I finally decided to touch up my hair colour day before yesterday. Who am I kidding? It's been exactly a year since I've touched my hair. Last year I used Splat Lusty Lavender and did just the underneath hair at the back of my head. (I hope that made sense!) What I mean is that the top two thirds is still brown and the bottom third, underneath it all was dyed. Since my hair grows at a pretty decent pace, there's a good 4-5 inches of brown back there and the colour faded to a light pink, so I figured it might be time to do something about it. Unfortunately, the last few times I was in Shoppers Drug Mart (where I buy my hair colour) they didn't have Splat. All they had was the wash out stuff in the really vibrant colours I was looking for, and I really wanted permanent or even semi-permanent. I'm not sure if a year ago they were just doing a special with that brand (it was in the aisle, not on the shelf) and just decided not to carry it, or what. I did recently find out that I can get it at Walmart and Target - so I guess that'll have to do for next time!
So anyway, I figured I'd try out the Feria Absolute Platinum (since all the other bleaches looked waaay to complicated), bleach my hair and then pick a really rich red and dip dye the rest of my hair for an interesting look. And so began the single worst experience I have ever had with hair colour, and that brings us to this review:
First of all, let's begin with the warnings. There are always warnings with any hair colour, especially so if it involves bleach of any kind. If you're not careful, you can ruin your clothes, towels, counters and even burn your skin, so that is understandable. However, what I could not understand was why the conditioner had to have a warning!
Anyhow, The process is extremely frustrating. I followed the instructions, put on my gloves (which fit extremely well, and that doesn't usually happen with the gloves you get in these kits), twisted the top off the bottle and product squirted out. I have never, in 25+ years of colouring my own hair had that happen. And no, I didn't shake it first.
Next I had to empty the powder from a large, flat packet into the bottle. I think the people at L'Oreal should consider spending an extra couple of cents per package and including a funnel. Even while being extremely careful, trying to get powder from a packet to flow into a small hole while wearing gloves is near impossible to do without spillage. There's a lot of powder, too. Seemed like a never ending stream...
So next I screw on the cap, as per direction and shake well to mix the powder in. This also seemed like an exercise in futility. I shook my little heart out, and three times I unscrewed the cap to find a powder plug in the top of the bottle and inside the lid. Three times I pushed it down, resealed and shook ever more vigorously. The fourth time I said 'screw it', figured it was good enough and added the final tube of cream, which was, thankfully, easy to add. I shook it again, replaced the lid with the nozzle and set about bleaching my hair.
I do have to rave about the actual cream. Although the smell was strong (it is bleach), it was not unbearable. Actually much better than others. I have previously almost passed out from how strong some hair colour smells. This was very easy to deal with. The cream itself is very thick and has a really creamy texture that clings to your glove and hair, making the process of getting the stuff onto your hair really effortless.
I left it on for an hour and then went to go rinse it out. I did not put the gloves back on as per warnings and direction because I figured if it was really that bad, my hands were going to be the least of my problems. I was rinsing it out in the shower, and this stuff was going to be running all down my back and bum, and although I checked the box, there was no rubber suit included. Thankfully, there was no burning sensation at all, which makes me wonder what was up with all the fear-mongering about the conditioner. Maybe it mutated my DNA? But it's touching my scalp, so any way I look at it, the warnings to wear gloves while rinsing are kinda dumb.
After I rinsed the bleach and conditioner out, I lost a whole clump of hair. Considering I only bleached about a third (maybe less) of my actual hair, I'm surprised there's any left. I was seriously considering taking a picture of my drain, but who wants to see a huge clump of gross hair? So you'll just have to take my word for it.
After my hair came out of the towel, I inspected the colour. True to it's packaging, it did come out a beautiful shade of blonde. However, I am used to my hair feeling really soft after using hair colouring conditioners (I have no idea what they use, but it's awesome), and that was not the case this time. It was coarse and tangled. And in case you're wondering, I have bleached my hair before, and it was soft after conditioning. Thankfully I have that fantastic Pantene Ultimate 10 BB Creme. A little dab set thing right.
Overall, this product did what it claimed it would do, I got the exact shade I was looking for. Was the whole process and the hair loss and the coarse feel worth it? No. The market is saturated with so many other products that can give you the same results with less than half the hassle.
Product Rating: 2 smiles out of 5
Product Website: www.lorealparisusa.com Product Type: hair colour Would I purchase again?: no Would I recommend?: no
All opinions expressed in this blog are my own, unbiased after testing the product. The product was fully paid for by myself. The subject of this blog entry has no expectation of a review, favorable or otherwise.
2 Comments
kelly
3/29/2015 10:39:43 am
Omg your hair fell out in clumps? Did you use it on the top of your hair on your natural color or just on the previously colored lavender part? Was that part previously bleached before you put in the lavender or was it like a one step lightening your Brown and depositing lavender, but it had still been a year since you did any coloring at all to your hair?
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Kay
7/18/2018 08:03:03 am
Most boxes will advise you, if your hair has been previously treated, to do less than the full amount of time they list for virgin hair. An hour was way too long to have the bleach in your already processed part of hair, even with the new virgin brown growth at the roots. I would also recommend with anytime you bleach to have an intense conditioner on hand just in case the included box conditioner doesn't pan out or there isn't enough for a generous treatment on your hair.
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