review: L'Oréal Paris Excellence Fashion (P66 Intense Spicy Red)

I wanted to try this dye a month back, and as with all of the beauty products I want to buy I always google for reviews before purchasing. However, I couldn't find any reviews that I felt were useful, so I didn't get it. I finally got it in the end because I went for a haircut this week and a new hair colour was way overdue.

I decided to write a review for this in case it might be helpful for anyone who wants to try out this dye!

Contents inside the box, minus gloves and instructions. If you're like me and have steadily relied on box dyes for all hair colour changes, this shouldn't be anything new except for the protective pre-color serum. The pre-colour serum is to be applied to the hair length and ends (especially the ends) before the dye is applied. Which I think, is a pretty nice touch. Hair ends are always the most damaged, and hair dye is damaging.

I won't talk about the steps, since the instructions are provided anyway.

The first image shows my hair colour before in an indoor setting, and the second image shows my hair colour in direct sunlight. My room is so gross, I'm so sorry. The previous hair dye I used was a Revlon ColorSilk dye in another red shade, I can't remember. That was probably three months ago.

These are the after pictures, in direct sunlight. These were taken after 3 separate rinses. I don't know why there's a whole chunk that's significantly redder and brighter than the rest of my hair, and since it's at the back I can't really tell for sure if it's genuine or if it's just my camera being stupid. 

Discounting that chunk, the rest of it is the colour I see in the mirror. Obviously, it's  nothing like the colour on the box. I wasn't expecting it to be anyway. The colour came out more as a very dark brown tinged with red. A bit like a very deep mahogany. I'm okay with the colour, though I wish it was slightly brighter. If your natural hair colour is dark and you're looking for the colour that's on the box then I'd just recommend you go to a reputable salon, although I think dyeing your hair at a salon is way overpriced. If your hair is already dyed really light, then the colour might be more obvious.

Like a previous L'Oréal Paris Excellence dye that I used, this left my hair in better condition than it was in. Short history of my hair: I've been using box dyes since I was 14, in between ages 18 and 19 I dyed my hair EXCESSIVELY, and last year I tried my hand at DIY ombre hair with bleach so ever since then, my hair ends have been in a permanent hay-like state no matter how many times I trimmed my hair. 

My hair ends now are seriously smooth. It's freaking awesome. I'm not sure how long the smoothness will last, since I've only been using the after-colour treatment during my hair rinses. Will update this post if I do feel any changes in hair texture.

One thing that I need to point out. As labeled on the box, this dye is INTENSE. When I rinsed it out of my hair, my bathroom looked like I killed someone and was trying to rinse out blood from my clothes. So far, it has been three rinses (no shampoo, only the treatment that came in the box) and the colour is still bleeding. I'm terrified to wear any white clothes or lean my head on anything when it's wet. 

Also, I usually don't apply lotion or Vaseline on my hairline/behind the ears/on the neck when I dye my hair because I'm just a lazy shit but with this dye I highly recommend you do that because it's really bright.

Overall, I think it's a great hair dye just for the improved hair texture it gives. Colour-wise, I think all box-dyes come out similarly on Asian hair so I'm just kinda meh over the colour results. If you're like me, and your hair is damaged and you stubbornly refuse to just go back to your natural hair colour and you can't deal with disgusting roots that are growing out, then I recommend using the L'Oréal Paris Excellence dyes.