L'Oreal Feria Color > Reviews > Vibrant Colour

Author's product rating:   

How easy is to apply?	Very easy
How did the colour meet your expectations?	100%-ly

Advantages:	LOVELY, SHINY,SULTRY HAIR, WILL MAKE HEADS TURN
Disadvantages:	IF YOU GET IT WRONG .  . ITS PERMANENT

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Being a natural redhead, I need a colour on my hair during the winter to brighten it up and make it shine. Over a fair few years a have tried quite a few red shades, but I think I've found the perfect one. L 'oreal Feria colour, Permanent, and very easy to apply.

The colour I used was called Cinnamon and I got it from Boots whilst getting some wipes. I had been thinking about colouring my hair since end of November but hadn't got around to it for various reasons. Having a particularly depressing week I decided the I would do something to cheer me up. After much debating and looking I decided to try this product, mainly because it was new but also likes the colour on the front.

Cinnamon, as in the spice, is a dark orangy-red and has a unique smell to it. A pungent, spicy smell and in cooking can be used with apples, curries and other aromatic dishes. Its also used in Mulled wine to give its colour and spicy, tangy taste.

This colourant is a darker, deeper red, and I thought, yes that would suit me a treat. Most natural redheads are quite fair with blue eyes, so a really dark red would make them paler. I quite lucky as I tan quite well and have brown eyes, so I can get away with a darker red, but not too dark. If you are a red head with pale skin and choose this colour leave the colourant on for slightly less time than stated so you don't get the "Ghost look" and make you too pale.

Strand Test

The first thing you MUST do before any colouring, is a strand test. This serves two purposes. One you can see what sort of colour it will turn out like and secondly any allergy to the product.

The box contains;
1 bottle of colourant,
1 applicator bottle containing developer, usually Hydrogen Peroxide.
1 bottle of aftercare conditioner
Instruction leaflet and gloves.

A strand test should ideally be done 24 hrs before you colour your hair. This gives time for the colour to settle into the hair shaft, and for an allergy to occur if you have one. The only problem with most hair colourant today is that it has a very short life once opened. This means once you have opened it, the Hydrogen Peroxide starts to oxidise. This makes the strength of the product weaker and you wont get the desired effect. It is however ok for a strand test to be done several hours before you colour your hair.

To do this, take a section of hair from the nape of the neck, by the ear, about a cm in width. Clip the rest of your hair out of the way. Take the bottle of colourant and unscrew the lid. This fits underneath the applicator bottle with a twist and a click. Turn them upside down and let all the colourant filter down into the developer bottle. Shake for a moment to mix them in, then you can snap the lid of the applicator off, and you are ready to go.

Put the gloves on that are provided and just squeeze a little of the colourant onto you hand. Apply this to the test strand,a little to the scalp then clip a small amount of cling film around it.

The test strand should be left for the time stated, in this case upto half an hour all depending what effect you want. If you just want a subtle change, leave the colourant on for about 15/20 minutes. If a deeper colour, leave colourant on for a full 30 minutes. Don't leave it on for longer than 30 minutes, the colour wont go any deeper but the colourant may start to damage your hair.

The cling film is used to keep the heat in. Heat from the scalp makes the colourant develop quicker. I tend to use a towel over my head for a full head colour so I don't stain anything. This is also why you don't cut your strand test off. If you did, the colourant would take longer to develop, so not giving a true timing for the result you want.

After the desired time, rinse the colour off, and have a look while its wet. Is it darker? Remember you can only tell the true colour when its dry as wet hair is darker. It wil take about a minute to dry and you can see what sort of colour it has turned out. If its not noticeable, and you haven't gone the full 30 minutes, just increase the time by 5/10 mins. If its too dark, decrease the time by 5 minutes. If however you have gone the full 30 minutes and there is no change to your test strand, check the following.

Have you got the right colour for your needs?
Is the Colourant and the application bottle properly connected?
Has the mixture in the bottle changed colour?

If its yes to the first question, but no to the other two, see that the two bottles are correctly fitted and try the strand test again.

