Beauty Product Junkies

I have been around the block with haircolor. I have tried just about every brand from the cheap to the extravagant (and in that, I do include having it done at a salon). I have, in recent months, settled for some $3 Revlon shit which keeps my gray roots at bay. My hair could be in better condition, but at least it's red.

Okay but omg. At Wal Mart (which I hate, and I'm not proud that I go there) I found John Frieda's Precision Foam Colour. The product is really different. It's not gloopy, it doesn't claim to be "thick," "rich," or a "creme." You mix it in the bottle VERY GENTLY (the instructions say "do not shake" but TILT 5x), and then you squish it out of a nozzle that produces a foam much like foam hand soap.

Pro #1: Foam. You're not squishing this into your poor gray part and then mashing it around to hope it will sink in. You're squeezing a ball into your (beautifully black-gloved) palm and spreading it like butter over your hair, whereupon it just melts in effortlessly.

Pro #2: EXCESS. I did my hair and my daughter's roots from the same bottle. YMMV, but damn. There was more than enough, and even with my hair at a chin-length(ish, asymmetrical) bob, normal haircolor makes me have to dilute the last inch and use every bit. I did one head and a headful of roots and there are stll leftovers.

Pro #3: Rinseability. This stuff rinses out like no haircolor ever has. It was so easy. I mean. And the post-color conditioner was gorgeous, and there's plenty of it.

Pro #4: It didn't smell like chemicals. It's faintly perfumy, but the fact that I haven't run my overly-sensitive husband out of the house says a lot.

Con (only one): When they say "apply water-resistant cream to skin" beforehand to prevent staining, they mean it. I have scrubbed and scrubbed and am very glad my hair is going to cover that part of forehead that the color got on. I have cold cream I will use in the future.

Price: This is an $11 (in cheap-ass Texasland) bottle; I expect it would be $15 elsewhere? Maybe more? But this is not that much more expensive (or even a little cheaper) than top-end so-called creme-based colorants.

End result: I don't see any evidence of roots. You know how there's a very faint paleness in your roots, especially when you waited juuuust a little too long (and especially if you just switched brands)? I have testimony from both kids that there is no stripe. No difference in shade, notihng that looks like I colored over another color or colored over faded roots.

LOVE.