I ran a poll on Facebook and Twitter asking if you’d prefer to read about my Sasa.com saga or my Kao Liese Bubble Hair Color experience. Clearly Liese won 🙂
Its been a while since I said I’d colour my hair with the Liese Bubble Hair Colour chosen by majority. The colour chosen by majority vote was Mocha Orange – a colour I was a little concerned with because i wasn’t sure if it would be too warm or, horrors! Turn out orange like on the box!
Before I tell you how this experiment went, let me tell you about my one and only home hair colour experience many years ago. The intention was to colour my hair black. My old hair colour was a light blond brown and i wanted to go back to my natural color without going back to the salon and paying a mint. I bought a box of color and with my mom’s help got down to business. Long and short of it is that I ended up with purple black splotches on my face and back of my neck and a headful of colour that kept staining my towels and pillow case. I never coloured my hair at home again.
Until last weekend when i found myself free to do it. So Kao Liese Bubble Hair colour in hand I got down to business.
The box gives you everything you need – 1. colour, 2. activator, 3. nozzle, 4. rubber gloves and 5. leave in lotion.
The box we get here gives you the full instructions in English but if your box only shows Japanese writing you can’t read, here’s how to do it.
- Pour the small bottle of colour into the big bottle. Cover it and turn the bottle up and down about 2-3 times. Do not shake it just upturn it to mix it up.
- Remove the cap and fix the pink nozzle on.
- Wear the rubber gloves, head to the bathroom and get started!
- Squeeze the body of the bottle and the nozzle will squirt out foam or mousse. Apply this on DRY hair. Repeat till all your hair is covered.
- Once all your hair is covered with foam, massage in the foam to the roots and throughout your head. This is to ensure you have even color. As you massage it in you might notice that it foams up a bit more – for me anyway, rather like how it is when you shampoo your hair.
- Leave it for about 20-30 minutes. I left it for 30 minutes and then rinsed it out and shampooed. The box has a sachet of leave in hair treatment to help your hair stay soft.
For my short hair I used only slightly more than half a bottle. Bit of a waste really.
How did it feel?
Point to note: the colour mixture has a strong ammonia smell. Pretty much like what it smells like in the hair salon. Also when I had the colour on, my scalp felt tingly and sensitive. I get that way too at the hair salon. Perhaps its my skin but its a point to note. The smell doesn’t last (thank goodness!) although I caught whiffs of it the following morning and for days thereafter whenever I wash my hair. Pretty much like how it is when you colour your hair in a salon. I don’t like that.
When I washed out the colour, and in the following days when I shampoo my hair, my hair feels a bit stiff and hard. But nothing a bit of hair mask or conditioner can’t fix. I used MoroccanOil Oil Treatment too before blowdrying and airdrying and my hair felt fine thereafter.
Colourwise, I didn’t turn into Carrot Top but to my surprise, my hair did look lighter. There are obvious warmer brown tones and a touch of orange/red. Nothing too obvious – its a home colour after all and I didn’t bleach my hair prior to applying colour.
I don’t have obvious white or grey hair (yet! Thank goodness!) so I cannot tell you if it covers white or grey hair but some readers have said that it doesn’t so you might want to take note. Also, I realized that the new colour is brighter in the sunlight and less obvious indoors. Its only been under a week so I cannot say if it fades easily yet, but I’m using a colour protect range of hair care for now.
A very honest friend told me when I upended my head, that my handiwork was not as even as I first thought. The front of my head and wherever I can see my hair is coloured pretty evenly. But the back of my head is less so especially underneath so once my hair grows I’m going to face problems 😛 So my advice is, if you can, get someone to help you with the back of your head to make sure your hair colour is even there too.
Everything considered, I’m quite happy with it because the change in hair colour is subtle yet different. I paid something like RM600 once to get hair of this colour at a salon 😛 Granted, it’d probably last longer if you get it professionally done, but hey, hair grows and I’m fickle! I’d stick to Liese for now 😉
Pros: No Dripping, Easy to use, Even colour throughout hair, Inexpensive
Cons: Ammonia smell, Scalp felt tingly, 1 box is too much for short hair
I had a box of Chestnut Brown on standby just in case something went wrong but I think I’ll hang onto this colour for a while more 🙂 From start to finish took under 1 hour which I thought wonderful!
