Review (4/5): Not bad
I'm surprised by all the bad reviews of this product. I had a pretty good experience with it overall. I liked the foam application and the color is very nice. It burned my scalp a bit, which is not unusual for me with permanent hair color (I did not do the allergy test beforehand). It seemed to dry my hair, but I have dry hair to begin with and all permanent colors seem kind of harsh. I prefer semi-perm colors, but my hair is getting too gray to use those any longer. After I used the conditioner with this product and my hair dried, it looked fine, shiny even. I thought it did a pretty good job of coloring my gray.
Some of the bad reviewers sound like they are new to hair coloring. I learned years ago that you have to go with a lighter shade than you think you need. The first time I colored my hair Medium Brown, it came out looking black, and I had to wait several months to grow it out and let it fade before I could try again. When I called the L'Oreal (or Clairol, I don't remember which) help line, they told me that I should have used a lighter color. I don't know why this isn't spelled out more clearly in the instructions, but they seem to think that you should know that already. If you're new to coloring your own hair, you might want to call one of the help lines first, or experiment with semi-perm colors. I would describe my hair as Medium Brown, but I use light brown or even a dark blonde hair color. "Brown" or "Golden Brown" will have reddish tones; if you don't want any red, try an "Ash" color.
I used the Light Golden Brown with this product and it came out as almost (but not quite) Auburn, which is what I was shooting for. I think it's a very nice, natural looking color. I may alternate with semi-perm colors to try to save my hair from turning to straw, but I will probably use the product again.