HAS SHE OR HASN'T SHE? (Clairol Loving Care)

Member Name: junkboxjules

Product:	Clairol Loving Care
Date:	23/01/03 (1814 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Not expensive, Leaves hair feeling and looking healthy and shiny

Disadvantages: Not that easy to apply on your own if you have long hair

Every now and again I wake up and decide that I'm going to dye my hair - I haven't got a clue why as I normally live to regret it afterwards.

However, on Saturday I visited the hairdressers for a trim and was horrified to notice that I had a couple of stripes running through my hair where I have had it coloured or lightened and the colour has grown out or taken better in one place than another. As I have very long hair which is normally tied back I rarely look at the back and therefore had no idea it was so bad - luckily I don't think anybody else has either as when it is tied back it wasn't noticeable.

Because of my bad experiences with permanent dyes I decided to look for a semi permanent dye on this occasion - I didn't want anything drastic - I simply wanted to give my hair an even colouring as close to my natural colour as possible.

With the above in mind I set off to Boots, I don't have a favourite brand of hair colourant and decided to just scan the shelves, check the boxes for ease of use and colour and make my purchase based on my findings.

I browsed through the vast array of products, checking the price, colour, ease of use and length of time that the product lasted for, before finally deciding on Clairol Loving Care Creme Colourant in Medium Brown.

The box claims to cover grey to leave you with natural looking colour, fortunately I don't have any grey yet, but I was looking for a natural colour and liked the colour swatch that is displayed on the box, I was also attracted to this product as it only lasts for 6-8 washes and therefore if it looked awful I could wash it out quite quickly. You should note that if you purchase a colour that is darker than your natural colour it may last longer than 6-8 washes.

As soon as I had put my son to bed I set upon colouring my hair. The packaging advises that the product is ready to use and therefore needs no mixing up - this was
a big plus for me as I'm lazy and was looking for something that I could simply apply, leave on for 20 minutes and wash off. Unfortunately the exterior of the box doesn't advise you how to apply the product, and whilst it is ready to use it still requires approximately an hour from start to finish, which is longer than I really wanted to spend - however I had made the purchase so I decided that I was going to use it.

The product is packaged in a cardboard box, inside the box you will find the colourant, a sachet of conditioner and the instructions.

Upon opening the instructions you will reveal a pair of gloves, (if you're lucky - I only had one), and a plastic hood.

The instructions are very clear and very easy to follow - however, I did find trying apply the product by myself quite tricky - perhaps because I have got very long hair - I would advise you to have somebody close by on standby just in case you need assistance.

Before applying any colour you are advised to carry out a skin sensitivity and strand test 48 hours beforehand just to make sure that you are not allergic to it. Being impatient, I didn't bother with either and just got straight on with the job in hand.

Although this is only a semi permanent colourant I would advise you to make sure that you use an old towel and wear old clothing just in case you get any dye on them - if you are anything like me then I can guarantee that you will.

You will need to secure the plastic hood once you have applied the colour so I would advise you to have a large butterfly clip to hand as well as your old towel and a wet flannel to wash away any colouring that may get onto your skin during the application process. Read the instructions before you start and that way you will know what is involved and whether you have the time to spare.

Once you have gathered all your bits and pieces together you are ready to start.

First of all
you will need to apply the plastic gloves that are supplied with the kit, (I only had one so I had to make do with a sandwich bag on the other hand).

Place your old towel around your shoulders and have your instruction leaflet and butterfly clip to hand.

Before you can apply the colourant you have to give it a good shake. Once you have shaken it you simply unscrew the top and you are ready to go.

The colourant is applied to dry hair and you are advised to apply the colour directly to the hair, taking care to make sure that you distribute the colourant evenly - as I have very long hair I found this virtually impossible on my own and discovered that it was easier to squeeze the product into my hands and work it into my hair using my hands - at least that way I could feel where I was applying it and hopefully I would achieve a good even coverage. I would strongly advise you to either wear old clothing or remove all your top half clothing before carrying out this step as by the time I had finished I had colourant in my ears, down my back, up my arms and around my face.

Once you have applied all the colourant you need to cover your hair with the plastic hood and then fasten it into place with a butterfly clip or similar - again I found this virtually impossible as I had more hair than the hood would accommodate - however I did manage to stuff most of it in and then had the problem of trying to secure it into place. Obviously if you have short hair this step will be much easier to carry out.

Once you have placed the hood on you need to leave it on for 20-30 minutes, (or the time indicated by your strand test, if you bothered to do one)! During this time you might find it useful to prepare the conditioner.

The conditioner is packaged in a separate sachet, it is used to seal the colour and to help leave your hair in good condition. Prior to use you will need to mix the sachet contents with half a pint of warm w
ater.

After the 20/30 minutes have elapsed you are ready to remove the hood, and being washing out the colour.

I would advise you to do this over the bath with a shower attachment as it is a very messy job. Initially you should add a little bit of warm water to your hair and then work it into a lather, continuing to rinse until the water runs clear - this took me about 10 minutes. When I first started the bath was absolutely covered in little brown spots and looked like somebody had been very ill in it. I am pleased to report that the spots were easy to wash away and did not leave any staining behind.

Once you are satisfied that you have rinsed all the colourant out you are ready to apply the conditioner, which you should have already prepared.

The conditioner is easy to apply by simply pouring slowly over the head and massaging in.

You are now ready to style your hair as normal and admire your fabulous new colour.

I have been allowing my hair to dry whilst typing this opinion and have just been to admire the new colour. It hasn't given me a very noticeable colour but I am quite happy with the colour as not too dissimilar to my natural colour and it has taken evenly. The hair colourant contains vitamin E, nutrients and protein and my hair looks shiny and much healthier than it did before.

I mainly chose this product as I thought it would be easy to use - in hindsight had I have realised what was involved I would have probably avoided it . I was really looking for a simple wash in colour that just needed to be left for 10/20 minutes before rinsing out and conditioning.

Having said that I am pleased with the results and on that basis I would have no hesitation in recommending this product to you. I would however advise you to make sure that you have help nearby just in case you need it.

Boots currently have a third off on the Clairol Loving Care range - it normally retails
at £3.99 but at the moment it is priced at just £2.66.

Thank you for reading.

Julie

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