L'Oreal ParisLe Color One Step Toning Hair Gloss, Honey Blonde, 4 Ounce

I am on my third (edit: now it's my seventh) tube of platinum pearl and I can't express how much I love this stuff. When I bleach my roots I end up with level 9 yellow hair, which I then use Shades EQ to turn into more of an icy/gray blonde. But once that toner starts fading, the yellow creeps back in and that's when I start using this product.I leave it on for at least an hour under a shower cap, which does leave just a hint of lavender in my hair but I like that and intentionally leave it on for way longer than directed because I want that hint of color. It does darken up my blonde due to leaving it on for so long but that's the look I'm going for. The smell is pleasant and my hair is SOOOO soft after I rinse, despite all the abuse I put it through with bleaching and toners.Also, I scoured the reviews before purchasing and noticed a lot of the people who included pictures and complained about the product "doing nothing" used the wrong color. They either started off with hair that was too dark for the product to have an effect, or used the incorrect color to neutralize.So for the first issue of using this product on dark hair - this is a color-depositing product, it does not lift at all so if your hair starts off DARKER than the color that is coming out of the tube, your results will be almost imperceptible, or you will get no results at all. If you use blush BLONDE on brown hair, guess what - it's not going to do anything, because it is impossible to see a lighter color on dark hair. The color may be there, but you won't see it. Look at the color of the model's hair on the box - if your hair is significantly darker than that, chances are you will not see significant results.I will say, some of the before/afters in the product photos are misleading in my opinion, which I'm not a fan of because it gives people unrealistic expectations. Like the plum color most certainly will not turn truly black hair a bright purple like the photos claim, especially if it's virgin hair unless maaaaybe you're in very bright direct sunlight, but that's another discussion.If you are attempting to neutralize undertones, you have to choose the correct color based on what tone you are attempting to neutralize. Look at a color wheel. Purple neutralizes yellow, blue neutralizes orange. If you have orange brassy roots and use purple, it won't work. If you have yellow brass and use blue, same deal. And you cannot fix a bad bleach job with a product like this - if you do not lift your hair enough and end up with really orange roots or streaks, you need to bleach again, a color-depositing conditioner is not going to fix a bad bleach job. Your hair must be light enough for the conditioner to be able to neutralize. I do wish the products were labeled with what color the product actually is because that might help but do some research and choose the color that is appropriate for your hair, or do another round of bleach if your hair can tolerate it. But this product is not going to magically fix hair that was not lifted properly.This product also must be applied COMPLETELY evenly, otherwise you will get streaks. It takes me a good 20 minutes to work this through my semi-thick boob-length hair because if you don't fully saturate every strand, guess what - those strands will not be affected and you will end up with streaky hair. I haphazardly slapped this in my hair the first time I used it and I did end up with streaks. I've since learned my lesson and I section my hair into 6 parts and apply to each section until it is fully saturated from root to tip. And if certain parts of your hair are more damaged (aka pourous) the color will stick to those parts more as well. I start with the hair growing from the nape of my neck since it's less damaged, then move up my scalp and do the hair growing from the crown of my head last, which gets more abuse from the flat iron and therefore is more porous. Ends tend to be more damaged/porous compared to roots, so if that is a concern for you, apply to hair closer to the scalp first and slowly work your way down.

This gloss is such a good value. As my gray hair became mostly white hair it began to yellow from the heat of blow dryers and straighteners. I have curly hair that tends to frizz, so going natural is not an option. I paid for my hair stylist to gloss my hair and was so pleased with the results, but not the price! I had never seen this product in stores, but figured Amazon might have something and I found this. I am so glad! I use 2 ounces silver mixed with one ounce silver slate. I mix it in a plastic bowl and apply to freshly washed hair with a hair color application brush, also bought from Amazon. The results have been very good. My hair has more body and the yellow is much less of a problem. I do this every fourth time I wash my hair. Great product for saving time and money. Thank you L’Oréal!

Only used once so far. Not bad. The instructions say to leave in for 5-10 minutes if your hair is bleached/highlighted, but I think I’ll try the full 15 next time. Did leave my hair nice and soft, but I only see a slight color difference. I also forgot to take an after photo before I added finishing oil on my hair. I love the smell, but if you are sensitive to smells you might want to use a different product. It smells quite floral.

I have waist Length grey hair… I wash my hair 2x week with a moisture shampoo then every other wash I use this as my conditioner. I only use a good sized squeeze of the tube in my hand, apply to damp hair and leave in for about 10 min then rinse thoroughly with warm shower water til hair is squeaky, not slick feeling. I get compliments daily on my hair, “ it’s so shiny silver! Is so pretty! Your hair is amazing!” And this gloss gives it that polished look that really shines so I have silver white hair not dull fuzzy grey hair. I keep a stock of this, never want to run out!

Color: I bought the cool brunette. This took the brassy tones out of my hair, and that is what I wanted, so all good on color. Update: I have brown dyed hair, and after continuing to use this, I really like how it tones and improves the color of my hair.Staining: I read other reviewers complaining that this stained their hands. Um, its a hair color, of course it stains. This does seem to have more staining power than other colors Ive used, but it also likely means the color has better hold or penetration, right? It didn't stain my bathtub or sink. I used gloves and made sure to wash it off anywhere that it touched. All good.Procedure: I used this as directed with one alteration.. I conditioned afterward. The conditioner I used was my regular product, which I like a lot and is unscented. I wanted to try to rinse/condition away some of the overwhelming smell, which didn't seem to work. The smell was so strong I ended up washing my hair again the next day. The whole thing was very time consuming and a lot of work. Next time I might try applying it to damp hair before washing, and see how that goes.Update on procedure: I have used this as a prewash treatment on damp hair a few times now, and it works.Gloss: My hair ended up looking somewhat matte the first day that I used it, but it seemed to pick up a touch of sheen and looked a bit healthier after I washed it out. Update: It does add a touch of gloss when I use on damp hair before washing.Smell: the fragrance was so strong that I washed it out the next day. The fragrance was still annoying afterward, but was more tolerable. I wish the smell was less intense.Conclusions: I will continue to use and experiment with this product. I have quite a bit more left in the tube. The jury is still out on this. I like the color and gloss, but the smell is tough to take and the process per instructions was more lengthy than I expected.Irritation Update: On my third use of this, I developed some irritation on my scalp, like pimples on my head. One was near my hairline and lasted over a month, but is finally gone. Yikes. I had used this to my scalp, which was damp at the time. I hesitate to use it again. If or when I do use it again, I will keep it away from my scalp. Not everyone reacts to products in the same way and have a lot of skin sensitivities. Just wanted to share the info in case it helps. I will keep looking for the right product for me.