On Tuesday I had a bit of a mishap trying to dye my hair blonder, I became a hideous shade of ginger so decided a change was in order. I had been debating whether to dye my hair red for quite a while and finally took the plunge (forcefully) on Wednesday.

In my local Boots, 'Garnier Nutrisse' was the only hair colourant besides 'Schwarzkopf Live Colour XXL'. I wanted quite a deep, subtle red not a bright red so I chose Garnier in the shade 'vibrant red'. I tend not to look too much at the colour on the box - a lesson in college about how to change hair colour on photoshop proved to me that the models hair is not really this colour!

One of the only things I love about this product is the colour produced once it was washed out of my hair, but a number of things were wrong with the product and I won't be using it again in a hurry!

The box is green and it does blend in with the rest of the hair colourants on the shelf (they all seem to look the same to me!). The front of the box has a picture of a girl with the colour which your hair should go - which has been edited hence why nobodys hair ever turns out this colour! On the top and side is a chart showing what the effects would be depending on your hair colour and all contents, ingredients and instructions for use.

If you are going to dye your hair with a new product, do a patch test on the inside of your elbow or behind your ear 48 hours before - you don't want to end up with more problems than just a dodgey hair colour!

Inside the box is a sheet with everything you need to know, gloves, developer, dye tube and a small bottle of nourishing conditioner (with avacado oil). I will go through each of the products to explain about each of them as all have good and bad points.

The sheet tells you precautions, about patch tests, ingredients and how to use the product. There are two columns down one side of the sheet which say how to colour your hair completely, or just touch up your roots. Admittedly if you are or have ever dyed your hair red you will know it fades very quickly so an all over colour is needed each time. It also gives you after care advice and a coupon for 50p off Garnier deodorants.

The gloves are good for keeping your hands clean, although they have tiny little dots all over which allow your hands to breathe. I found that after dying all of my hair my fingers were tinted red from rubbing the dye into my roots. Considering the point of the gloves is to stop hair colour getting all over your hands - this slightly defeated the object! The gloves were also huge which may just be because I have small hands. I found that they didn't really stay in one place and bunched up a lot making for a bit of an annoyance. I suppose the company were just going for a cheap option but from now on I have brought latex gloves to use as I find these a lot better.

The developer comes in a bottle with a screw top lid with a nozzle. The nozzle has a bit at the end which you break off when you have mixed the colours and needs scissors to remove it. To make up the dye, you need to use the tube of colourant. The lid of the tube can be unscrewed and turned over to pierce the film and release the colour. You do need to use the colour straight away when opening as the chemicals can explode - learnt through experience with a friend! The box has a hole which can be poked out to stand the developer bottle in, you then need to squeeze all the colourant from the tube into the bottle. Once you have every bit you can out of the tube, you need to screw the lid onto the bottle and shake well for 30 seconds - this allows the two to mix and it should end up a nice pink colour which turns red over time.

To apply the product I started from the bottom of my hair and sectioned it, squeezing the product to my roots, ends and then moving on to the next section. My hair is a couple of inches below my shoulders and I needed two bottles to cover my hair as one only made it half way - although I have fine hair there is lots of it! Once you have applied the product all over your hair, massage your roots and ensure that all hair is covered so you don't leave patches.

After all of this, I left my hair for 35 minutes (which is recommended for darker hair as you are supposed to go based on natural colour). Over the 35 minutes the dye got more red and I quickly removed the bits which had gone on my neck, forehead and ears - the longer you leave it the harder it is to get off.

Now when it came to rinsing my hair, the information leaflet says to quickly put your head under the shower to add some water and massage your head a little to 'enhance colour' which honestly I don't understand how that would! After this, it says to rinse hair until the water runs clear and proceed to use the nourishing conditioner.

When I was rinsing my hair, I noticed that after about 45 minutes the water still was not clear. I googled whether this was normal for red hair and found that it is so I didn't panic too much and used the conditioner. I left this on for around 5 minutes (while catching up on my Twilight reading before the new film), when I rinsed the conditioner off my hair felt amazing so I did not use any further shampoo or conditioner - the information leaflet says you shouldn't need to.

I was impressed with how sweet the conditioner smelt and I assumed it was to mask the smell of the dye which it did not at all! I can still smell the dye now and its 4 days later!

The product claims to give 'long lasting shiny colour' which I have to admit it didn't at all. I went to college the next day and proceeded to wash my hair that night and to my horror the colour had already faded a little but this time when I dried my hair it was greasy. I know that I am rinsing my shampoo and conditioner properly as I have done it the same way for years and never had an issue. I used dry shampoo and left it and washed it the next night to find the same problem but now when dried it was a horrible browny-pink colour! For such a well known brand this should not be happening 3 days later!

I did love my hair colour for the first two days but I am so put off the product because of the greasiness and fading that I used Schwarzkopf Live Colour XXL earlier and I am very impressed with the results!

My hair has suffered lots of damage over the last couple of days with dying and it needs a well earned break so lets hope this time it stays!

I paid £8 for 2 boxes of the dye and they are priced at £5.49 each which is the same as the Live XXL colour which is miles better. I think the price varies depending on the store and mine came from Boots.

Warnings & Precautions
Do no use if you are sensitive to any ingredients (listed on the side of the box)
Do not use if you have a damaged or sensitive scalp
Do not inhale or ingest any of the products
Avoid contact with eyes
Do you place the hair in front of your face during development time
Should you inhale, ingest or get the product in you eyes seek medical advise straight away.
Do not use on hair that is fine or fragile
Do not use if you hair has been coloured with a henna or progressive colorant.