First a little (hair) background. I am 32 and for the last few years have been going rapidly grey, (it runs in the family unfortuatley), and consequently am no stranger to hair dyes. I tended to just dye it plain old medium brown but lately had been getting a but annoyed at the regrowth and booked myself in for some profesional highlights in order to try and disguise it better...(this is relevant I promise) !! I wasn't pleased with the result as I ended up with a mish-mash of blonde/red/brown in my hair and I could still see the grey roots.......I tried to get used to it but 2 weeks later and a lot of persuading from my husband (who was 'strangely' enthusiastic about me going blonde)....I found myself face to face with a l'oreal superblonde pre-lightener kit...AND a lovely 'champagne' blonde dye to complete the 'look' I wanted.
I mixed the kit together. It contained a developer and 2 sachets of lightener, gloves and conditioner. You were left to decide as per your hair colour before use (very dark = 2 sachets, light = 1) how many sachets to use, I used 2....The instructions were easy to follow, rather like other hair dye kits....and there were certainly no more warnings than the usual
(ie always do a patch test blah blah)....So I took a deep breath and started applying following instructions :- roots first as it takes longer to strip the colour here, the ends last. We waited.....and a good 40 mins later I was getting quite alarmed at the speed of the colour change....it all 'looked' quite blonde/yellow and I was desperate to get the stuff off in case my hair was 'over-done' (if you know what I mean), so off I rushed to the sink. This was my first mistake :-
NEVER PANIC AND WASH THE STUFF OFF UNTIL YOU HAVE CHECKED THAT ALL SECTIONS OF YOUR HAIR HAVE TURNED A PALE YELLOW COLOUR...I have read up on this now and this is the mistake that most of us first time blonde wannabes make. When I towel dried my hair I realised that there were several 'patches' mainly at the back and sides (where the brown had been) that were distinctly 'orangey-looking'. I just simply hadn't left it on long enough to do it's job.I now know that what I should have done was to reapply the mixture on the bits that needed it and wait until ALL my hair was evenly coloured....but I was so panic stricken by now I thought I could 'cover' it up by applying the 2nd 'Champagne' colour ....My second mistake :-
BLEACHED HAIR IS EXTEMELY POROUS AND WILL 'TAKE' COLOUR FASTER THAN UNTREATED HAIR....Like an idiot I didn't do a strand test, wacked the colour on for the regulation 20-30 mins (as I always had done BEFORE my hair had been treated)....The result : Well lets just say I would've given Ronald McDonald a run for his money !!!! I was horrified and burst into tears, my husband was torn between genuine sympathy and (as men do),stifling his giggles everytine I sobbed..'but LOOK at it !!!????'...and when I finally ventured tearstained downstairs to face my 4 kids their reactions varied from outright laughter (the 15 year old), and wide eyed shock (the one year old).
My first instinct was to send hubby out to buy me a nice brown dye....but thankfully he went on the net and started reading up on 'hair disasters'. If this ever happens to you DON'T BE TEMPTED TO PUT A BROWN DYE IN TO CORRECT IT....(see bottom of page for science bit on this)
After more reading up I was left with 2 choices :
1)Attempt to dye it brown (By myself as there was NO WAY I was leaving the house let alone having a whole salon laugh and wag fingers at me), OR,
2)Start the whole process over again, this time avoiding all the mistakes I had made last time. The advice I was given on the net was that it is FAR EASIER TO CORRECT A BLONDE GONE WRONG THAN IT IS TO TRY AND PUT COLOUR BACK INTO THE HAIR (again see bottom of op)...So next day I sent hubby out for, GASP !!!......
ANOTHER PACK OF L'OREAL SUPERBLONDE PRE-LIGHTENER (I know I thought I must be mad as well), and another pack of the 'Champagne' blonde colour. I was hesitant to say the least but figured that I had nothing to loose by giving it a go (well apart from all my hair but by then being bald seemed preferable lol)...This time we rinsed it off ONLY when I was ABSOLUTLEY sure that there were no reddish bits left in. Even then we missed a patch and I had to reapply and wait another 10mins. My hair was a frightenly vivid shade of cringe-worthy yellow but before applying the other colour I snipped of 3 strands to test and after applying and drying them out we found that the best finished shade was after leaving the Champagne dye on for ONLY 5 minutes, (not the 30 I had left it last time !!!)...the other 2 strands were both quite red by 10 and 15 mins repectively)...I applied the Champagne blonde dye and barely 5 mins after I had applied it, rinsed it off, applied the conditioner...I blow-dryed my hair...and I got the best surprise ever !!!
I was now a nice shade of Champagne blonde !
So the in answer to the question does the SUPERBLONDE work ?
Yes, but only if you don't panic and try to remove it before it has turned ALL of your hair to a pale yellow colour. If left with ginger areas reapply to those areas asap and wait until yellow. A patch test IS recommended for to see if you with react to the contents. I had no scalp reactions at all despite using it excessively (twice in 2 days which is NOT recommended in the instructions!).
Also read up on doing this before doing it, I could've ended up with hair like the jolly green giant if my husband hadn't found some advice on 'what to do if it all goes wrong..' on the net.
Stand tests are a MUST for the timing the second dye (super-blonde is only to strip colour off before applying the desired shade).
Above all don't panic !!! My hair's condition looked quite bad for a week or so after but with a bit of TLC and some very expensive products ( I recommend Aveda sensitive shampoo,cherry almond bark conditioner, hair styling products with no alcohol in and ceramic straighteners)..My hair looks quite good at the moment considering it has been bleached twice OVER highlights a few weeks before. I's a wonder I have any hair left at all.
Oh and get a friend to help especially with spotting any patched you have missed !!
Hope this helps xxxxxxx
SCIENCE BIT : If after the pre-lightening stage (BEFORE applying the desired blonde shade) you panic and just want to be plain old brown again don't just put a brown dye on top..... Yellow Hair + Brown Dye = GREEN HAIR !!!. Advice is to put a deep red colour in first before the brown BUT as red dye fades a lot quicker than brown dye chances are that in a few weeks you will be left with a lovely GREENish tinge to the hair...mmmmn lovely !!!).
PS Frustrated by that lack of info out there for people who do decide to go down this route I decided to set up a web site with some basic do's and don'ts of home DIY 'going blonde'...and yes I am STILL blonde and loving it !!!
www.blonde-ambition.co.uk.
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I used one with two lightening sachets once, if anyone is in doubt just use one packet. If lightens to orange it can be coloured over, if it goes too light like white then all the colour has gone and any colour you put on top wont take! x
purpleangel 08.05.2006 22:42
How I wish I had read your review before I attemped to lighten my hair yesterday!
I didn't leave it on long enough and now have Yellow & Orange hair!!
Good review though.
starsally 08.04.2003 15:20
What a helpful husband you have. This op was great you had all the detail in and it was very helpful. Sal x
Advantages: removes even black hair dye well, and leaves your hair in good condition Disadvantages: will most certainly turn your hair coppery ( unless fair haired to start with)
Apr 7th, 2003
(Sep 3rd, 2003)
very helpful by (94%):
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