Natural Instincts Spiced Tea
I have decided to try to stop coloring my hair with permanent color and use a demi permanent instead. This is suppose to be healthier for your hair since there is very little lightening of the hair. My hair has a bit of grey (20%) but my main problem is that my formerly medium auburn color has gotten dark over the years. Almost like a medium brown now. This is the problem with coloring - once you start it is hard to stop! I have been dying it red or using a blond permanent color on it which brings out the red.
Yesterday I tried Clairol’s Natural Instincts in Spiced Tea (#16). There are not a lot of colors to choose from. The 2 demi permanent products on the market seem to be Color Spa and NI so the choices are limited.
My hair came out very red. Purply red. My husband actually referred to it as “Ronald McDonald” hair. I think the reason it came out so intense was my fault. I applied the color all over my hair then started timing and kept it on for the full 20 minutes. I have since read on Makeup Alley boards that it is best to start timing when you start the application.
I think that the color will tone down within a few days. The last time I used a red color the same thing happened and within a week it was a gorgeous red. I can get red by just lightening my hair without the purply hue but since demi permanents don’t lighten I am forced to use a red.
This product took a long time to rinse out of my hair - much longer than a permanent color. Deep purple stuff everywhere in my bathroom!
I am not sure if I will use again next month or just go back to a permanent lightening color. I might use a different NI color - more of a brownish with red or golden tones. I am beginning to like my shorter hair so if I decide to keep my hair no longer than my shoulders or collarbone then I might just keep with the permanent color.
Overall I would highly recommend this product. Just make sure to not keep it on too long. I am too lazy to do a strand test - dumb huh?! My hair did feel horrible when I first rinsed this out but after applying the wonderful conditioner that came with the product it felt fine. I rinsed for a long time then applied the conditioner and I noticed that I still had purple dripping from my hair so I rinsed somemore and reapplied the conditioner. I think that helped to get the product out also.
