La Riche - Directions

I have not been satisfied with my hair for a few years.  I used to be happy with it simply brown with blonde highlights, quite long.  Then I got rid of the blonde and was just dark brown.  I was happy with that for a year or 2 then I got bored, so I went red.  I liked the red but it faded so quickly.  Earlier this year I went purple.  A nice dark purple which really suited me.  I do love the purple, but it fades even quicker than the red!  I have had the purple done at the hairdressers 2 or 3 times but within 2 weeks my hair has faded to a crappy red colour.  I can't go to the hairdressers every couple of weeks (not at their prices!) so I investigated home colour again for the first time in years.  I'd previously given up on home colour after some disasters.  So Superdrug have 3 nice purple dyes.  I picked one up and it turned out lovely, but again, faded within a couple of weeks to that red colour that I don't like.  Not sure it is a great idea to dye your hair every 2 weeks even if you can afford it? :-/ 

Whilst perusing Twitter I came across the blog of a girl who has lovely long, bright red hair, and she had a post all about how she keeps it vibrant.  She had the same fading issues as I have with the purple.  She dyed her hair with a permanent red dye every 4-6 weeks, but inbetween times, to keep it looking fresh she used a semi-permanent colour called Poppy Red, from a range called Directions by La Riche http://www.lariche.co.uk/ 

This sounded like a good idea to me so I investigated this La Riche.  They have one called Plum which is a lovely purple shade so I bought this.  The girl from the blog had said it was so easy to apply, simple as peas.  Now, it may be easy to actually put on your hair, but no one told me that it goes EVERYWHERE.  And when I say EVERYWHERE, I mean EVERYWHERE.  I am no novice to home colouring, I know you have to wear gloves, protect your skin and surfaces, use an old towel....... Directions by La Riche are something else!

During colouring I got a little on my skin and the sink but wasn't too worried at the time.  After leaving the colour on my hair for the alloted time, I got back in the shower to rinse.  O.  M.  G.  EVERYTHING went purple.  My hands, the bottom of the shower, the shower head, the shower itself, the tiles, the glass, my chest, my back.  Literally everything purple.  My face. Have you ever seen that bit in the original Charlie & The Chocolate Factory, where that girl turns purple and they have to take her away?  That's what it was like.  No exaggeration.  Of course I was wondering how I would get it off my skin but the main thing I worried about how was how mad my friend & boyfriend were going to go.  I live with my boyfriend in a flat we rent from a friend.  And I had just turned her whole shower area purple from white.

For the time being I concentrated on my hair and followed the instructions.  I wasn't confident coz the water wouldn't stop running purple.  I got out of the shower after a long time and tied my hair up in a towel.  Then got to work on cleaning the shower!  It took about half an hour but with the help of some bleach the bathroom looked good as new again.

I started to dry my hair but it didn't feel right.  Purple dye was covering the brush.  I jumped back in the shower and shampooed my hair 3 more times, then another with conditioner.  That seemed to do the trick.  

After drying, I can confirm that my hair is indeed a nice dark purple shade, however I would not use this again.  I just don't think all the mess is worth it.  I have also read reviews which say that the colour rubs off on clothes etc for a while even after you've washed it a few times so I will need to look out for that, coz that would be an inconvenience.

I have one more box of purple Superdrug dye which I will use when I need to, but after that I am thinking of going back to brown, which is much easier to maintain.  I may go for blonde highlights again as well.  We shall see :)

This post would be great with a photo of my hair, but I am still suffering and look like death, so maybe another day (hopefully soon) when I am feeling better :)