltd named separately as the parent company.

The brand is built around a wide palette of vivid shades and an early commitment to formulating without ammonia or peroxide. It remains active: a 2025 rebrand refreshed its packaging, and the company continued publishing how-to guides and colour content into mid-2026.

La Riche launched the first Directions colours in 1981 from a small UK workroom, formulating its semi-permanent dye without ammonia or peroxide from the start [2]. The brand's own pages date the line to 1981, a year corroborated by parent company La Riche ("Est. 1981") and by the February 2026 anniversary, which the company described as turning 45. A founding around 1984 has occasionally been suggested, but the brand-site date of 1981 is used here as the primary source [2].

The names of the founders are not disclosed on any of the brand's own pages or in the available third-party sources. La Riche is a privately held UK company that has not published the identities of its founders.

Directions is operated as a house brand of La Riche Ltd, registered in England and Wales under company number 01543871 [2]. Alongside the consumer line, La Riche runs a private-label business, manufacturing semi-permanent hair colour for third parties and offering services from formulation to packaging and shipping [10]. The company states that all colour is made in Britain by its own mixing team [2].

The brand's name appears in two forms. Its own site and product packaging use "Directions," while the "La Riché Directions" spelling, with an acute accent, appears mainly on third-party retailer listings and in informal blog usage. The UK company registration records the parent as "La Riche Ltd," without an accent.

Directions presents itself as "the home of semi-permanent hair colour" and frames its work around self-expression and inclusivity, stating that "bold hair colour is for everyone." The company describes formulation as "an art and a science" refined over more than four decades, and lists core values that include empowering self-expression, ethical practice and environmental responsibility.

Ethics is central to how the brand positions itself. It says its products are "100% vegan-friendly and cruelty-free – no exceptions," with none tested on animals or containing animal ingredients, and it references PETA Cruelty-Free and Vegan certification in its customer FAQs [4]. The company has also linked its colours to alternative and subcultural style, citing roots that run "from alt icons and punk rockers to models, actors and creatives of every kind" [5]; an alternative-fashion retailer, Blue Banana, situates the brand in the same UK punk and goth context [11].

The brand's core product is its semi-permanent vivid hair colour, sold in pots across reds, oranges, yellows, greens, blues, pinks, purples, greys, fluorescents and toners. Pillarbox Red is among its long-standing shades, described by the company as "uncompromising" in its brightness [8]. The range is fully mixable, allowing custom shades, and a more recent Rich Naturals collection extends the palette into browns, blacks and coppers. Beyond colour, the line includes colour-care shampoos and conditioners, hair-lightening kits and application accessories such as bowls, brushes and gloves.

The defining technical claim is that the colour has been formulated without ammonia or peroxide since 1981 [11]. The company also emphasises packaging made from recycled material, stating that its pots use 100% recycled PET plastic, and its 2025 rebrand introduced what it called fully recyclable materials across both its consumer and wholesale lines [5].

Directions is active. The company celebrated its 45th anniversary in February 2026 and continued publishing regularly, with its most recent blog post recorded on 1 June 2026 [3]. Its 2025 rebrand, which introduced an all-over blue pot design, was accompanied by an announced expansion across Europe [5]. The brand sells through both DIY and salon channels and maintains retail distribution in the UK.