After my little foray into dip dying my hair, it's needless to say that my ends were looking a little shabby after boring of the upkeep. At first, I thought I'd fade out the pink tips with washing up liquid and bicarbonate of soda (strips dye)...it failed. Ok, I'll fade it with a bleach bath...it failed. Right! I'll just wait until it fades from washing...After about 8 washes, it was still going strong. Bring on the dye!
I settled on Schwarzkopf's latest range of box dyes, 'Salon Style', in shade 'Chocolate Brown'. With this product, Schwarzkopf promise professional grey coverage (not quite needed by myself yet!), a true colour result and healthy looking shiny hair. Sounds like everything you could want! Having the hair colour level number on the top of the box is a very professional touch, for those who have no idea what I'm chatting on about, levels are hair colour shades - 1 being jet black, 12 being near white blonde.
The box contains your colour cream, developer, instruction leaflet with gloves and a 'Colour Lock-In Conditioner'. It's your usual squeeze and shake deal. I found there to be plenty enough dye to completely saturate my shoulder length, thick hair - I actually threw about 1/3 of it away! It didn't smell strong, took 30 minutes to develop and washed out relatively quickly. The conditioner provided was fab, leaving my hair soft and shiny and filling the bathroom with a gorgeous fruity scent.
Here's my hair pre-dye! Aint it a mess!? You can see the pink would NOT SHIFT. I popped some highlights/ streaks in the front of my hair, raising them to about a level 5 or 6, so that once the dye fades my hair wont look flat. The reason I chose a level 3 dye was so that it wouldn't completely blank out my streaks and wouldn't darken my natural colour, either. Levels are important, ladies!
Hair post-dye! As you can see, my main colour is still a very dark brown, though now it's a fraction warmer and has an amber glow in direct light. My streaks are a warm, chocolate brown which blend in very well with the rest of my hair, giving it a bit more life and breaking up the block colour. The tips which were once a mish-mash of pink and peach are now a plum-brown...quite odd, but subtle enough not to look too out of place!
Overall, Schwarzkopf 'Salon Style' dye has impressed me! Especially because I don't have a great history with the rest of their dyes. If you're looking for natural colour with shine, these would be a great option.
Available from Boots, Superdrug and Savers. RRP £5.29.
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