La Riche Directions and Blue Frosting Powder Lightener - Product Review

I am such an idiot... I dyed my hair recently and was dumb enough to wash my hair with Head and Shoulders thus washing most of the colour out of my hair. I figured since I touched it up the other night, I might as well do a product review-cum-tutorial-of-sorts at the same time.

I have quite dark hair so I always need to lighten it before using "unnatural" colours. I always used Ice Lites high lift bleach to lighten my hair but it burnt and blistered my scalp. I could never figure out why, no matter what I did or tried, it still caused me agony. Until I found out that, in my infinite wisdom, I should've actually read the packaging properly before going ahead with it. Ice Lites is actually an off-the-scalp bleach so all along I'd been doing it bloody wrong.

So I looked into different bleaches suitable for on-the-scalp lightening. I stumbled across Blue Frosting Powder by Proclére. Low Dust - Hi Lift (link below) and figured it would be worth a try. I did some reading up on the product and there seemed to be mixed information. Some people were saying off and some people were saying on. Anyway, it's £6.99 trade and I think it was £8.99 retail from Salon Services (please don't quote me on that as I could be wrong). 

I had dyed my hair using Violet Directions a few months back and I wasn't aware that washing out dark purple was one of the hardest things known to man. Basically, my hair went from purple to dark blue. After numerous attempts to remove it using various methods, the lightest I could get it was to a sort of turquoise colour.

 So basically, bleach was the only option if I wanted to go more lighter shades. The previous night, I did a coconut oil mask to my hair. I mixed up (more accurately, my Mum mixed up) the bleach with 20vol peroxide until the texture was slightly thicker than cake batter and applied it straight to my hair using a brush. The bleach itself smells much better than others I've used in the past, nowhere near as strong which was a plus. I was really scared that it was going to hurt as much as the Ice Lites but was pleasantly surprised when there was no paint whatsoever. I kept the bleach on for 30-45 minutes and there was a little itching towards the end just around my hairline at the back and I just gently rubbed over it with the pointy end of my brush.

Now... I did something really bad and I DO NOT recommend that anyone does this. I sort of bleached it twice. The turquoisey colour had lightened but not quite as light at necessary for my next colour to show up (terrible, I know) but it was necessary. I'm pretty fancy free (or stupid) when it comes to my hair and figured if it all crumbled to bits, I'm pretty sure I could work with it somehow. So this was the end result.

Next was time to actually colour it. I used to use Crazy Colour but I gave La Riche Directions (£2.99 from eBay), (link below) a try previously and really liked it. The consistency of it is like a thick gel so you don't get anything dripping down your neck or face which is great. It goes onto slightly damp hair so towel dry before using. I always wear latex gloves as I've learned in the past that it's rather difficult to get off your skin. One drawback of the texture is, although it's easy to apply and non-drip, it's slightly difficult to make sure it covers all of your hair so I'd recommend getting someone else to do it for you (thanks Mum) as in the past I've missed bits (whereas I haven't with CC, hence the assumption that it must be texture related). You only need to leave it on for 15 minutes but as it's quite gentle and a conditioning dye, I just leave it on as long as possible and just wander around and do whatever I need to be doing. I left it on for about 30 minutes this time around.

Upon recommendation, I usually wash my dye out with cold water as, apparently, it's less likely to wash a lot of colour out on your first wash. Dried it up and I absolutely love the colour. It's quick and easy to do, particularly if you don't have to lighten your hair in the first place (!) and it's not too damaging to your hair (unless you're bleaching it first).

Blue Frosting Hi-Lift Low Dust Powder Lightener. 5/5

Pros: doesn't sting, left my hair in pretty good condition considering it was bleached twice, doesn't smell bad, had a measuring spoon so didn't have to faff about looking for amounts online, high lift on dark roots and impossible-to-shift blue, not hideously expensive, tub was huge so will last for a while.

Cons: None

La Riche Directions 4/5

Pros: thick so non-drip, really vibrant shades, not bad for your hair, cheap, large variety of shades,

Cons: can be quite difficult to cover every hair

The long and short of it is, I'd buy both products again. I don't think I'd be inclined to go back to any other type of bleach.
Links at the bottom for each product.

- x M x

Blue Frosting Powder Lightener - Salon Services

La Riche Directions - eBay