Caravan Capers (L'Oréal Excellence)

Name: kimgraham

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Product:	L'Oréal Excellence
Date:	03/11/02 (1033 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: excellent coverage, inexpensive

Disadvantages: not enough conditioner for longer hair

Those of you that read my Lumia hair dye op a few weeks ago will undoubtedly remember that I had a fairly grim hair disaster a little while ago. The Lumia failed to rectify my accidental white hair, and I found myself with yellowy, white hair with ginger stripes over the top!

Honestly folks,it was a mess! It was also beginning to break and fall out due to three lots of dye in as many days. I had decided to leave it for a few weeks to gain some strength before attempting to rectify the situation.

However, last week I was on holiday in Cornwall. The weather was terrible and meant that we were confined to barracks, or in this case a caravan, for a couple of days. I was putting my face on one wet morning when I noticed, to my horror, dark roots. So there we had it, a dark parting with white hair and yellow and ginger stripes! Oh dear!
My other half was coming to see me the following day after nine weeks apart. There was no way I was prepared to leave my hair in that state for him to see. Don't get me wrong, he knew all about it , and is a very understanding sort, but a girl has her pride!

Off to Asda I trekked with the family, in keen pursuit of a decent hair colourant. My son in law said I was mad, it would all fall out! I was pretty sure it wouldn't ( she said optimistically!). Now, in my hair dying experience I must have tried every brand known to man. I decided to go for a tried and trusted make, L'Oreal Excellence Creme. Guaranteed to cover grey, it said.I realise that my hair isn't grey, (although it might be under the years of dye) but it was fairly white, so I was quietly confident that it would do the trick.

There was a vast array of colours from which to choose. Normally I have it quite blonde, but to cover up the four colours I was now sporting would probably need something a little darker!
I went for a shade called lightest brown and decided that I would not leave it on the full length of my hai
r for very long as I didn't want it to go too dark.

This product had it's work cut out. It had to significantally cover the dark roots and yet give even coverage to the rest of my hair which looked like a snowstorm liberally sprinkled with cinnamon! It reminded me of the frothy top of a cappucino!! Anyway, I wasn't convinced it would work....

Have you ever tried dying your hair in a caravan? It is an experience not to miss!

It started off easily enough- open the box and get out all the equipment. The flimsy gloves, welded to the the instructions, the instruction sheet itself, a sachet of after colour conditioner and the pieces de resistance, the bottle of developer and tube of colour.

Firstly don the gloves and squeeze the contents of the tube into the bottle. Then give it a good shake, and it must be a good hard shake to ensure the contents are thoroughly mixed. When you have done that, snap the plastic nipple off the top of the nozzle.

This product is designed to be used on dry, unwashed hair. It does not take as well if your hair is too clean!

This is when my first problem arose- all my clothes protectors and dying towels were at home. I found a manky old towel which I didn't mind ruining as it was a bit threadbare. Other than that I would have to risk doing it topless. I informed son-in-law that he was not allowed to get up until I had finished. It isn't often I make my family stay in bed!

The colour went on very easily and smoothly. I put it on the roots for 10 minutes first as this area was so much darker than the rest of my head. It smelt a bit of ammonia, but nothing eye watering about it! It is a non-drip cream formulation and to my delight did not sting at all. This made me a bit happier as it was presumably kinder to my hair than some other makes I have recently used.

After 10 minutes I combed it all the way through. There was plenty for my hair, and it is quite lo
ng- half way down my back if I stretch out the curls. With some makes I need to use two boxes. There was ample here even though I daubed it on quite generously!

It said to leave it for twenty to thirty minutes, and I plumped for twenty five. I could see by then that it was begginning to take.

Now to wash it off! At home I wash the dye off over the bath. There was no bath in the caravan and in the shower there was no room to swing a cat. I tried taking the shower from the holster, but the hose was very short. So, I had to become a contortionist!

Somehow I managed to kneel on the floor and just twizzle my arm up high enough to grab the shower. I am quite short you see, and gorilla arms I have not!
I managed, miraculously to keep my balance in an undignified upside down pose. The problem was, that you have to rinse it out until the water runs clear, having lathered it up nicely first. The lathering bit went swimmingly, but how can you tell it is running clear when you are suspended semi upside down, half in and half out of a shower cubicle?! I did not particularly want an eye full of dye! If I didn't have quite bad eczema I would have taken my chance and just got in the shower properly, but did not think ammonia would do my poor skin any good at all!

Anyway, some ten minutes later, having virtually wrenched my right arm from it's socket the deed was done. All that was left was to use the after colour conditioner, provided in the box. This was my only gripe- there was nowhere near enough conditioner for my hair. It is a pity as usually the after dye conditioner leaves your hair in fabulous condition. I got around the problem by mixing it with my Umberto Giannini Curl Friends Conditioner. I decided to wrap my head in a carrier bag and leave the conditioner on for 10 minutes. It recommends three, but my poor hair has been over processed beyond the call of duty recently and needs all the help it can get!

An hour or
so later, when my hair was dry, I was able to survey my handywork.It was fine, I had been worried that it would be too dark, but it was still roughly the dark blonde I favour.

This product certainly cuts the mustard! A miracle had occurred.It had covered the roots and done a reasonable job of levelling out the rest. I was very pleasantly surprised, and all for a mere £ 4.79.It also did no further damage to my already traumatised barnet! It must have worked as other half did not seem at all shocked, and I think he might have been had he seen it the day before!!



I will certainly stick to this one for the forseeable future, but it will be a long time before I ever do it in a caravan again!

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