Clairol really did make it “Nice and Easy”-mostly

I rarely write reviews but when I try a new product that makes me either go “YIPPPPEEE!”, “oh crap” or at least “Hmmmm,” I try to either Pin it, Blog it or Facebook it. Such was the case with Clairol’s Nice & Easy Color Blend Foam.

Why did I try this? 

I always told myself I would never dye my hair because I believed in aging gracefully. In college I decided I wanted to do something fun so there were a few times I tinted my hair auburn to give it a deep reddish (but still mostly natural-looking) glow. Then in the last year or so, I’ve wanted to take control over uncontrollable changes that were happening to my hair and the only thing I could control was the color, so I did it. Nothing radical, in fact I dyed it pretty much my original color. I just wanted to hide the grays that were only a few inches long and were therefore sticking straight up most of the time.

The first few times, I tinted my hair myself with the use of recommended bottle products. I then screwed up so royally that I decided it was worth the money to have my hair professionally done every couple of months. I recently decided to leave my part-time job and try to freelance full-time so while our finances are in transition I am saving money when and where I can. That includes either getting over the grays or going back to the at-home dye kits. The gray stripe going down my head made me decide to try the bottle kits again. I couldn’t find the right color in the formula I used to use, so I tried something new: the Clairol Color Blend Foam. I liked the idea of non-drip and quite frankly, liked the color selection. I chose the dark auburn. I like having brown hair but enjoy light red highlights.

 

How is Clairol’s foam product different? 

The obvious answer is, it’s foam. When you mix the two bottles of liquid, instead of holding your finger over a tiny hole in the bottle, you attach a foam dispenser. Instead of gently squeezing runny liquid all over your head from what is essentially an old-fashioned plastic ketchup bottle, you squeeze foam into your gloved hand, rub your hands together and work it through your hair. In my experience, it didn’t drip at all. I didn’t see any warnings about trying it first on a tiny patch of skin for a while before using a full bottle so that makes me wonder if the chemicals are less uh, “icky” than the standard formula.

What I didn’t like 

I usually like to start with the positives, but the list of negatives is so short I’ll start there. The stains I did get from the dye were really hard to get off, which I should have known when the instructions said to wash any spillage on to skin immediately. I waited and had some really unattractive blotches on my neck and forehead. Using hydrogen peroxide and soap helped, but they are pretty stubborn stains. The smell was different from most hair dyes but it was still irritating. Yup, that’s pretty much it for this section. Now on to what I loved about this product!

I guess I’m a Clairol foam girl

The first thing I noticed was how much easier this was to mix. It seemed like the two liquids blended more evenly than usual. The closed bottle system is much, much preferred over the usual open spigot method.

The application is by far the superior aspect of this product. It didn’t drip all over the place and it didn’t stain my scalp like most other hair products have done. Using foam was cleaner but it was also easier to control distribution. I didn’t end up with any areas that are noticeably darker or lighter than others. The only reason it stained my neck is because I didn’t pin my hair up when I finished and dye-filled hair rubbed on my neck for 25 minutes.

This product also didn’t sting my scalp as badly as other products, which made me feel less like I had a toxic dump on my head. Not having a toxic dump on your head is always a good thing!

The finished product is another major plus. I got the color I expected. One would think this wouldn’t be so hard, considering the boxes give an “if your hair is this color it will be this color after dying” section. But I’ve had drastically different results from using those charts and this time they were incredibly accurate.

My hair is also softer than it was and doesn’t feel dried out.

I will definitely be buying this product again and when I go a little lighter in the summer months, I will probably use a different shade of the same product. I still prefer to have my hair professionally done, but for pinching pennies this is a perfect solution!