Badger It! (Other L'Oreal)

Member Name: lamorna

Product:	Other L'Oreal
Date:	09/10/03 (2014 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: None, None, None

Disadvantages: It's Bleach, It's Bleach, It's Bleach

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My young hairdressing apprentice nervously sidled up to me as I was deep in conversation with a client as we were discussing her hair styling requirements and then tried to interrupt me. My apprentice was a very discreet and experienced trainee so I realised she wouldn?t bother me unless it was important. I excused myself and joined my apprentice, with her very concerned face, in a quiet corner of the salon. I only needed to glance briefly at the firm rubber highlighting cap she was clutching to see there was a serious problem. The close fitting cap worn by clients having a full head of bleached highlights was full of bleached clumps of hair. The woman the hair belonged to was sitting on the other side of the salon at a back basin, completely unaware that half her head of hair had detached itself from her head and was sitting snugly in the cap. There were two outcomes from this dreadful experience. The first was the histrionic reaction by the client when she saw her hair and it was only under pressure that she admitted to not being truthful with me when asked if she had treated her hair with any chemical products since her last salon visit to me. She had home-permed and coloured it only the night before (OK! I should have done a strand test!) The second outcome was that I promised myself I would never use strong bleach on my own hair. So why did I come home from a Superdrug shopping spree with a box of L?Oreal Multi-Tonal Colour System?

L?Oreal Multi-Tonal Colour System is an innovative idea for those confident enough to colour their hair at home and probably in this case, advisably with a friend. The system promises professional looking high and low lights. Indeed, after many years as a qualified master hairdresser (even after describing the above experience) I had no qualms about doing it myself-except for one. In order to highlight sections of hair a darker, even colour base is needed hence the highlight mixture can only consist
of tw

o elements-bleach and peroxide. I colour my hair using a beige Herbal Colourant with no added bleach and I?ve been happy with this hair product for several years. I so wish I?d stayed happy!

I selected Toasted Coconut (Base Colour) with Light Blonde as the highlight colour. All the shades seemed to be edible as in Brown Sugar and Iced Latte. The Toasted Coconut base colour was very similar to my own shade and I did fancy the random highlights as illustrated on the very large burgundy coloured box that contained the L?Oreal Multi-Tonal Colour System.

The enclosed instruction leaflet was expertly presented and the procedure very clearly explained with diagrams and text broken into steps.

Step 1: Colour all over. Yes! squeezing the tube of crème gel colourant into the bottle of developing cream was simple. Applying to my dry and unwashed hair using the ?expert quality gloves? supplied proved to be no problem. After twenty five minutes I rinsed the product off until the water ran clear and even though my hair was still wet I loved the Toasted Coconut shade. I do so wish I had left it at that!

Step2: The instructions told me to mix the developing cream (Shall we call it PEROXIDE) and the lightening powder (Shall we call it BLEACH) together until smooth in the provided container. Then apply in strands to my damp hair using the weeny bottle brush, or precision brush. At this stage I?d add that it might be useful to have a friend or a compliant husband to help with applying the mixture (BLEACH and PEROXIDE) to the back sections of hair. There are four photographs guiding the user how to apply the mixture (BLEACH and PEROXIDE) to all one length, layered, fringed or curly hair. I have thick, all one length curly hair with a fringe that I sometimes blow-dry straight and other times leave to dry naturally curly. Mmmm!

So using the second pair of ?expert quality gloves? provided I applie
d the mixture (BLEACH and
PEROXIDE) to sele
cted strands with no difficulty. My selected strands went stiff and hard (Just like BLEACH and PEROXIDE mixed together) I waited fifteen minutes then rinsed it all off my hair and applied half the conditioner that is supplied with the L?Oreal Multi-Tonal Colour System, saving the other half for future use as recommended.

Hello there fluffy badger head! I hate it! The conditioner has made my hair fluffy and fly away and totally uncontrollable. Even worse is the bleached bits have gone straight, dry and dead looking. The step one Toasted Coconut shade has left the hair that wasn?t touched by the mixture (BLEACH and PEROXIDE) beautifully coloured and naturally bouncy-what you can see of it, as the bleached strands are overpowering, leaving little contrast even though I applied the mixture (BLEACH and PEROXIDE) to thin strands of my hair for subtle highlights.

Now supposing I had liked the results? Think of this! If in a few weeks time I had used this product again with the Toasted Coconut giving me an even base colour then the second step of applying the BLEACH to selected strands then its highly likely I?d place the BLEACH onto strands of hair that had been bleached before isn?t it? It is equally as likely that I?d place the mixture (BLEACH and PEROXIDE) onto virgin hair as well isn?t it? This means that over a period of time the strongest and healthiest head of hair could end up over bleached, broken, dull, split and snapping off. I see the only hair types surviving this colouring procedure are those that are kept short and trimmed frequently. Certainly not all one length hair like mine. Bleach and peroxide mixed together are very powerful and potentially dangerous chemicals and there is no doubt in my mind that they damage the hair. I already knew this so why did I succumb to the picture on the box?

The L'Oreal Multi-Tonal Colour System is a brilliant ho
me hairdressing concept. The RRP is twelve pounds but
is available on offer in m
any retail outlets at nine pounds. This represents a huge saving against the cost of going to an experienced colourist for a skilled hairdressing result. They will have much more control in where on the hair they place this damaging mixture. But is it worth the saving? I don?t think so. I believe this product will have a short shelf life as users realise the damage the build up of bleach can cause to their hair.

Me? I have spent the last week intensively conditioning my hair, regularly trimming the ends and will in future stick to my natural Herbal Colourant. I have the condition in control now and the overall look is alright but not that impressive. It has taken me six weeks to repair my hair after using this product. If things don't improve I'll visit a qualified colour artist in a reputable hair salon so I can look like a sleek two toned badger-and not a fluffy badger head!

Summary: