Truly is Nice and Easy (Clairol Nice 'n' Easy)

Member Name: shroud

Product:	Clairol Nice 'n' Easy
Date:	07/03/08 (1076 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: ot owned by Nestle, easy to apply, great results

Disadvantages: Be aware of what results any hair colour will have on white hairs!

I have been tinting my hair for years. I say tint, because being blonde, I just went up a couple shades to the tint of blonde I preferred. Being a bit of a goth, a few months ago I allowed hubby to persuade me to dye my hair black, and despite using a brand I had used before to lighten, I was dismayed at how the colour just kept running, and running, and running out of my hair, until oh horrors, 10 days later I spied entire locks and stary strands of white hair. My hair was just not platinumish shade of blonde, oh no, at 37, it had begun to actually go white and the nature of my "original" hair shade had masked it.

Now, if you colour your hair, you are no doubt aware it tells you to leave colour on a set amount of time longer for grey hairs, as it is stubborn to take colour. White hair is a different kettle of fish. White hair acts like a straw, It will take the colour, and when you rinse, down the straw it goes. I went to the hairdresser and asked her how to fix it, and she explained the straw thing to me and that if they dyed it dark, it would do the same as it was white hair and not grey. She advised I keep washing my hair til it stopped bleeding out, and then start to go lighter to blend my hair back the way it was.

So, I did this and for 3 months, I had white hair, dark black and brown locks, and honey coloured all mixed in, where the dye all came out, where the dye stayed all in, and where the dye partially washed out. Once the three months passed and my hair was stable, I ordered a box of Nice and Easy in a light caramel brown shade, to start evening out my overall colour.

This is not the brand I had used most of my life, that being L'oreal. I had heard of this brand before, however, having first encountered it on a TV ad way back in 1976. I can still recall sitting there at 5 wondering why such abig deal was being made out of how shiny and natural their hair looked, as I did not realise it was a hair colourant to change the natural shade of ones hair! With such a long pedigree, I felt pretty safe, so I bought two boxes, the second one being 2 shades lighter yet for use again in 6 weeks time.

The box itself is pretty standard. It has a photo of someone whose hair is the shade you want, and tells you the shade number. The shade numbers are important, as they are tones are grouped by them, and higher or lower numbers and letters added after the number determine if that next box is darker or lighter or redder, etc. One the back there is a photo chart, showing aproximate results with persons whose hair is initially within the lighter, the medium, and the very dark hair colour spectrum, and what the final result will come out looking similar to. Note I say similiar to, as results will actualy vary according to condition of hair, and actual shade of blonde, brown, or black your hair was at the start.

Inside was a brochure wth simple instructions, including a large area telling me to the skin test 48 hours before to make sure I will not have an allergic reaction, even if I regulalry use this product. There was also a packet of gloves, which were very high quality and were more like surgical gloves than the usual plastic wrpa cutouts normally provided by some firms. The hair colourant tint was in one bottle, the activating cream in another, and atube f after colouring conditioner was also present.

48 hours after doing the test, I followed the simple instructions, by putting on my gloves, taking the stopper off the cream, pouring in the tint, shaking, slathering it on, and waiting 45 minutes. The soloution is applied to dry hair, so no faffing about wetting it and combing it, nor any need for fancy caps to tearfully yank hair through as you simply use the tip of the bottle to part your hair and apply. Once the time was up, I rinsed it out until the water ran clear. I knew the white hairs would bleed out, and this excercise was purely to start evening out the rest of my hair on the way to being blonde again so it all blends in and I look "normal" to myself again. It did indeed take some rinsing due to the white hair bleed out, but results were good. I now had an even and natural appearing shade of light brown hair, with some white hairs showing. Woohoo!

I have to say that the conditioner was very nice, and left my hair feeling quite silky. They give enough that you can use small amounts for the enxt 6 weeks to help keep it conditioned and the colour true. Another thing I quite liked was that it was relatively low odour. yes, there was abit of that ammonia smell hair colouants all have, but it did not cause my eyes to sting, my mouth to taste it, or any other issues really strong and nasty products can do. So, not overly chemically in smell, and good results, and being priced under £5 a box has proved excellent value especially given my long hair. And best of all, it really was nice and easy.

Summary: It really was nice and easy to use, with great results.