L'Oreal Natural Match

My overall rating

I did all the right things, I researched online for 2 days trying to find out what hair color worked best, I even went to the Loreal website to find " my perfect match " :D . I have naturally dirty blonde hair but it has been highlighted to a crisp...   +

I did all the right things, I researched online for 2 days trying to find out what hair color worked best, I even went to the Loreal website to find " my perfect match " :D . I have naturally dirty blonde hair but it has been highlighted to a crisp and the top was pretty much all blonde, I wanted to just get back to my roots and have the same color all over, and not have to fry my hair anymore with blonde. Loreal's website said 7N was for me. I indicated I wanted NO red or orangey tones WHATSOEVER, I wanted a nice, shiny, healthy dark blonde color. Well I went and bought the product, on sale for $15 at walgreens. I have been scarred from former attempts at hair dye so I did my first strand test just to be sure it wouldn't be too dark. The strand test came out pretty good, the color wasn't too dark so I proceeded to apply to the top half of my head, since the underside is my natural color unfried and I wanted to avoid any more damage. As my hair was processing, I was in close contact with my mirror, looking for any signs of haircolor going awry, any signs of red or orange, and to make sure it wasn't going too dark. I thought I saw a hint of brassyness and my heart began to sink... the time was up and I went and washed out the color and applied the conditioner ( which is pretty good and left my hair pretty soft and smelling good). But as I combed out my hair I could already see the brassy red, orangey tint over my entire head.... not again... How could this happen? It specifically said there would be no red, brassy, orange tones. And I'm staring in the mirror at exactly what it promised not to do. So I blowdry, this time not in front of the mirror, hoping a miracle will cause the brassy tones to leave with the blow out. No such luck. And as my hair flies in front of my face I see the contrast of the mousey, muddy color with the brassy shine against my pale skin. I'm afraid to look in the mirror. When I do, I see a muddy looking, totally un-natural dull color with brassy-red tones. I compare the top of my hair to the underside and wish that it would have been without the red, and been a richer color instead of mud brown-red. So I go online and find more reviews of the product and feel better that most people said the color doesn't last long. It's been about a week now, using suave daily clarifying shampoo twice in a row washing my hair everyday and most of the natural match is gone, so some product eh? Good thing I wasn't trying to cover greys. It actually looks good now because almost all the brassy tones are gone, and most of my highlights have popped out making the muddy wig-looking hair- more natural looking. It's almost the color that I wanted now and I'm not going another thing to my hair for two reasons, 1) it NEVER turns out like they say 2) I'll probably end up bald because my poor damaged hair has been through enough.
If you're using natural match to cover greys, save your money- they'll be back in week.
If you want to have natural looking hair, save your money- it's a disgusting flat mousey muddy color that NO ONE can natually have.
If you want lasting color, save your money- THANK GOODNESS for me it doesn't last and will wash out normally in about 2 weeks. I sped mine up shampooing twice a day.
If you want to look like the picture on the box, keep dreaming, it's not even close.
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