La Riche Directions

**afu** · April 23rd, 2012, 05:13 AM

I've bought some La Riche Directions hair colour (colour: white toner) and aim to use it on Thursday.

I was just wondering if anyone can share any experiences of this product (any colour) and also if anyone has any tips. Did you use it exactly as directed, how long did the colour last, how much did you need to use for your hair length/thickness, did you notice any damage, did you condition after rinsing off? etc

Any comments would be great, good or bad

**furnival** · April 23rd, 2012, 05:22 AM

I use it in a purply colour and I've found that it works better applied on dry hair and left for ages. There are a couple of threads on it-

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/...ght=directions
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/...ght=directions
Hope that helps!

**afu** · April 23rd, 2012, 05:47 AM

ooh thank you

I must be a total idiot with the search function :s

**metricfuture** · April 23rd, 2012, 05:52 AM

Depending on how light your hair is, you might want to do a strand test on an inconspicuous piece of hair if you're using the toner (it gave my hair a greyish lavender cast once when I left it on too long, but my hair was very bleached and VERY light at the time). I found it pretty conditioning on it's own, but a friend of mine used to mix it with a bit of her regular conditioner, both to stretch it out, and to minimize the chance of over saturating the color. Oh, and thanks for posting this, I was trying to remember the name of this stuff last week in another thread!

**afu** · April 23rd, 2012, 06:32 AM

Originally Posted by metricfuture

Depending on how light your hair is, you might want to do a strand test on an inconspicuous piece of hair if you're using the toner (it gave my hair a greyish lavender cast once when I left it on too long, but my hair was very bleached and VERY light at the time). I found it pretty conditioning on it's own, but a friend of mine used to mix it with a bit of her regular conditioner, both to stretch it out, and to minimize the chance of over saturating the color. Oh, and thanks for posting this, I was trying to remember the name of this stuff last week in another thread!

Thank you

I'm not sure if its worth doing a strand test as my hair isn't all one colour so i'd have to do quite a lot of them, my hair ranges from nearly white where bleached to a darker blonde where natural. I quite like the grey look

How long did you leave yours on for? and did you clarify first?

**metricfuture** · April 23rd, 2012, 06:42 AM

I used it on clean, dry hair, but didn't clarify first (this was long before I knew what the heck that was

). The time it turned that color, It was on for at least 2-3 hours. Long enough to dry, as I didn't bother covering it. I actually really liked the color it ended up, until my roots starting coming in (I'm a natural redhead and orange+greyish lavender just, erm, don't look so great together).

**afu** · April 23rd, 2012, 06:48 AM

Originally Posted by metricfuture

I used it on clean, dry hair, but didn't clarify first (this was long before I knew what the heck that was

). The time it turned that color, It was on for at least 2-3 hours. Long enough to dry, as I didn't bother covering it. I actually really liked the color it ended up, until my roots starting coming in (I'm a natural redhead and orange+greyish lavender just, erm, don't look so great together).

hmm, yeah i can imagine that wouldn't be the most desirable combination! I think i might try it on damp hair as i often find it difficult to distribute products though dry hair. Are you thinking of going back to it then?

**metricfuture** · April 23rd, 2012, 08:07 AM

Nah, the upkeep on my roots was far more effort than I'm willing to contend with anymore, and I've made peace with my natural color. Also, that stuff is absurdly hard to come by in the US now. Back when I was using it, about 14 years ago (my word, has it been that long?!?), you could get it everywhere. Manic Panic stopped distributing it, and came out with their own formula over here, and I haven't seen it since (other than online, of course). But I'd still recommend it 100%, most conditioning, best texture, and best color payoff of any offbeat hair coloring that I've ever used.

**afu** · April 23rd, 2012, 08:20 AM

Thanks so much for your comments and advice

It's quite easy to come by here - i got mine from amazon because i had gift credit to use, but I know of a shop in our town which sells it so will use them in future if im happy with it. Did you apply with a tinting brush? I can never deal with all that faffing so will prob just put some gloves on and do it by hand. I guess it wouldn't harm a tangle teezer? (im not worried about staining it)

**red-again** · April 26th, 2012, 07:14 AM

Directions is sold under the Jerome Russell 'punky colour' name in the US. You may have better / more search results to wade through if you look for that name too.