While doing the weekly shop at Asda on a Friday morning, my friend decided to try another hair colour. Not having coloured my hair for about four years, and being bored with mouse-brown (my natural colour) I also picked up a pack of hair dye. After a few minutes wrangling over what colour to go for, I decided to go for Clairol Nice'n'Easy 120 - Natural Dark Brown.

WHAT COLOUR SHOULD I CHOOSE?
********************************************
There are a few things to consider when dyeing your hair. First, what is your natural colour? It's never a good idea to use a home hair-dye if you're planning on changing your look dramatically, so unless you can afford the hairdresser's prices, go for a colour within two shades of your natural one.
Secondly, you also should consider your skin tone. Most people have either pink-toned skin or yellow-toned skin. This applies to black skin too, but you'll have a different choice of colours which suit you. Have a close look in a mirror in front of a window. People with pink-toned skin should choose warm colours such as reds, mahoganies, or could choose many of the blonde shades. People with yellow-toned skin like myself, should steer clear of reds, or any blonde shade which is too pale, such as light ash blonde. Choose darker browns, or you can get away with blue-black, or go for a dark blonde. People with various shades of brown skin can often get away with colours other than black for their hair, even blonde but black hair is incredibly difficult to dye according to my friend and not having naturally black hair myself, I can't really offer any helpful advice I'm afraid.

PACKAGING AND INFORMATION
***************************************
The packaging for Clairol's Nice'n'Easy is simple, but not particularly eye-catching. However, all relevant information is easy to find. The top of the box is covered in a picture of hair in the dark brown shade I've picked, the rest of the box being white with a photograph of a model sporting lovely long, shiny Natural Dark Brown hair. There is a small sign telling you that they've added twice the amount of conditioner to the pack as well as Expert Gloves (more on these in a minute) and more wording on the bottom extolling the Natual-Looking Colour and Complete Grey Coverage benefits of the product. It's also made clear that this is a permanent dye.
Apparently, the dye also contains Built In Multi Tones - basically meaning that your hair will look even more natural as all hair has some different tones to the main colour in it. I am sceptical about how one dye could produce this look though.
The sides of the box are taken up with some blurb on the benefits of choosing Nice'n'Easy, a shade guide so you can see the approximate result of the dye on your current shade of hair (which I think is useless as it doesn't show any difference whether your hair is dark blonde or dark brown) and contact information for Clairol. You'll also find a warning telling you to perform a sensitivity test before you use the product and an ingredient list which is handy if you're allergic to some of the contents.
The main reason I bought this was because it's a well-known brand, and wasn't too expensive at Asda - I paid £4.88 but I believe it's about £5.50ish at Boots and other retailers.

The instructions are very simple - mix a small, equal amount of colour and creme together, replacing the lids on each seperate bottle and apply a bit of the mixture to your arm on the inside of your elbow. Leave it for 24 hours to see if you're allergic to it. Use the rest of the colour mixture to check what the final results on your hair will be by cutting off some of your hair and applying the mixture to it, leaving it for 25 minutes and them washing it off.
I personally didn't bother with this, but only because I've used hair colurs before, many times, with no problems.

I'm a complete klutz, especially when it involves hair dye. Being out of practice I thought I'd get the stuff everywhere, but didn't as the creme itself was very thick and didn't drip easily. Be aware that it will not come out of towels etc though, and try not to splash too much.

Funnily enough, the mixed product looks brown in the bottle, but when it gets on my skin it looks navy blue! Don't be put off by this though, your hair will not go blue permanently, and it does help you to see whether you've missed any areas - a helpful friend won't go amiss for the back of your head though.

I usually find that after I've got my hair covered, sticking it up on my head with a big hairclip stops any more colour from getting on my skin while I wait to wash it out. I left it on for the recommended time of 25 minutes. I would probably have left it longer, but my scalp had started to sting, not much, but enough for me to decide it would be best to wash it out now. Recommendations on pack say that for grey hair, 45 minutes may be a better length of time to leave it on, to make sure it's worked properly. If you haven't coloured your hair before, I would do the skin test first, just to make sure you're not allergic to it.

The conditioner deserves a paragraph to itself. You do not need much - I used a 5p sized blob for my long hair which was plenty. While rinsing it out, I had a nasty feeling that my usually straw-like hair was going to end up greasy. I've used many different conditioners with varying degrees of success, but this one did feel nice on my hair. Once my hair was dried, I was pleasantly surprised to find it had made my hair soft, silky and not at all greasy. The tube looks very small, but considering the small amount you need to use, it lives up to it's claims of having enough to use it several times. Definite thumbs up - just a pity they don't sell the conditioner seperately!