Once upon a time, my hair was very low-maintenance. It was a medium brown color and aside from my lifelong battle with my natural texture, it was easy to handle.
Then, I turned 17 and got my first gray hair.
They popped up slowly at first, but by age 23, something had to be done. I am all for aging gracefully, but when you're a single 20-something, sharing a natural hair color with your mom is not so cool. I started with lowlights. I always liked my hair color better when it was wet and glossy.
Lowlights were great. They gave my hair more depth and shine, but it was really difficult to use foil at home (Trust me, I tried.), and $85 every few months was more than I wanted to pay to maintain the look.
So, I discovered the boxes of dye at the drugstore. Mom has been dying her hair forever, and I have been scarred with memories of the awful smell and watching Mom scrubbing the excess dye off her face and wrists and the counter and trying to bleach the color out of towels. Fortunately, hair coloring has improved dramatically over the years, and my experience was much less messy, but not exactly what I would call easy. I still found missed spots and found myself with the dreaded dye line when it started growing out.
When I saw the ad for John Freida's Precision Foam Color and heard the promises of no muss, no fuss hair color, I had to see if it was true.
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I've used it twice now (Dark Natural Brown the first try and Dark Chocolate Brown the second time), and here are my thoughts:
The Good: Application really is easy. Combine the chemicals into the foam bottle, mix carefully and squeeze the foam into your hand to apply. You get quality gloves, which sounds minor, but anyone who has ever used those awful plastic gloves that don't stay on your hands knows how much good gloves help. My hair is a medium length and somewhat fine, and I've had color leftover both times. The dye rinsed out pretty easily and left little or no stains on the towel. There were no patches to be found, and my hair will curl or straighten without requiring product. It's not a glossy shine, but it seems to have more depth and shimmer than some other colors.
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The Bad: For some reason, my hair is full of static for a few days after dying. I tried using my regular conditioner in place of the included conditioner, and it helped a little. With most dyes I've used, my hair is usually extra soft and extremely shiny for at least a week, and I have a hard time making it hold a curl. After the static dyed down, my hair isn't insanely soft, but I'm back to normal. Odd, though, that my hair can even get dry enough to be static-y in the summer humidity. That's really all that I disliked, and even then, it wasn't enough to deter me from a second use.
The other cool thing about John Freida is that the website has a color selector to help you decide, and it's pretty accurate.
http://www.johnfrieda.com/en-US/homecolour/shade-selector/
All in all, I am likely to use John Freida again...since most of my products are from one of his lines. It may not be the best formula for winter because of the static, though.
Edit: John Frieda Precision Foam Color is available at most drigstores. I got mine at Target for $11.99. I don't remember what I bought to get them, but Target gave me coupons.