I think I’ve gotten over my fear of home hair colour 😀 Have you tried any of the Kao Liese Bubble Hair Dye colours and do you have a good or bad experience to report? The colours aren’t quite earth shaking and home colour does not beat professional salon colouring, but I think they are subtle enough for the everyday woman and for a bit of fun 🙂
Just don’t expect your hair to look like it does on the model on the box.
Paris B
Kao Liese Bubble Hair Dye retails at major pharmacies for RM38 a box and comes in 10 shades
The color looks good on ya. Now Im tempted. I’ve only colored my hair once donkey years ago and even then the color didnt show up on my super black mane!
Thanks Cas 🙂 On very dark hair, the best way is to bleach and then colour to get the colour to show. In my case, my natural hair colour isn’t very dark so I guess I’m lucky that way 😉
Color looks fabulous on you!
Thank you!
I think your hair colour looks great under sunlight. I’ve tried the pink and milktea colour & am rather pleased with the results. The 1st time I dyed pink, the colour was not light enough for me as I prefer something prominent. So after just 1 month, I chose a lighter colour (maybe the lightest), milktea. I have long straight and fine hair and 1 bottle is too much for me but I still used up the whole bottle even it’s wet and heavy on my head. I’m having the Mocha Orange colour as a standby now. I managed to dye my hair evenly on my 2nd try so you may get better results the next time.
Oh yeah I love how it looks under the sun – bright! haha… I hope I get it right next round, which will be the boring ol’ Chestnut Brown 😛
Think the colour really flatters your skin tone. Now I am tempted to play with the Chestnut Brown shade. =P
Thanks Eli 🙂 I’m not sure how it’ll show up on very dark hair though … I can’t remember if your hair is very dark
Tried Milk Tea before. Honestly did not like the strong ammonia scent which gave me a headache. I had the stinging sensation too. The dye also dried out my hair to bits. There are other home dyes which are ammonia free and less damaging which I have used before. The Liese dye just didn’t work well for me sadly. Love the rest of their hair products though.
I know exactly what you mean about the ammonia smell. I still get whiffs of chemical smells when I wash my hair.
I find using a hair treatment or oil will help with dryness. Or maybe my hair just adapted better? Its hard to say. But its sad this didn’t work for you – which one did? I’d love to find an ammonia free home dye. That smell can be awful!
This cut and colour turns you into one foxy lady!! Very nice!
Thank you Shay! 😀
L’Oreal Casting and Revlon Colorsilk worked fine for me. Both didn’t leave such a strong smell. The conditioners they pack in the box I find to be very moisturising too.
Am also tempted by the Moroccan Oil (review please :)). Would be interesting to see if there is a locally available alternative. Kiehl’s does an Argan Oil hair range. Not sure how it compares to the much raved Moroccan Oil range.
I’ll have the review up soon. I haven’t tried any other Argan oil range though (I only bought the MoroccanOil Oil treatment not the haircare range) and I know L’Oreal Elseve has one too!
Was wondering if it works on colored hair???
Hi parisb! Ok….. So I will start! My hair is naturally black, a virgin, and im really afraid of trying liese, beauteen, or palty! I want to dye my hair a chestnut brown, and then I”ll add highlights, but im worried it wont do anything since my hair is jet black! I also heard over time, your hair turns red or carrot orange! Lol and I dont want to bleach my hair either! Too,much damage! Do you think my best bet is to go to the salon?
My suggestion – go to a salon. If you have dark hair and want it lighter, it needs to be bleached before they can colour it and the salon is the best place to go.
yo~
thanks for your sharing and but for long hair do u think it need 1boxe of colours consider enough or maybe 2 ?
How Long can the Color Last? They say that the Color Faded After 5 months. I want Permanent Color.
I was googling reviews on this product and I think you wrote a very comprehensive review regarding the product. I have almost medium length hair and I just cut it layered so it doesn’t get too thick. Do you suggest me to only use half bottle of it and keep the leftover?
I don’t think it’ll work once mixed. I suggest you use the whole bottle