La Riche Directions

[afu]

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]

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/showthread.php?t=42045&highlight=directions
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=89058&highlight=directions
Hope that helps! :)

[afu]

ooh thank you :) I must be a total idiot with the search function :s

[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!

[afu]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.

[afu]

thanks for the tip red-again :) my directions arrived in the post yesterday so i'm going to try it tonight.
Metricfuture: the time when you left it on for a few hours and got a purpley colour - how long did it take for the purple to fade?

[metricfuture]

It actually never completely faded, but I was only washing it about once a week (it was in pretty rough shape at the time), and by the time my roots started showing (around 6 weeks or so), it was much closer to white than the purple/grey. It just stood out more because of the contrast, I think.

[afu]

ah ok, thanks. just trying to work out how long to leave it on - might play on the safe side and go for an hour

[afu]

So i tried it out and left it on for about an hour, unfortunatly not much happened :( i'm very disappointed. Next time i'll try leaving it much longer. not keen to to try again just yet due to the need to clarify - my hair hates shampoo with a passion!

[Amethyste]

Do you have a mean to apply heat on your hair while the product is on?I use Manic Panic and I am under the hard hat dryer for 1 hour.. After 2 weeks, the color is still going strong!

[afu]

it doesnt say to apply heat but i think next time i'll try it and also leave it longer. thanks for the advice