This purple bottle is perfect for bottle blondes! (John Frieda Sheer Blonde Colour Renew Shampoo)

Member Name: springychicky

Product:	John Frieda Sheer Blonde Colour Renew Shampoo
Date:	04/05/09 (930 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Freshens blonde tones, good value for money.

Disadvantages: Pricey, probably doesn't make hair as shiny as some other shampoos.

Do you have coloured blonde hair? Then this review is DEFINITELY for you!

Being a coloured platinum blonde my hair requires quite a bit of maintenance. Mostly this means regular touch ups to the roots so I don't get that nasty grown-out look, and also searching for products that keep my rather abused hair looking healthy. One particular problem with going for a real platinum blonde look is that it is really hard to find dyes that don't leave you looking brassy or yellow-ish, and even if you get your hair professionally coloured, it can yellow over time. So I needed a product that was going to keep my hair a fresh, cool, platinum blonde.

I had heard that violet or purple shampoos can help to keep coloured blonde hair looking fresh. I picked up the John Frieda Sheer Blonde for around £5.50 at Debenhams to give it a try. Of course this is quite a lot to pay for a shampoo, but it isn't as extravagant as some of the salon lines, and trust me, it's worth it!

The shampoo itself is a very vivid indigo colour, and at first I was a little worried that putting something this intensely coloured on my almost-white hair was going to leave me with purple hair!! I needn't have worried though. When lathered the shampoo is fades to a light lavender colour and of course leaves absolutely no colour in your hair.

The consistency is like a standard, liquidy shampoo, and it lathers really easily, so you don't need much at all. I tend to apply the shampoo, lather it well all over my head, and then leave it in for a minute or two while I soap myself, and then wash it out well. I then either use a different (cheaper) brand conditioner or a leave-in conditioning treatment. I haven't trieed the conditioner from the same John Frieda range so can't comment on whether it improves the results, but I can say that if you're concerned about the expenditure of an expensive shampoo like this, then don't worry, just the shampoo has had really good effects on my hair!

So what does it do? Well, the shampoo is designed to lighten the hair, refreshing the colour, and also neutralising any yellow-ish tinges in your blonde hair that can make it look cheap and brassy. This is not a bleach, so it isn't going to leave you suddenly two shades lighter, in fact I wouldn't say that my hair is lighter for using this shampoo, but it definitely looks fresher. Also the dreaded brassiness is gone and the platinum tones shine through.

The shampoo is also good for the condition of my hair. Obviously with the amount of dye my poor hair has to suffer through it's never going to be perfectly silky but I do feel like this shampoo stops it from being at all straw-like and keeps it at least smooth, manageable, and reasonably shiny. There are other shampoos that do leave my hair shinier, but they don't take care of my colour as well as this shampoo.

Since you don't need to use a lot each time the shampoo will also last you a long time. I have had mine for over 3 months, although I have relatively short hair, and there's still probably about a quarter, or a fifth left in the bottle. Also, being shaped to stand on with the nozzle at the bottom, and with a convenient squeeze spout, you don't lose any shampoo and you're able to easily use it up to the last drop. This also contributes to the shampoo's good value for money.

I can't comment on how this shampoo is for natural blondes, but I can imagine that it would freshen your tone and give it a little extra oomph. Give it a try and let us know. If you're a bottle blonde though, this is definitely a product you'll want to try!

Summary: Perfect platinum!