Hair Heaven: The Dye You Need To Know About

Lately my hair has been feeling very dry and limp, difficult to style and looking rather lacklustre if I'm honest and although my hair does get to a point of wishy washy before needing to be re-dyed this time round things just felt more dull than normal. So, whilst searching for a home dye brand and colour to revitalise my locks I came across a couple I had used last time on my hair including the Garnier Olia Permanent Dye Kits which when I started reading through the reviews for I understand the reason behind my less-than-average mane. 

Apparently a large percentage of women (and men maybe) have experienced very dry hair after this colourant begins to wash up - in fact some noticed a difference in their hair quality almost immediately and disliked the overall colour and look of their hair. My experience was very similar, but I put it down to the colour I bought as the no ammonia and oil formula had me thinking surely this dye would give me amazing, shiny and mulit-tonal tresses. But now I know that it has actually most likely contributed to my recent bad hair days. So, a word of warning is personally avoid this dye in the future!

It became really important for me to look for a nourishing dye that would help make my hair feel soft and supple again. It may feel like a weird thing to dye hair to achieve this when essentially this is rather damaging in the long-run but home kit dyes have come a long way and it is great to see so many having a less harsh effect on hair and including some beneficial ingredients. And for me masks galore just wasn't cutting it. But I was desperate for a rich brown overhaul to cover my damaged looking lighter ends. So, to dye I went.

After a lot of research I finally decided on L'Oreal Excellence Crème in Natural Brown for several reasons. The dye is a balm-like-consistency and includes hair goodness like pro-keratin for hair strength, ceramide a replica of hair's natural cement for smoother locks and collagen for its known firming and replenishing qualities. A list that make my ears prick up like a meerkat hunting. 

Honestly I never reached for this dye in the past as I was seduced by other brand's packaging and headshots but this fairly classical yet dated box is a great find I think I might just stick to. It has to be one of the easiest and most enjoyable dyes to work with and its creamy texture matches real salon dyes and is so easy so cover the hair with and blend. I loved the protective serum that came with it to put on before you dye your hair to help keep hair as soft and unhurt and possible. The overall smell wasn't too intoxicating and one box did my entire head. 

Knowing how dyes can be I went for 5 medium brown instead of a dark brown as I know by now dyes always run up darker than on the box. Also I wanted to ditch the red, caramel undertones I normally favour for something more natural and simple and I adore the results! My hair feels a million times better, softer, shinier and more manageable. Obvious I'd like to see how it washes up so will report back in a month's time or so but for now I am one happy bunny. The serum allowed for parts of my original colour to break through giving a subtle highlighted effect that stops this block colour looking flat. So, for me this has to be a solid 9/10 in the home dying world. It looses one point for it does go darker than it looks on the box but as someone who wants colour to last as long as possible I don't mind going a little darker initially anyway. Have you tried L'Oréal Excellence Creme?