A little while back I was invited to high tea at the Ritz Carlton to learn about a new innovation from John Frieda that, as a chick with coloured hair, I was extremely, extremely excited to learn about. We all love the feeling of a freshly-dyed head of hair – your colour looks fantastic and your mane feels healthy and shiny. And then the unavoidable happens – washing, heat styling and damage take over and you notice your beautiful colour start to slowly fade away. As a faux-redhead, I have a huge problem with colour fading – it’s basically impossible to avoid but I try my best to prevent it from happening. Cue the new John Frieda Colour Refreshing Gloss ($12.99 CAD) – a serial dyer’s best friend.
So, what is it exactly? The John Frieda Colour Refreshing Gloss is meant to be a supplement to be your regular hair colouring routine. Designed to be used as a weekly “at-home-salon” treatment, it promises to refresh your look in between dyes for a boost in colour and shine. Don’t get this confused with a dye though – it’s not going to change your hair colour (oh, and it’s ammonia and peroxide free!). It moreso helps to restore the look of your hair post-dye by helping to re-add the pigments that are typically washed out after colouring. The John Frieda team put a lot of research into this to ensure there were different option available to suit the needs of different hair colours: Warm Blondes (adds golden tones), Cool Blondes (Neutralizes brassiness), Warm Reds (Adds fiery copper tones), Cool Reds (Adds vivid red tones), Warm Brunettes (Adds rich chocolate tones), and Cool Brunettes (Eliminates red-orange tones).
The directions are simple: “After shampooing and conditioning hair, squeeze out excess water from hair. Dispense a quarter-sized amount of product into hand and spread from root through entire length of hair. Repeat process 3-5 times to ensure middle to ends of hair are evenly saturated with gloss. Wash hands with soap. Leave gloss on for at least 3 minutes, then rinse. Use gloss weekly to keep colour fresh.” You may notice I emphasized “wash hands with soap.” This stuff does have some pigmentation to it, and as with hair dye (at least from my experience with red), it can stain. Granted, the staining that comes from this is much more mild but yes, wash your hands after using it! And be careful not to get it on your shower curtain as it will do the same.
And now, on to the million dollar queston. Does it work? I am happy to report that from my experience so far (with the Cool Red shade) I have seen results. Although they aren’t drastic (once again – this isn’t a dye), I noticed more brightness in my colour and my hair really is shinier after using it. I also noticed my hair seems to “plump” up a bit after a treatment, much like it does after I dye, which I love. And just to prove that I wasn’t the only one who noticed a difference, after using it for the first time my boyfriend asked if I had just dyed my hair (it was done 2.5 weeks prior) – chalk one up for team John Frieda. I’m definitely going to continue using this on a weekly basis to help prolong the life of my colour. I can’t attest to the other shades, but as a “redhead” this stuff has found a permanent home in my shower.
Have you tried John Frieda Colour Refreshing Gloss? What do you think?
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