Dyed & Tested: John Frieda Precision Foam Dye

I have been a box dye junkie for years. Never happy with my natural colour I have done all sorts from red, to ginger, to black and have settled back into mid-tone browns. For the past year I have used Clairol Perfect 10 and thought I could get no better dye.

Then my fave high-street hair brand John Frieda brought out something different. Foam. Yes that's right, foam.

Beautifully modelled by Molly (she likes to be involved) here is the box I got: 

5N Medium Natural Brown, and it's a permanent colour:

The box itself isn't very big, but still has everything you need in it. Including the mixing solution bottle - don't chuck this around, it's what makes the foam so is super sensitive, then the dye to add, a bottle of conditioner with several applications, the dispenser, instruction leaflet and a stylish pair of lack latex gloves.

Now normally, my sister will dye my hair. But that's when using traditional creme dyes. I went all adventurous and decided to try this out myself. Armed with a dodgy old t-shirt and my forehead smeared with Vaseline, I got the solution prepared. I mixed it all together by gently tipping upside down five times and I was set. Now I was a little concerned there wouldn't be enough as the total solution only fills a third of the bottle. Then I thought well where's this foam eh?

Bring on the dispenser. The science behind creating the foam is when you squeeze the bottle and foam is dispensed, rather than being in the bottle. Then you realise there is a mammoth amount of dye in that bottle. You squeeze out a tennis ball sized amount into your hand and apply in sections. Then you get it all over your head like you used to with bubbles in the bath :)

After 10 mins or so you've built up enough in your hair it all just sits on top of your head like this. No need to worry about clips and drips with this stuff, it just stays put. Once you're done the only downside is the 20minute developing time, so I decided to paint my stubby nails.

At first, I felt my head warming and when coupled with the bubbles popping it's an odd sensation! this stops after a few minutes and you don't even notice you have it on your head.

The part of all this I was most impressed with, was the rinsing. Normally you can spend up to five minutes washing out a creme dye but this stuff was gone in just over a minute, water running clear no word of a lie. Also, I find my hair gets quite dried out by creme's and I can't wait to get the conditioner on it, but my hair already felt like it was conditioned, it was just it's normal softness! This meant I only put on a 'normal' amount of conditioner afterward.

Here are the results:

My hair before and afterwards.

Always comes out darker than on the box, and it is getting lighter with washing since; saying that I didn't get tonnes more dye coming out on subsequent washes, bargain!

Of course Moll was always on hand in case of any disasters :) Final observation was that all the bits from the box actually went back into the box neatly and you could close it back up again! Been a while since I could do that!

John Frieda Precision Foam comes in 20 different shades which you can see here. It's available at all good Supermarkets and Drugstores and as it's new it's on offer it quite a few places at the moment so price varies £4-£8 so have a good look around first!

Overall rating: wow/10

NB: I was not asked to write this review and purchased the product with my own money. All opinions are honest and my own and I am not affiliated with John Frieda in anyway. Other than being a dye-hard fan (ha, dye, get it?!)