£5, 150ml, Boots.com
A few months back, I was blonde and wanting to experiment with fun wash-in wash-out dyes when I heard about Bleach London via Instagram. It didn’t take much convincing but I had to decide between pink or purple. At the time, Bleach were selling a dark purple shade which eventually got recalled due to it dying hair a yucky greeny colour. So glad I decided against that and went for Rose pink.
I’ve never been any good at self-dying and have had ‘vegetable dyes’ which I’ve found to be very messy in the past (Directions, Manic Panic etc). So I was very glad to see that this was more of a conditioner consistency which made applying very easy.
I tipped the dye in a plastic bowl, bit by bit, which made it easier to ‘scoop’ up (you definitely want to wear gloves as it doesn’t seem like it would cause much skin staining but believe me it does). I parted my hair into three layers and just worked the dye through with my fingers. Once I was happy with the coverage I let the next layer down and did the same. Once it was covered I checked that there were no spots that looked thin with dye and left it to dry. It goes quite ‘crunchy’ as it dries and can leave a pink ‘dust’ if it rubs on anything. It also goes very vibrant, a couple of shades brighter than it actually is when washed off.
It’s recommended you leave on for 15 minutes but because it contains no bleach or damaging ingredients I would leave it on for anywhere between 30 and 45 minutes. Just so I knew it had all ‘hardened off’.
After then, I would simply rinse off as normal. I didn’t have to condition my hair as a) I would only apply it on clean hair (so after I’d washed and dried it) and b) it left my hair feeling incredibly soft and smooth.
It says it lasts between 2-10 washes. I wash my hair 3 times a week and I’d say the colour had almost completely gone within 3 weeks. It depends on how obvious/pink you want it. I found myself re-dying after 10 days or so if I knew I wanted it for several occasions. But as a one-off, it would work just as well. (I have heard that blue/green shades are not as easy to fade or get rid of totally). I also heard that adding dye to your conditioner and applying it every time could sustain the colour for longer. So I mixed some Hot Pink Crazy Colour with a white conditioner (TRESemme Repair). However, I didn’t really feel like this had much effect. It turns out now that Bleach actually sell a shampoo and conditioner to coincide with their Rose Pink dye. If only they had thought of that when I was using their products..
My hair between dying, at the awkward pink/peach/blonde stage (and plenty of root regrowth).
So, how can you make your Super Cool Colour fade if you’ve had enough? Bleach London Washing Out Liquid (£5, 500ml, Boots) is how. I purchased a bottle of this encase I seriously hated my decision but have to say I only used it twice, when I was in the awkward strawberry-blonde phase and I had events coming up that I wanted ‘normal’ hair for. It’s a very strange consitency, very thick and glue-like. But as it’s not designed to be an everyday shampoo, it’s not a problem. And it really works. Don’t expect immediate results but using every other wash (as well as normal shampoo – well I did), the colour does eventually fade.
And finally, to add my to my personal Bleach London review, I’d like to add the Bleach London Silver shampoo and conditioner (£5, 250ml, Boots). I used these before using the Rose Pink when I was trying to get my hair less brassy so the pink didn’t go too peachy. I have to say, I think I used them two or three times as I just hated what they did to my hair, especially the shampoo as you can tell by the amount left in the bottle. I know silver shampoos can dry your hair out as I’ve used others in the past but my hair felt so wirey, even before I’d dried it. Unfortunately, I can’t really comment on their effects because of this.
Having a look around, I now see that Bleach have released many more products since I used their dye; from dry shampoos, hair masks, split end serums and colour protect washes. I struggle to see past the ‘fun’ element of their products and therefore I’m not sure if I’ll totally invest in their hair-care range, but will quite possibly experiment with their colours again in the future.
Robynne. 