I have very dark hair naturally and sometimes I just want to have a little bit more colour into my hair to create that layered effect whenever I attempt any hairdo. I've been wanting to dye my hair to get somewhat more interest, but I always get turned off whenever I think of doing any upkeep and maintenance to my hair after that process.
I know there are some of you readers out there similar to me that wishes that you don't have to do any upkeeping process like curling your hair daily, straightening that frizz out ,even applying the anti-frizz serums regularly or even getting that appointment to colour your roots. What got me curious to try out the in-shower lightening treatment is to see if I could create that lightening effect without going into a salon to get it done. It's not that I hate going to the salon, but just the thought of sitting in the chair just watching your reflection and waiting for your hair to be done with is somewhat....a waste of precious time.
Even though there are days which I would love to sit down and get pampered and do nothing, I often wished I would do something more valuable and productive with my time. So with an in-shower lightening treatment, I can shower while lightening my hair??? That's the ultimate productivity right there!
So as awesome as this product sounds to me right now, I'll still have to test it out and give it a rating for its practicability, efficacy and also it's ability to give me my desired lightening.
I'll share with you my experience of using the product and how I felt about it while going through the week after this in-shower lightening treatment.
Expectation of the product's before and after picture showing on a brunette hair. Directions of use: Slip off outer cap and discard. Break off tab to expose both holes and apply entire contents of treatment on wet hair, concentrating of root regrowth or all over. Rinse hands. Leave treatment on for 5 minutes, then rinse completely. Follow with Visibly Brighter Shampoo and/or Conditioner,, if desired. Safe for natural, highlighted and coloured hair.
WARNING: DO NOT USE ON INTENSELY BLEACHED OR DAMAGED HAIR. Do not exceed more than one use per month. Discontinue after desired hair lightening is achieved.
Application
Firstly, you have to do it on wet hair before the application. It didn't mention on clean hair, just wet. So I thoroughly rinsed my hair under the water for a few minutes before applying the product. The product has a safety seal tab that you had to break open which was hard. I ended spilling a little out of the package as I accidentally squeezed the tube while attempting to break the seal. I should have cut the tab with a scissors prior to make it easier. I would suggest using a glove for the application, (which I didn't) as the product does have hydrogen peroxide in it and will irritate your skin. They should probably have just included a pair of disposable gloves with the product.
This is the before picture of my hair, so you can see if there was some visible difference upon the first in-shower lightening attempt. This product costs me SGD 19.90 to purchase. I was a little disappointed at the product as it did mention that it was a bundle deal, hence I was expecting 2 products rather than just one of it. False advertising, but it was the same price as the normal 1 pc sold so I'm not too mad at that.( Just ranting here. KAO, I'M LOOKING AT YOU. )
As you can see my hair is really dark naturally, it's a very dark brown in colour and only has a slight brown tint in the sun. I have had my hair dyed in a salon before many years back, most likely 7 years ago, and it took close to 6 hours to cut, colour and dry. In that process, though my stylist advised me that the highlight I had wanted would not look as bright as we won't bleach my hair, he definitely had lightened my hair a lot. It was from that experience that I decided I was just really very lazy to maintain my hair colouring and grew it out and slowly cut it off and have it where I have now.
So with this in-shower lightening treatment, I'm really curious to see how my hair would be lightened in just minutes using an in-shower treatment. I'm going to expect more frizz than usual for the next coming months as the hydrogen peroxide in this ligtening product will definitely disturb my hair cuticles more. Hence, more frizz control factors to manage for the next few months.
As I was squeezing the product onto my palms, the product has a cream on one tube and a yellowish clear serum in the other. The blonde coloured tube dispenses the yellowish clear serum while the bronzed tube dispensed the cream.
They do not mix and you have to mix it prior to the application to the hair. During the application, I started with the ends of the hair upwards to about cm from my roots. I didn't want to apply it to the roots of my hair. My thought process was that I was intending to have a natural gradient of colour (if this worked) and then the tips of my hair would be lighter in colour.
The product does lather very smoothly on the hair and it will sud up a little bit when you work it into the hair. After that 5 minutes was up, it was relatively easy to wash off with just warm water and then I proceeded to shampoo my hair with a cleansing balm.
Post-Application
I immediately knew that this product was going to dry my hair out and make it more frizzy as my hair was not feeling smooth and was feeling like it needed a deep conditioning soon. I proceeded to air dry my hair before adding any hair oil to my hair to see if my suspicions were correct.
It was feeling more frizzy than usual and I didn't feel like I had a good hair day to be honest. So I applied the hair serum to my hair before I went out of the house for work. Reapplied again at work and decided that I needed to plait my hair because it was just unacceptable hair day for me.
Just for a moment, I was thinking maybe my hair is just getting out of the cold weather funk that Singapore has been, but seeing how it liked the 10 day frizz tamer used last week, I think it's just reacting to the lightening treatment because of the hydrogen peroxide in it.
This is the hair after work and after the day after the application. Can you tell if there is a noticeable difference? Nope. Haha!
I would say there is a slight tinge of lightening to the ends of my hair but, only if you are looking for it. Otherwise, you won't be able to tell if it did work in lightening my hair. I would say that probably, this product is more of a continuous usage over a longer period of time to get that lightening effect, probably an application once a month for 6 months or so? (SGD19.90 x 6) that would likely be the estimated cost of the lightening process slowly using this product.
However, I'm not going to put my hair through that process every month and the would probably be the last time I'm going to use this product for now. As you can tell, I look pretty confused at the results. This also goes to show that pictures on the boxes are showing you the process of the lightening over a long duration of time.
Maybe I'll just try some tinted henna hair dyes next? What do you think! Let me know your thoughts and if you have used this product and how long it worked for you! I would love to know.
Juice Box Rating (AVG: 0.15/5)
1. Moisturising:0/5
2. Affodability: 2/5
3. Endurance in humidity: 0/5
4. Efficacy:1/5
Over the long run to achieve that desired lightening effect on your hair "naturally" you would have to go and purchase a lot of this over the course of a few months or a year. So if you can't wait that long to get the look that you want, go to a salon. It's more satisfying.
Till the next time!
MSCHFF not managed.
xoxo