Garnier Olia 4.62 - Intense Deep Red

Product left my hair dry and limp – I tried Garnier Olia 4.62 Dark Garnet Red recently. The colour is lovely, but the product itself, left my hair dry and in some areas, limp. My hair is naturally curly. It's taken almost a week for my hair's moisture and curl to return. The product needs some sort of protector or bond repair added to help nourish, repair and protect the hair during the colouring process. The developer that comes with the product is too strong, which is also partly to blame. The packet says the developer contains 90ml/ml hydrogen peroxide, which indicates it is 30 vol developer. This strength is too strong for regular colouring. 20 vol developer is all that's needed.

Amazing product – Great colour. No residue and no nasty smell. Hair looks shiny and bouncy. Washes off skin. No big mess in the shower when rinsing as hair seems to soak it up. Easy applicator bottle.

Wrong – This colour went dark purple! Alarmist black even . Didn’t even see a hint of red I even had to buy a different shade to make it the colour I wanted!

Only hair dye I will use! – I will only use Olia. Does not damage my hair like other supermarket dyes do, and the one I use is such a vibrant red colour. No smell, but does leak for a bit over a week of washing (not that hard to just use a dark towel to avoid stains) It can be pretty costly from in stores ($17) but can be bought on ebay for $22 for 2 boxes, shipping included.

Definitely worth it!

I always use a moisture rich conditioner in conjunction with the one they provide, so have not had any issue with dryness as other users have stated.

Great hair dye! – It is the first time I have ever used a local supermarket/drug store hair colour. I have been colouring my hair for a few years, but I have always used the Japanese brands that are designed for black hair (Liese, Palty, and Freshlight). So far I have tried it in Deep Red and Mahogany Brown. To begin with, to use this dye is simply the same as all other cream dyes, you mix the colour and the developer in the tear drop shaped container that came in the box and shake it as hard as you can for a minute or so to mix, then twist open the top of the container to squeeze out the mixed dye onto your hair. Now, while I see what others mean by awkward shape of the container (I am used to the tube coming with a comb applicator), but it is nothing to fuss about, just squeeze onto my gloved hand and apply, comb through with wide toothed comb after to make sure of even coverage.

The dye itself smells wonderfully flowery, none of the ammonia scent that comes with the dyes I have ever used, which is something I really like about this dye. It also comes with a generous tube of conditioner, which has the exact same scent as the dye itself. After leaving the dye in for a bit longer than strictly necessary because of my black hair (50 mins just to be safe), I rinsed it out... for full 20 mins, and the water still wouldn't run clear, it has never happened to me before (this was the case when I used the Deep red, but I have also read that it is apparently normal but nonetheless worrying to see), and when I gave up and conditioned my hair, washed that out, the water was still running red.

After a while I realised that it only happens when I used warm water (as I wet my hair and wash out shampoo with warm water), and it stains the white towels with the colour. When I finished up the first time, my hair felt really really soft and took next to no time to straighten, like I had a nice hair treatment done rather than having it dyed. The result was evenly coloured smooth and soft hair.

Realising Deep red looks seriously weird on me, I changed over to Mahogany brown, and the same thing happened again, the dye runs whenever I wash my hair and stains my towels. However, the red washes out of my hair, and I am left with nice chestnut colour in florescent light.

So, in all, aside from the forever running dye (which is why I took off one star), I am quite happy with the result of this dye, and I'll probably keep coming back to it, as it is a bit cheaper than my HG (Palty in Raspberry Macaron), and a bit dearer than Liese. I'll see when my hair grows out again... Lovely scent Colour runs under warm water, stains towels