If its yes two all three and it still hasn't worked, try again. If the test doesn't work the second time. Take it back to the shop you brought it from and they should either give you another or a refund. This is your Statutory right, and if they refuse, take it to a Manager. Customer service alone should be enough to get your money back but if they don' take the matter up with L'oreal. There is a help number on the leaflet.

Hopefully you should get the desired colour you want and if you experienced no severe stinging or pain, you can do the whole head. If you experience mild stinging, you should be ok but if you experience bad or severe stringing then you are probably allergic to the developer, and SHOULD NOT use the product.

Colouring the whole head.

Damp your hair down, dont wash it, but towel dry and comb through.Wrap a odd towel around your shoulders and keep one for wrapping around your head. I found it easier to section off my head into 2 sections, left and right. Squeeze some colourant into your hands, and apply it to one side of the head and then the other, working in a methodical way. After you have applied most or all of the colourant, all depending how long your hair is. Massage the colourant in to make sure you get an even coverage, wrap your hair in an old towel and leave for the time you decided from your strand test.

The L' Oreal science bit.

The way the whole process works is the Hydrogen Peroxide opens the hair follicles and lets the colourant in, changing the core colour of your hair. The rinsing off of the product stops the prolonged opening of these cuticles which could lead to breaking and damage.

To close the cuticles and smooth them down, a conditioner is applied, and then a cold rinse. This locks the colour into the hair shaft.

What could be easier. I usually do mine when I have a bath. Again the heat helps the development and I dont stain anything whilst leaning on it!

After the desired time but not more than 30 minutes, unwrap the towel and rise with warm water until it runs clear. This is very important. If you leave any colourant on the hair shaft, instead of locking in the colour it will leak out, making it fade within a few weeks. Once the water is clear, apply the special conditioner, massage in for a few minutes, and rinse off. If you can stand it, rinse off with cold water.. ARGGGHHH, I know, but this actually closes the hair shaft and flattens all the cuticles. This makes the hair shaft smooth, shiny and locks in the colour for longer.

You are now ready to rock and roll, or dry and style your hair as you see fit.

Once you have coloured your hair and you like the results, you will need to re colour your hair every six weeks or so. The one this with this colour is that you dont really get any unsightly roots. If you were dark and went blonde you have to retouch your roots every 3/4 weeks or you look like a clown. With darker colours you can get away with leaving it a little longer.That is unless you have been brave and gone from blonde/light brown to red.

Retouch those roots

To retouch your roots all you have to do is damp hair down with clean water, but again do not wash it with shampoo. Apply the colour only from root to where the colour begins. This can be difficult as your hair is darker when wet, but try and estimate where the colour began. Section hair off like you did with a whole head application and work around the head. Its this bit that makes your arms ache, still its good for those bicep muscles.

After evenly applying the colour on the roots leave for about 10 minutes and then comb through to the end and leave for another 5 to 10 minutes. Rinse, conditon and then you ready to go.

The reason for this is that if you do the whole head again, the colour would be different at the roots from the ends of the hair. If you " develop" the roots first, it has time to react to the colour first. When you comb through and leave for another 5/10 minutes the colour over the whole head is more even. With a dark colour it doesnt really notice. If you have a blonde on the other hand..you might look like a birds nest!

The other reason for this 2 stage retouch is that permanant hair colour damages the hair shaft. Peroxide and Ammonia slowly weaken the hair shaft and this ends with spit ends and breakages. Not very good for your hair! Having said that many people use permanant and causes no damage at all, so dont let me put you off now. It how you look after you hair after that counts.

You can also buy shampoos and conditioners especially for coloured hair..but Im too tight with my money as Im still using my old one. It is a good idea to at least get a good conitioner to stop you hair drying out and breaking. Ohh and dont forget that essential 6/8 week trim!

I would definitely recommend this product. Three weeks down the line and my colour still looks like it did it yesterday. Its soft, manageable and shiny, just what I wanted to brighten up my dull winter hair.

Try Cinnamon...spice up your hair, and spice up your life