I’ve finally given L’Oreal Paris Prodigy Hair Colour a go – it takes a great deal to make me stray from Olia but with the whisper that amonia free Prodigy is the next generation Olia, I had to give it a try.
I tried an amonia based dye last year and still can’t get over how toxic it felt – my eyes streamed and I was literally coughing. The result was great but the user experience was awful. Olia has no amonia – it doesn’t even feel like ‘proper’ hair dye to be honest. L’Oreal Paris Prodigy Hair Colour, although it has no amonia, still somehow had a chemical kick to it, scent wise, although after the dye had been washed out, my hair smelled vaguely floral.
If you’re already used to dyeing your hair, then it’s a pretty standard format – tip the developer into a pot with the colour cream – the pot with Prodigy has a long, fine neck so that you can section your hair and get the product right into the roots. Unless you have the shortest of hair, this never really works because you end up spraying dye everywhere when you flick your hair. So, personally, I go around the front and sides of my hair with the fine nozzle, and then literally just moosh in the rest as evenly as I possibly can.
It takes half an hour to develop and then you rinse away as normal. There was a slight fail right at the end when I couldn’t get the lid off the conditioner – still haven’t been able to with dry hands and a tea towel! I used a Pantene conditioner instead because that was all that I had to hand standing in the shower with gloves on.
I chose shade Sienna, a natural dark mahogany brown. The big sell on L’Oreal Paris Prodigy Hair Colour is that it gives a multi-tonal result from micro-oils. I think I would say that coverage is excellent – no patchiness at all. There’s a reddish tone to the colour I chose and I can definitely see that my hair is not one flat, block colour. All greys were covered. However, multi-tone might be a bit of an over-statement. My hair isn’t really the kaleidoscope of tones that the packaging implies it might be. The shine, for post-dyed hair (with a kerfuffle over the conditioner) is pretty good – better, I think, than Olia gives.
All in all, I would say that L’Oreal Paris Prodigy Hair Colour is an excellent dye – super-simple to use and impressive results, leaving soft feeling locks and good shine. I’d use it again – but might wrestle the conditioner lid off BEFORE getting in the shower!
L’Oreal Paris Prodigy Hair Colour is £7.99 HERE.
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9 comments
I haven’t died my hair in around 4 years, back in the days where you had to choke yourself with chemicals to die your hair! It’s definitely tempting to try a dye with no amonia!
Stephanie
http://missstephanieusher.blogspot.co.uk/
http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/3436251
xxxx
I spotted that in Boots the other day and wondered if it was just L’Oreal’s version of Olia. Good review and just in time as I’m going to DIY my hair colour for a bit.
Oooh looks interesting. Are you going to carry on using it? Or go back to Olia next time?
Too soon to say! I think if it lasts better than Olia, I will stick with Prodigy.
How did you find it lasted Jane? Have you reused it or did you go back to Olia?
The last was good – I think I will probably always go back to Olia, but I was really pleased with the result from Prodigy. x
It’s the only at-home-dye I’ve used (and I’ve tried most of them) that works on my stubborn grey hairs so I’m seriously impressed with it because of that alone. I did my hair with it about 4 weeks ago and the colour hasn’t faded. I’ve already bought another box for next time.
Alex x http://www.iheartbeauty.net
I tried this a couple of weeks back & really liked it. It actually covered my greys, unlike the Olia, but I didn’t notice the multi-tones of the colour. It’s still a lovely shade though!
And like you, I couldn’t get the lid off the conditioner…it’s still sat unopened in my shower!
I really liked this, the colour was amazing and it was really easy to use, but my grey hair defeated it and it was patchy. Looked like I was wearing a bad wig. Maybe not!