DIY Hair Colouring with John Frieda Precision Foam Colour

These days, the lastest in home hair colouring isn't just about brilliant shiny colours. it's about ease-of-use and salon quality results.

This has lead to innovation with hair dye kits that come in the mouse or foam formats. That’s right, no longer is the liquid hair dyes cool – it’s now hip to be whipped so to speak (only if you are a hair dye anyway - we are not talking Fifty Shades of Grey here).

One of the earlier foam based dye is the Asian Palty Foam Dye. Then last year, Nice'n'Easy came up with the Foam Blend, Schwarzkopf with the Perfect Mousse, L'Oreal Sublime Mousse and now John Fireda has joined the foam dye bandwagon with Precision Foam Colour.

The selling points of foam-based hair dyes are that they're:

• Non-drip so less mess is made on your skin, clothes or the bathroom floor. That said, I'd still use protective clothing to prevent staining your favourite tome
• Stays on hair where  it will coat and colour your hair strand by stand rather than on your clothes to give a more even colouring
• provides ease of application, especailly when trying to access hard-to-reach back of head hair to ensure that you get a more professional looking result
• Are permanent hair colour dyes and provide 100% grey coverage

So when I recently had the chance to try my first foaming hair dye, I thought I'd find out first hand whether it lives up to its promise and expectation. So one week-night, I decided to get in on some DIY hair colouring action.

John Frieda Precision Foam Colour

Easy to mix - CHECK. The mixing of the colourant and activator was just as easy and number coded so you can't go wrong. Just 5 tilts back and forth the bottle (and not shakes because that doesn’t activate the product) and I was ready to squeeze the bottle for foamy goodness into my gloved hands. It was like magic really, because liquid just turned to foam the minute it's squeezed through the dispenser.

Easy to apply - CHECK. I don't colour my hair at home often and when I do, I normally enlist a helping hair but with this foam, there isn't that need. I was able to get to the back of my head without worrying about drips and mess. And as it’s easy to see if the foam was been applied to a particualr section of the hair, I could work out which section still needs to be dyed with foam.

Easy to remove stain - CHECK. One of the reasons I don't like doing my own hair colours is that I'm a klutz. I would get hair dye on my ear and forehead and it would take ages to get the stain off my skin. No drama with John Frieda; with a soapy cloth, I was able to wash off my skin that was stained after application (and waiting for the colour to develop) without too much effort - definitely a bonus for clumsy people like me.

John Frieda foamy hair colour in action

My natural hair colour is black so unless I bleach it, not much colour comes through and I can only go about 3 shades lighter (which is a rich dark chocolate brown shade). I have had colour in my hair for the past year and they were fading so I was hoping the 3VR Deep Cherry Brown shade would show up well.

You are meant to leave the foam after completely after finishing applicatio on your whole head for another 25 minutes. I left it on for 10 minutes longer as my hairdresser always told me my hair is very strong and resistant to colouring so I knew what my colouring limit is. If your hairdresser hasn’t mentioned this to you or you have never had your hair professionally coloured, I advise to stick with the package instruction times.

I also like that there is a generous 50ml tube of highly concentrated hair conditioner. Enough for 3-4 uses after the initial hair dye to keep hair in healthy condition.

Great Colour - Checkity CHECK. The colours vibrant, rich and hair felt soft and silky after colouring. To be honest, it didn't change my natually dark hair too much and I didn't experience dramatic colour transformation. My hair colour went from a warm chestnut brown to a richer reddish brown that showed up quite dark in normal lighting and is brighter red under the sun.

Indoor lighting before and after using  shade 3VR

Given my previous experience with hair colours on my thick black hair, I was more interested interested achieving evenly coloured hair than getting dramatic colour changes without the use of stronger bleach.

The surprising thing is that the hair dye didn't seem to do damage on my hair (low peroxide content). In fact, after using the conditioner, my hair is soft, silky and healthier.

3VR Under the sun - my old highlights gave me  multi tonal hair colour

The Verdict
Would I colour my hair with foam dye again? Absolutely. It gives a professional finish and is cheaper than going to the salon. Don't expect big colour transformation unless you are going darker in colour with this (or any other) hair dye. If you want dramatically lighter hair colour, you will need to use a bleaching hair dye which I will definitely leave to the pros as I don’t want to make a mess and have strands of straw on my head.

So if you are wanting a touch up in between professional hair colourings or you are saving for that new Car/House/Holiday/{insert big spending item}, and need to go down the cheap but not nasty path of at-home hair colouring, then look no further than foam hair dyes.

I haven’t tried many in the current market but John Frieda’s Precision Colour Foam suits me just fine for on-going colour maintanience.

John Frieda Precison Foam Colour is available in 20 shades to suit blondes, redheads and brunettes.
RRP A$22.99 at supermarkets and pharmacies

This featured product was provided for consideration.