Bad Experience

First, if anyone has tried to email me, my mailbox has gone crazy, so please excuse if I haven't answered.

In my continuing quest to cover grey hair yet not got a flat, blah color, I did the following strand tests.
Excellence Light Auburn--spells nice, covers grey but very boring looking.

Garnier Nutrisse--as soon as I applied the test mixture to the test area which is the grey at the right temple, my right eye starting to tear from the fumes of the peroxide. It got better when I went and sat in the kitchen under a nice fan and stopped tearing. The color was very nice, bright auburn brown, but I am concerned about the immediate effect the fumes gave on my hair.

It didn't happen with the Excellence mix, nor with any other I've had put on my hair over the years. Only once, when a colorist tried to dab my eyebrows with the color she was using on my hair, I cried out because my eyes immediately started to tear something awful and burn like crazy. Of course she took it off ASAP. But the hair near my eyes didn't seem to have any effect.

I would call Garnier but they are closed for the weekend.

My question: What could cause one brand to not have an effect on my eyes and another to immediately cause them to water and burn? Of course, I could retry the Garnier by doing the test in the open kitchen area with the fan going and windows open. But why the difference? I thought the developer was basically the same on these products.

Again, any comments, advice etc. would be helpful. My hair is such a nice rainbow of colors. Keeps people guessing. Now the current trend is to have different colors throughout the hair. I knew if I waited long enough my hair colors would come back in style! Besides, the grey on both temples is completely covered. That's a start, anyway.

I think the oils are added separately, because when doing a strand test just the color and developer are mixed together.

I called Garnier this morning and explained my unhappy incident. The woman told me that even different brands of the same line are compounded differently and that is why one must do testing before a complete application. She was concerned that I was doing strand tests on my head, but this is done only after doing the skin allergy test first, and only on a small amount of strands.

Garnier is sending me a refund check because I cannot use their product. Wasn't expecting that! Still, it's disappointing because there is nothing but good said about the line on this and other boards.

Thanks for replying.

Hi GG...I'm guessing that it wasn't the peroxide that made your eyes water, but the ammonia. Most permanent color has ammonia..... some brands more than others and lighter levels more than lower levels.

If your skin patchtest was ok, you could try this.
Put the color in an open bowl and mix it....as opposed to a closed bottle. Mix it with the developer and let it sit for a few minutes, to release some of the ammonia fumes...don't wait too long though, because the ammonia is what helps the color penetrate the grey hair.

Or, have you already tried the Natural Instincts?? I know it's not a "permanent color".....But many times it will blend and cover grey very nicely without the ammonia and dammage to the cuticle.

Just some thoughts

If you can cover or blend gray to your satisfaction with a semi or demi...then by ALL means you should try to go that route.

I have not used permanent color to cover (deposit only) gray hair for 8 to 10 years, since demi's came out. And who ever he was, (in the article) he was right.

If the natural instincts was too dark and leaving too much pigment in your hair go with a lighter tone. Or mix a light and dark together to come up with just the right color.

A permanent color will fade and have to be retouched (in most cases), just as many times as a demi....the big difference is less damage with the semi or demi.