L'Oreal Excellence Triple Protection Review

All right the next time I post pictures of myself you're going to be wondering what happened to me.  I have dark brown almost black hair and at the insistence of my sister-in-law I got my hair highlighted professionally back in November.  It wasn't just a highlight--it was three colors, highlights and low lights, the whole kit-n-kaboodle.  Linda had to pay approximately $125 for this service.  That's just a little too steep for this single girl's budget.  I will admit I loved the color and the new hairstyle.  I was turning heads everywhere I went and it was making me self-conscious.  Everyone said it made the "cute" girl look more mature.  Well, I like cute.  As you get older--who cares about mature?  We want to look young, right?  My hair grows fast so in June I took the plunge (financially) and paid to have my hair highlighted again.  This time my hairstylist only charged a mere $85 for two shades.  Well, leading up to Labor Day my roots were starting to show and they are dark.  So I decided I would do my own hair.  I had done it in the past.  I figured if I was taking it back to it's natural shade it wouldn't be that difficult.

I got my hair color at Walmart.  It was $7.96 but as I was leaving the hair care area I saw an endcap with a display.  You could get the same product with 2 boxes for $9.92 so I bought that one.  Keep one for touch-ups down the road, right?

The instructions are easy and in about an hour you are done.  I followed the instructions to a tee but no where in the spreadsheet did it suggest you put away anything that you didn't want to get stained.  Do you see where this is going?  My colleague and friend, Beverly, was in tears as I told this story and so was Lori. 

Let me set the stage for this hilarious story: I have all white doors throughout my house.  I have a pink and black Ooo La La bathroom design in the master bath.  I have white sinks and tubs.  Are you getting the picture?  Well, from previous experiences I knew to put an old t-shirt on in case anything dripped and boy did it!  I have a t-shirt and dark plum towel just for hair coloring--so far so good, right?  Wrong!  While massaging the hair color in I noticed some dripped on the bath rug so I leaned over and wiped it up with some toilet tissue.  Being the neat freak I was I then proceeded to get a cleaning rag and try to rub out the drop.  Now the drop was clear at the time so I was merely making attempts to get it off the rug.  I had a fear of staining the sink so I went into the kitchen to rinse my hair.  An hour or so later I made my way back into the master bath and what to my wonderful eyes should appear?  It sure wasn't a miniature sleigh with eight tiny reindeer but it did look like they had paid a visit.  There was this large area on my rug that looked like poop!  The hair color darkened as it dried and there were no words to explain how devastating that was.  Now I know you are probably laughing and I was too later.  Not only did it get on the bath rug when I leaned down to wipe it up I must have slung the damp hair because I have two dark brown-like spots on the white door leading into my walk-in closet.  I can touch that up with white paint but I had to throw away the bath rug.  Lizzie is the only child that goes into my bathroom and I could just imagine her asking me if I had an accident on my floor.

Back to the matter at hand.  I chose #4 Dark Brown/Natural because I always knew how dark my hair was.  People have always believed it was black but my father would correct them and say, "No, it's dark brown with red highlights."  My hair color will probably resemble PattyThere's profile picture and that's okay, we are cybertwins after all :+} Well, I didn't know that because of the highlights the hair color would go darker than the shades on the box.  I wound up with almost black hair and that was fine with me.  I knew that after a few shampoos it would tone down or fade out and it has.  I now have what is the closest thing to my natural hair color: dark brown with subtle red highlights.  I may not remember what shade of brown I chose (dark, charcoal, mocha, etc.) but I will remember the number.

I will continue using this product.  I like the smell.  It detangles hair well too.  I guess the old saying, "What's in a name?" bears some truth because my shampoo and hair color are both L'Oreal.  I like that this product gives you a protective pre-color serum to treat the ends of your hair.  My hairstylist said that if you don't pretreat the ends they will slowly get darker than the rest of your hair.  And I am very glad that they include the multi-dose-after-color conditioner.  I wash my regularly throughout the week and then on Saturday night I wash and condition with the L'Oreal hair color conditioner.  It smells good.  It doesn't have that strong and potent smell that you sometimes get when you go to a hair salon.  And the conditioner works great--yes, I can run my fingers thru my hair without getting them stuck in a rat's nest.

I will definitely recommend this product to people.  Now that I know it's ability to stain as bad as it does I know to remove the rug during future uses.  Just a note: The instructions do mention staining so I know that mishap was my fault for failing to take the proper precautions.

One question I would pose to the professionals.  What would you think about the following warning on the box?  "If you have a tattoo, the risks of allergic reaction may be increased."  What's that all about?