John Frieda is our third brand of foam hair color we have reviewed here at Glambo. (See
L'Oreal Sublime Mousse and
Clairol Nice N Easy posts.) This is our overall favorite of the foams so far, with one exception:
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The color shown on the box is misleading and does not match the end result on the hair. The black and white photo on the front may seem more artsy, but it is not helpful when picking a color for your strands. The John Frieda Foam Precision Hair Colour is usually found in a separate section near the shelves of other hair color brands. At first, we thought it was just the store lighting, and we actually purchased a brown-black color. Knowing that anything with the name 'black' is going to be super dark, it was later exchanged for 4BG Dark Chocolate Brown. We had to rely heavily on the name versus the pictures shown on the box. At least for the brunettes, the John Frieda foam colors will dye your hair darker than what is shown. The best indicator we found is the photo on the side of the box. (See Photo Below, but even her hair looks highlighted to us.) Plan on spending some time in the store selecting a box to take home.
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Once the stress of actually picking a color was behind us, we opened the box to see the contents and read the directions. We were pleasantly impressed. John Frieda seems to be going for more of a high-end look. We like the thicker gloves and the fact that we didn't have to peel them off of the directions. These have a surgeon's style tighter fit to them. The bottle of conditioner looks like a travel size that you might pick up at a beauty supply store.
One thing to note when preparing to color with John Frieda Precision Foam is that you do not shake the bottle to mix the color. The sticker is a great last minute reminder for the do-it-yourself hair color pros who are accustomed to the shake!shake!shake! It mixed well after tilting the bottle 5 times as per the directions.
It's recommended to dispense a tennis ball size amount of color into your hand to apply to the hair. Do not squeeze the contents of the bottle directly onto the hair in order to ensure even application.
The foam did not drip, although it will definitely stain if it gets on your skin or countertops. Don't get spoiled and lazy by the ease of application and look for drops that may have spattered. We had a lock of hair graze an arm, and it left it's dark mark. There is an ammonia smell that will make itself known a few times throughout the coloring process, so don't be surprised by that. After all the anxiety over color selection, we noticed that the inside flap of the box has the color listed so that you can cut that tab and save it for future reference. That is a great, much needed bit of assistance.
We used this product twice. It was applied once to my own hair, and the second time, we tried 5B Medium Chocolate Brown on another model with white /grey roots. The coverage for resistant greys was good, but not perfect. We have yet to find an at-home hair color that is, and will be shouting from the roof-tops when we do. We were correct in our assumption that the actual hair color is darker than the pictures and are glad we took our time finding the right color. Overall, John Frieda Precision Foam Colour is a good buy, once you determine the best shade for you. It is easy to apply, and it colors well without overly drying the hair. This foam hair color gets a Glambo Kiss on the Cheek.
