I color my hair pretty often. A little less often now then when I was younger but, I don't really have the time to sit long enough or even bother starting the color process. So, I just save these times for special occasions anymore. My usually hair color routine tends to take a bit long, even though I have short hair. When I opened Garnier Color Sensations, there was 1 sheet of instructions so, that's 1 side in English and half of that side with instructions for coloring and then the other side is for retouch. Literally, 3 usual steps without all of the jibberish and nonsense. Just simple instructions! and then I noticed that the wait time was 25 minutes!
Quick and easy contents of my hair color box. The plastic gloves are on the instruction page.
I figured I would use a burgundy towel for my Deep Burgundy shade! I just sort of gop it on and whoosh it around until my hair is completely saturated and this sometimes leaves a bit of a mess. If any color gets on my hand towel, lol, maybe I won't notice! (Update: After careful inspection, there are no stains on my towel!)
So, now yuo got to see my hair when I let it go and just don't bother coloring or doing anything. (Not that I ever do a whole lot to my hair anyway!) I have a pretty simple, carefree style and I don't recall the last time I even brushed it! I just put hair paste or putty in my hair, whoosh it around, make it spiky and I'm all set! This does require a lot of texturizing and a lot of haircuts since my hair tends to grow extremely fast. Sometimes, I can't get to the salon for my usual 3 to 4 week haircut and my stick straight hair doesn't go where I want it to, so, I'm left with just hair that I can hold back with barrettes or small clips. (I am always in search of clips and barrettes so, if anybody knows of any cute ones, please comment and let me know!!)
Let the coloring begin!
I waited a few extra weeks to bother with color when I learned about this campaign through Crowdtap. I was literally freaking out but, managed to survive with this gray hair long enough for my box of Garnier Color Sensation hair color to arrive so I could quickly hide all of this!
Of course it didn't take much to figure out. If you have used one hair color kit, you have used them all, eh? Not so fast! Garnier Color Sensation is even more simplified and I swear, an insanely busy mom who doesn't even get to pee by herself, had to have written the instructions for this! It's all very easy: Put on your gloves. Open bottle A, open tube B, pour tube B into bottle A, mix, use immediately, saturate hair, leave on for 25 minutes, add water, make suds, rinse, add conditioner, rinse, dry. That's all we need to know, really. If you are a hair color instruction writer, please take note!
I did all of these things and I am sorta sloppy since I am always in a rush. Even when I don't necessarily have to be. But, us moms know that if we try to relax or sit down, somebody will need a snack, chocolate milk, help wiping a nose, or all of your kids will start fighting inside their Minecraft worlds! I have just learned over the years to always act and react like I am in a marathon and I am in first place and my life depends on me winning that race! So, this fast hair color preparation is a perfect fit for me!
I set the oven timer, since I live in the kitchen. (No really, I DO live in the kitchen.) I have a really cool office setup, thanks to my husband. 2 office desks, 2 desktop computers, a fancy light, flashy keyboard, mouse, the whole deal! But, if I sit down, all I hear is, "MOM! Blah blah hit me and blah blah fruit snacks, toast, cut my pizza, I spilled milk, I need scissors, STOP TAKING OVER MY WORLD!, I need help with the bathroom wipes and can you wipe my butt?" It's ridiculous to even think about sitting anywhere else but right here, in the middle of it all. I can keep my eye on everybody and everything and I can jump at the drop of a dime and make sure everybody has what they need out here. So, I have a mini office. Right here at the corner of the table. It has my laptop, lots of tablets, a binder, agendas, pens, paperwork from school, just everything I need in one section, all organized. (But so terribly annoying!) When do we get at least an hour of our lives back?
In the time you read the above paragraphs, your timer went off and you can grab a towel and start adding water to make those colorful suds appear! Oh, I do have to mention how much of a difference Garnier Color Sensation hair color's scent is, when compared to well, almost every other hair color I have ever used! There are no itchy, watery, burning eyes. No dyed nails because your scalp itches from time to time and you didn't think to grab an extra pair of gloves. It is just a light, pleasant scent. It doesn't even feel like you have hair color in! (It is indeed, recommended to check for allergic reactions, stains, and all of those other things that suck.) Just be sure to test everything out before jumping in!
I used the burgundy towel just in case it stained everything, which it didn't! I also used the kitchen sink, (my home.) and the big, purple, blobs in the sink just wiped away instantly. Really though, I draped the towel around me figuring some would start dripping out of my short hair. (I tend to dump the whole bottle of color in my short hair, just so I don't waste it!) But, it didn't drip. The only thing that sort of, kind of annoyed me, was that somehow, my fingernails were dyed along with my hair. I will take some of the blame for this, however, I have seen better gloves in hair color kits. Maybe Garnier will work on this? Maybe it's just me? I don't know. I did check for any slits, holes, anything but, alas, they were still intact at the end. I guess a good idea would be to invest in a box of your own back up gloves anyway. I should do this and I often think of it because I have a few brands I use and 1 brand in particular, has almost invisible gloves that are already coming apart when I open the box and once your hand is inside, it comes straight out the other end! (No, not Garnier and yes, this comes from a well known brand.)
The gloves are my only "negative" experience with Garnier Color Sensation hair color kits. Everything else was on par with being a classy hair color kit that is especially great for busy people, mom or not.
Onto my results!!
I tried to make my hair as messy as before so that you could see that Garnier held up to their word. 100% GRAY COVERAGE! Yes, indeed, it IS 100% gray coverage. I have since went for a haircut and my hairdresser will vouch for this. She adores this color and was pretty surprised that this came from a box that anybody can buy! (I think she may end up trying this herself by the way she was talking!)
I had a couple of issues with my cell phone over the past week and I lost a lot of pictures and I will update as soon as my apps are done updating in my replacement phone I just received. I am annoyed that these SIM cards don't seem to do much of anything when I thought that my pictures that didn't make it to my cloud before my phone turned off and never started back up. But, hopefully you can see the difference in this photo!
Have you used Garnier Color Sensation hair color? What shade would you suggest?