Hair colorant compositions

An aqueous hair coloring composition comprising:

• i) at least one primary dye and at least one dye coupler, each selected to give hair color in the CIE L*a*b* grey color space and hair color that fades in the CIE L*a*b* grey color space, and wherein the at least one dye coupler is not resorcinol;
• ii) a buffering system comprising phosphoric acid and mono-and/or di-sodium phosphate;
• iii) about 0.5 wt. % to about 1.5 wt. % of at least one oxidizing agent relative to the total weight of the hair coloring composition;
• iv) at least one gel network thickener system of from 11.6 wt % to about 20 wt % comprising
• a) a first surfactant component selected from C14 to 30 alkyl phosphate, C14 to C30 alkyl ether phosphate and a mixture thereof,
• b) a second component selected from C14 to C30 fatty alcohols and
• c) a third surfactant component selected from polyoxyethylene C14 to C30 alkyl ethers having at least 50 ethylene oxide units;
• v) at least 0.05% of a polysaccharide,
• vi) at least 3% of a polyol selected from propyleneglycol, butoxydiglycol, ethoxydiglycol, hexylene glycol, dipropylene glycol, glycerol, polyglycerol, and mixtures thereof;
• vii) an alkalizer comprising a source of hydroxide ions, carbonate ions, hydrogen carbonate ions or mixtures thereof;
• viii) a chelant of from about 0.5 wt % to about 1 wt %, comprising an aminocarboxylic acid, an aminophosphonic acid or a mixture thereof,
• wherein the hair coloring composition has a pH of about 6 to about 8;
• and buffering system maintains the pH of the composition between 6 and 8,
• wherein the hair color fades within the CIE L*a*b* grey color space are defined by the following L*a*b* values:
• −1<a<4, 0<b<12 and 25<L<80, and
• wherein the wt %'s are relative to the total weight of the aqueous hair coloring composition.