Its been so long since I’ve used a tint, I thought I would use one for my roots. Here is my thoughts on Garnier Nutrisse Truly Blonde Super Lightener 111+ Permanent Hair Colour.
Before doing my roots I made a conscious decision I wasn’t going to use bleach this time. In honesty my natural hair colour is a dark/medium ash blonde (With some grey I admit). So, I really don’t need to bleach it and I usually only do as its something I have in and don’t have to go and purchase. However, my blog is really popular for hair dyes (In fact that’s probably how you found this review) and I hadn’t tried this shade (I was going to use L’Oreal Preference Recital Platinum and probably will next time).
Garnier Nutrisse Truly Blonde Super Lightener 111+ has the colour name White Chocolate which gives you the impression its going to be super light creamy blonde. Its labeled as ‘Ultra Light Very Ash Blonde’ which would then give me the impression it was nearer platinum. However, the possible shade results showed a different story. Now, I don’t usually look at the shade results too closely as these results are shown on VIRGIN hair, which means hair that has NEVER HAD A CHEMICAL PROCESS – probably just your root area. Fine for if you are doing your roots like me but not so fine if you are doing a full head and have previous colour there.
This colour does NOT contain bleach or ‘super lightening’ powder sachets like some do, but it is a little stingy on the scalp (It does have the usual ammonia and peroxide and I would think the peroxide is about a 9%/30vol) – So make sure to do a strand test and sensitivity test. Its a pretty normal packaged dye (Colour tube, applicator lotion, gloves, instructions and conditioner). You mix it like you would most box dyes.
Now I left mine on as per the instructions which was 25 minutes I believe, although that was the root area and then I worked it through some of the ‘warmer/golden’ areas for 5 minutes before washing off. I was surprised I admit that a colour that suggests it lifts ‘up to 4.5 tones’ is only left on for 25-30 minutes and this is why I suggest you do a strand test with it – as if your hair is slightly resilient to colour you may need to leave it longer. Also, although this is just a tint its pretty strong, so watch the condition of your hair with the strand test too – although I had no issues with that.
As you can see, I had about 1-2 cm of regrowth and my roots looks dark but actually are around a medium ash blonde (I think it actually looks grey in this pic!). Due to the angle and poor lighting my hair appears darker than it actually is in this image.
Here is the result (I admit this is a week after I did it as the original image was deleted by mistake). Again, the colour looks slightly off here but you can see the root lift.
Here is my actual hair colour in natural light after using the dye, so you can see its a extra light ash blonde. Now, going back to my roots after the application I’m hoping you can see they are slightly ‘golden’. I was extremely annoyed by this. The lift just wasn’t there in my opinion and although I think this is closer to a 9%/30vol colour due to how strong it was, I just didn’t feel the lifting power was there. Now, if I compare this is L’Oreal Preference in Lightest Ash Blonde (Review Here) I would say its pretty crap.
Now to many the colour result may be just what you want. But, I bought this colour with the super light ash blonde result in mind. My hair loves tint and lifts really easily, I’m also not that dark to start with. Yet, my results were just ‘ok’ and nothing more. Yes the colour was really good on my hair condition wise – in fact it felt in better condition after than before I applied the colour! But the result was a little darker than I would have liked. True, it was nothing that some purple shampoo couldn’t sort – but that’s not the point, I shouldn’t have had to remove those golden, brassy tones after using the dye in the first place.
So, in conclusion if you want a colour that does lift really well I would recommend the L’Oreal Preference in Lightest Ash Blonde – however, its pretty strong and can be a little drying. If you aren’t wanting to achieve that SUPER LIGHT BLONDE and just want a blonde shade, then Garnier Nutrisse Truly Blonde Super Lightener 111+ may be the colour for you. I didn’t hate this colour, it was ok and left my hair in very good condition, I was just disappointed with the amount of lift it had on my hair (The root area).
Garnier Nutrisse Truly Blonde Super Lightener 111+ (White Chocolate) Ultra Light Very Ash Blonde costs around £5.49 and is available in my supermarkets, Boots stores (Where I bought mine) and online and Superdrug too.
Lots of Love,
Mel xxxx