HerbaShine Nourishing Color Creme: I Never Learn, Do I?

MelBivDevoe

After my last post on hair dye, I basically vowed not to use anything but foam hair color in the future.   I figured there was no reason to go back to traditional hair dyes and put myself through all that misery again.

Then I went shopping.  And, lo and behold, my local Target had Garnier Herbashine hair dye on sale for $3 a box.  Rational MelBiv immediately thought of all the things I hated about regular hair dye - the drips, the stains, the horrible smell, and so on.  Then Frugal MelBiv chimed in, "But it's only $3!"  Rational MelBiv countered with, "It's from Garnier.  We haven't had much luck with their products."  But then Frugal MelBiv shouted "$3!!!!" I think you know who won that argument.


Sometimes I really hate it when that bitch wins.

HerbaShine did nothing to convince me to go back to using regular hair dye.  Applying it wasn't as easy as the foam - the dye didn't saturate my head very easily and did not cover all of my hair.  I should have bought two boxes, because I ended up with the top layers of my head dyed and the bottom layers are still red from my last dye job.  It looks ok when my hair is down, but when I pull the top layers up and back, you see that the bottom layers were barely touched at all.  And while I managed not to drip any dye onto my clothing or the sink, I did end up smearing some on the wall and light switch.  But I can't blame Garnier for my own clumsiness.  

HerbaShine is ammonia-free, which is good, but it still stinks horribly.  Even after using the conditioner, I still stank like a walking hair salon the next day at work.  It was awful - every time I inhaled, I could smell the stench wafting from my head.  The color isn't that great, either.  It's a soft black, according to the box, but it looks darker than the picture on the box.  And it's a flat color.

On the plus side, my hair looks pretty shiny.  In fact, the day after I dyed it, one of my coworkers actually said to me, "Your hair looks so healthy and shiny!" which is either a nice compliment on the dye job or a slam on how my hair usually looks.  I'm leaning towards compliment.  According to Garnier, the shine is due to the bamboo extract in the dye, and I'd have to agree that it has given my hair a nice sheen.  Also according to them, HerbaShine is the ONLY hair dye with bamboo extract.  Which is a nice selling point, but overall, not enough for me to really proclaim it as an excellent hair color. 

Hopefully, the dye will wash out quickly and I can go back to using foam color again.  And perhaps now I've learned my lesson: no more regular hair dye for me.  For real this time.  Even if it's ridiculously cheap.  I remain unimpressed with Garnier's products.

ETA:  It's been two weeks since I colored my hair, and the black is washing out already.  My last dye job is STILL showing under the black as it washes out.  That's just ridiculous.  No wonder this stuff was on sale - it's awful!

HerbaShine retails for around $6.50 online from stores like Walmart and is available in stores as well (prices vary).  I give it 4 out of 8 tentacles - there are better products out there.

Rating: 4/8 tentacles