I Hate Robert Pires (Wella Viva Colour)

Member Name: Smark1985

Product:	Wella Viva Colour
Date:	11/04/01 (217 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: At least it only lasts for 20 washes.

Disadvantages: Since when has red been ginger?!

I am a natural blonde...and proud of it. I am also a man. There is no way that I would ever really want to dye my hair permanently a different colour. Yes, I would, for fun in the summer, dye my hair colours like green and blue, but strictly only if they could be washed out within a week or so. As I said, I would never WANT to dye my hair....but in the world of betting, it can all be very different.

Arsenal played Tottenham Hotspur in an F.A Cup semi final last Sunday. I am a Tottenham fan...my friend, Alistair, is an Arsenal fan. Surely you can see where this is going?! Anyway, because it was such an important match, and because we are both slightly strange...we decided to bet on this game. I am not talking about a small bet here either...no £5 bets for us, that just wouldn't be sensible enough really.

So we upped the ante...more than a little. Alistair has very long hair, which is braided (he is a Kid Rock fan) and basically, everyone, not least himself, loves his hair. His mates are jealous of it, and the girls...well, they just love it. He challenged me that if Tottenham won, then I could personally cut all of his hair off..which took him nearly a year to grow. But, and here is the point of this little anecdote, if Arsenal won, I would have to dye my hair...my lovely blonde hair...wait for it....GINGER. Well, it has turned out ginger anyway.

As you may or may not know, Arsenal did in fact win the match, with a winning goal, from Robert Pires. Subsequently, as part of my bet, I had to dye my hair pink. Why pink I don't know, but pink it was. So immediately after the match, off we went to Safeway to get some hair dye. With a budget of a mere £6, we searched for pink hair dye....I shudder to think what fellow Safeway customers must have been thinking, a group of 19 year old males desperately looking through shelves of women's hair dye. The line of "Damn girlfriend, she really is lazy", didn't seem to convince to
checkout staff, who were quietly laughing to themselves.

After a few minutes, we came across Wella Viva. Pink didn't seem to be available, so we opted for the Red. Well, we knew of the name "Wella" so decided that it would be of good quality...and to be fair, I cannot say either way, Alistair is not exactly the best hairdresser in England!

Upon arriving at home, we went to work. Several close friends were watching, and I was sitting like a plum at the mercy of an Arsenal fan (aagh!).

Are you bored yet? Hopefully not, as now I will actually talk about the damn dye.

I am no expert, but we did follow the instructions very carefully. The first batch of dye you have to put on strangely resembles tomato ketchup...which worried me. As I had it rubbed into my hair, I was the subject of cruel laughter, but, I had to carry on. The dye makes an instant impact on your hair, and you will see the red substance taking over your loved blonde.

Keep on for twenty minutes was the order, so I did. To say that those twenty minutes didn't go very fast would be an understatement. It wouldn't have been quite so bad if it didn't itch. But it did. Very badly. Knowing that by itching, I would have slightly ruined the procedure, I was very tempted to do so...but with both arms tied behind your back, it is actually quite hard! I really didn't think that hair dye could be so itchy, it's like when you watch something about nits...you just have to itch!

Eventually, the twenty minutes concluded, and it was time for the "colour enhancer". Lent over a shower, I had it rubbed into my already red hair.This was just too much. After a quick wash, I had a towel (stained with the dye) wrapped around my head as a friend went off to fetch a camera whilst another went for a mirror. I didn't think that they were quite so artistic. They carefully organised it so that the photo would be taken catching my reacti
on by looking in the mirror....although i have not seen it, I am sure it is of pure disgust!

As I stared into the mirror, tryng to remember when I had blonde hair, I noticed that it wasn't quite as red as the packet made out. Chris Evans would have been proud, it really is that ginger. Thinking that this wasn't quite right, I looked at the instructions again. To my dismay, I read an important step that said to add another five minutes if you had thick hair....I am not called Jack Russell for nothing.

So now it is clear that we should have left it on longer, but we didn't let it work properly and now I have ginger hair. Although not permanent, 20 washes is still a long time for me. As I am not allowed to repeatedly wash it 20 times in one night, I suppose I will have to get used to the laughs and stares for another month. Oh yay!!
Pfft.

Summary: