Its about time I went all soft (L'Oréal Excellence)

Member Name: deb10

Product:	L'Oréal Excellence
Date:	24/08/04 (1504 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: makes your hair so shiny, hair is soft, easily available

Disadvantages: stinks really stinks, not as cheap as the others

It was a Saturday night just before casualty was about to start on BBC 1. I decided it?s about time I coloured my hair. I bought the box months ago but just never got round to applying it. You know what its like, no time to yourself when you've got little ones running about.

I?ve never used L? oreal before, my usual brand was letting me down so I wanted to try an alternative. L?Oreal promised to give the hair a deep conditioning shine and a colour that lasts, but then don?t they all say the same sort of thing?

Garnier Fructis just wasn?t lasting in my opinion, after a few weeks it had gone from my hair completely. So L?Oreal Excellence here we come. Here are a few questions and answers after my use on this product.

Where did you buy it?
Its readily available anywhere but I bought mine from Boots as it was on offer.

How much did it cost?
Usually £9.00 but I paid £6, just a fraction more than the regular brands on the shelves and I got loyalty points on my Boots card!

What do you get for your money?
1 x pre-conditioner 1x bottle of developer 1x dye 1 x conditioner 1 x latex gloves plus instructions.

What colour did you try?
There were about 25 at a guess, different variations on the shelf, quite a good choice. As always there is more blonde shades than darks, but I found my colour quite quickly. I bought the DARK BROWN shade.

What colour were you before you tried it?
I am normally dark brown anyway but being in the sun has tinted my hair a light brown with ginger sections. I like my ?collar and cuffs? to match, so the ginger bits had to go.

Does it colour grey?
Yes. I am not overloaded with grey, I am still in the pluck them out as you see them stage. However, for the ones I cannot see at the back of my hair, I wanted the reassurance they would be coloured.

How do you start?
There is a bottle of pre-conditioner to apply on the ends of the hair for extra
protection before you add the colour. Don?t wash your hair, keep it dry. Don?t wash the conditioner out either. You apply the colour straight onto the hair with the conditioner on.

What next?
Whilst you have the conditioner on, mix the dye with the developer. Put the dye in the developer bottle, shake like a mad woman for 2 minutes at least and then apply to your hair. Try and get a friend or partner to apply on the back of your hair incase you miss bits out. What ever you do, wear the gloves they provide in a small plastic pod. Keep them on at all times otherwise you will regret it!

Then what?
You wait for 30 minutes for the colour to take hold on your hair then rinse out. Make sure all traces of colour have gone (the water should be running clear at this stage), then apply a further bottle of conditioner.

Can you use it after a perm?
Yes but you must wait a few weeks.

Was there enough for your hair?
I have long curly thick hair, so no it wasn?t enough to cover me adequately. Next time I will buy two boxes for complete coverage as I have patches not coloured.

Did it smell?
The conditioner no. The developer and dye, big time stinks here. It was foul, smelt of rotting nappies and made my eyes weep. Really not pleasant and the smell made its way down the stairs. I had plenty of ventilation and I would hate to use this in winter when you have all the windows shut.

Any skin irritation?
None though they do advise you to do a skin test prior. How many of us actually do that? I know I?m guilty of just slapping it on.

Were you happy?
I would say I was 90% ok with it. I made a huge boo boo in that I left it on for 50 minutes, not 30! The reason for that was that I was so engrossed in casualty and Finn and Comfort?s wedding, that I forgot to rinse off. Instead of a dark brown at the moment I resemble Elvis. It will fade and I?ve already had the comments made, so my hair is old history
now. I can get on with enjoying my colour.
The smell was awful but that was the only downfall. My hair feels good and the ginger bits have all but gone. As it?s only been a few days since I applied I cannot comment on how long it stays. I will let you all know in a few weeks.


Thanks for reading. xxx

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