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Schwarzkopf Live Colour XXL Shake It Up Colour Foam
by sarahann245
As somebody who colours their hair on a regular basis, I'm constantly looking for and trying new products.
I used the black dye in this range, as it was on an introductory offer in boots when it first came out. I paid around £3 for the dye which I thought was fantastic for a branded color and was even more impressed once I had ... used the product.
In the box, you'll find a developer lotion, a colour powder and a conditioner.
Once you've added the colour powder and developer lotion, you'll probably be a little skeptical. I know I was at this point because it looked like their was hardly anything there and like it had separated. However, once they're mixed, you're left with a quite strange looking (for someone who uses traditional colorants) foam.
The foam is a bit messy to apply as you have to scoop it out of an ice cream like pot and smear it onto your head but once you've got it out of the pot, it's easy to spread it evenly as it just feels like rubbing shampoo into your hair.
I have shoulder length, thick hair, and one lot of the foam covered nicely for me, however, I would recommend for someone with longer hair to use two.
Because of the consistency of the foam, it's also quicker than normal hair colours as it spreads evenly as I mentioned before, but you'll probably use the time you saved on spreading it, in cleaning the bathroom afterwards.
The packages development time was pretty accurant, and once washed off, the colour left a lovely shine.
The conditioner included is similar to the ones that you get in the traditional schwarzkopf hair colours, in that it smells lovely, makes your hair nice and shiny, but doesn't go very far.
The colour didn't fade atall and I didn't have to re colour until my roots were growing out.
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La Riche Directions
by spanielize
The colour in this range I am reviewing is Rubine - a dark ruby red.
My hair colour is naturally dark brown to black, and I've been striving most of my life to get a beautiful shiny deep red. I'd tried many brands of colour, but none ever came out like the colour on the box, so I decided to go to greater lengths to achieve the ... result I wanted.
The result was amazing - but if you're thinking of trying this yourself here's what you should know 1st.
If you have dark hair you will need to pre-lighten it - I tried this colour without lightening 1st and go no result whatsoever. I pre-lightened my hair and nearly wrecked the condition of it!
Directions comes in a little tub - there are NO gloves, cap or application devices so you will have to have your own. I used some old rubber gloves, a brush I saved from another dye kit and a Tesco bag to wrap my hair up while the colour developed. I don't know if it made any difference but I left it on for an hour.
No matter how careful I was I always got bright pink staining on my neck and ears and it took a few days to get rid of this. My hair was long so it was mostly hidden but if your hair is short you might have to stay at home for a few days. It took a long time to rinse off, and even after a few washes the water was still like the shower scene from Psycho!
The first thing I noticed was the fantastic condition my hair was in - felt like I'd had on a henna wax, and the damage that was done by pre-lightening was totally repaired!
Next, of course was the colour - it was a bright, rich and shiny as I'd hoped - a lovely deep red.
But......
Everything my hair came into contact with instantly turned bright pink! My pillow case, my collar, my hands - even once I was wearing white nail polish and it turned it pink when I ran my fingers through my hair. I had to forget about going swimming too, and if I got caught in the rain it would run down my face!
The colour however stayed bright and strong - Directions is semi-permanent, but I found it lasted longer than many permanent colours. After about four weeks it was still a nice shade - just became more of a "tomato" than a ruby red.
It took a lot of work and effort but it did get the result I wanted. After a while, I decided that it was just too much work and dyed my hair back to its natural colour.
I couldn't get it from any stores near me so I always got it on ebay - I just shopped around for the best P&P price, usually about £3.50 - £4 a pot, cheaper if you bought a number together. I thought this was great value - the pre-lightener cost me more. The only trouble was once one of the pots got cracked in the post - yikes.
Would definitely recommend this brand and colour - it does take a lot of effort and is messy to use, but it is worth it to get such a great result.
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Lush Caca Brun Henna Hair Dye
by Pookiesmama
***What the heck is it?***
Lush caca brun is a block of all natural hair colourant which combines Persian Henna which adds red tones, Indigo which adds blue/black tones, Coffee/Clove/Geraniol (for aroma more than anything else), Lemon (henna works better when in an acidic media) and Cocoa butter which helps the product stick ... to the hair. A block which is composed of 6 squares will set you back £7.95 which is rather steep for a hair colourant but then again some of these new L'Oreal/John Frieda colourants are approaching the £10 mark.
Now Lush do a number of these poo (Caca) blocks in the following shades:
Caca Rouge - All henna no Indigo therefore imparting a Copper red shade to the hair
Caca Marron - Predominantly henna with a wee bit of Indigo - previously used this and it has a slightly purply/burgundy tone (not chestnut as suggested by Lush from my experience)
Caca Brun - More Indigo than Henna therefore providing a lovely deep warm chocolate shade
Caca Noir - Alot more Indigo and a little henna therefore providing a deep black tone not blue/black as the henna (yellow/red tone) reduces the blue tone.
***Use***
Any one that tells you that this method is not messy is either lying or has memory issues as the stuff gets everywhere so remember to cover everything in either Metro papers (so they have a use after all) or a dust sheet.
--- Firstly grate your block - I know this takes a while but honestly it's much better in the long run and I really don't care for Mark's (Lush's Boss) chop it up and then put it in a bain marie waiting for it to melt method as this is time consuming and not effective.
---Then add boiled water from the kettle to the grated block stirring until your mixture resembles greek yogurt.
---Go to the bathroom, get in the bath, put your gloves on, check to make sure that you're not wearing your beloved wedding dress and then working from the bottom to the top in sections applying the mixture to your hair with your gloved hands.
---Once the mixture is on your hair pile it on your head and then wrap in clingfilm/carrier bag (I recommend M&S) and then wrap again in an old towel you don't care about.
---Leave on for a minimum of 4 hours although I prefer to leave it on all day; inevitably having to answer the door to the diet coke chap courier when normally it's an older, balder and rounder chap that delivers my mail.
---Rinsing - Now admittedly this can be a sod but provided you do the following you cannot go wrong. Remove towel, remove clingfilm carrier bag, get into standing shower and stand under warm/hot flowing water for at least 5 minutes without touching your hair allowing the water to flow through and loosen the mixture, then add a golf ball amount of some really really really cheap conditioner to your hair and you will find that the mixture comes out of your hair after that.
--- Look in the mirror and realise that you forgot to add vaseline to your forehead, ears and neck and now have a lovely colourful band around those areas that no amount of make up will cover - opt for a big hat but admire your hair which is flowing from the hat down (Maybe miss out the last part and don't make the mistake that I made on two, yes two, occasions)
***My results***
I have had the good fortune to use Lush Henna Caca Brun on 2 separate occasions and have on both occasions been really happy with the lovely Chocolate brown which glimmers with a soft red tone in the sunshine. Unfortunately as is the case with all hair colourants, even all-natural colourants, my hair colour has a tendency to fade to more of a copper tone due to my hair not holding the Indigo for as long as the henna which is absolutely fine with my skin tone but I admittedly prefer the initial chocolate shade that I signed up for with this product.
I have also used the Caca Noir which was lovely but a touch too dark and thankfully faded as again my hair doesn't hold Indigo as well as henna. The Marron shade is a burgundy shade which does not suit my colouring but will suit others. The Rouge shade made my hair very orange, almost electric orange, but thankfully this developed into a lovely natural rich orange/red/copper shade but it was not me.
***Would I recommend***
Yes, for people with patience and that wish to use a natural option to colour their hair. However, I definitely recommend that you peform a strand test as well as a sensitivity test as people forget that allergies are just as likely to occur with natural products as artificial chemical based products.
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