L'Oreal Paris Excellence Creme Hair Color, 5AB Mocha Ash Brown

The color is good. You can hardly find this mapple brown color in the store. Planning to get more.

I had a VERY hard time trying to get back to my natural hair color, I wanted something that came in the mail quickly, long lasting, and had a great color match. I was debating between L’oreal and Schartzkopf and came to pick L’oreal since they had a great color match. I was hoping the most that this brand wouldn’t wash out and matched the closest to my natural hair color. I had to get 2 boxes since I have very thick hair and the shampoo and conditioner gave it a good look as well. I usually don’t mind the smell of hair dye, but for those who are wondering about the smell, it was very strong and it smelled mostly like chemicals. The fumes did stay in my bathroom after I cleaned up as well. The first photo is my hair BEFORE I dyed it, it had orange in it and my goal was to get rid of it. The second photo is my hair AFTER using the dye. The color didn’t look very ashy and exact as my natural, and it looked a little more redish, but it dried pretty well. The third photo is my dyed hair dried and styled, the photo after that is my hair a week later after a haircut. The color lightened a bit but I will be using Keracolor conditioner to get rid of the red and darken it. Other than that I am happy I was able to go to my natural hair without it washing out too much like what happened when I used Garnier. The only reason I docked off 1 star was because my hair turned a little redish and the shade match wasn’t very well.

All boxed color comes with 20 volume developer (i.e., peroxide). The amount of peroxide in it will continue to lighten your hair each time you color, but you won't see the bleached-orange-brassy color your hair has turned until the colored dye wears off (usually 2 months after you use a boxed dye kit). I have medium ash brown hair, naturally, but every ash brown boxed dye kit I try would make my hair RED (and make me terribly mad). Ask anyone who is trying to achieve an ASH color...they DO NOT want to end up with RED hair!!! Yet, that's what many women get, time after time with boxed color kits. After a lot of Googling over the past few days I found out that the strong developer that comes in boxed kits is to blame (not the color itself). So, I ordered two boxes of the 5AB (a=ash, b=blonde?) ash mocha brown from Amazon--I have a lot of hair (past my shoulders). Then I went to Sally's and bought a bottle of 10 volume developer and threw away the boxed kit's 20 volume developer! That's right ladies...throw that crap away. Using a lower volume of peroxide (i.e. 10, or even 5) *should* stop your hair from continuing to get bleached (and turn orange underneath the fresh color you're just putting on). The 10 volume developer will open up the hair cuticle just enough to let the color in (and keep it in for a few months) without continuing to lighten/bleach your new growth or your already-bleached orange/brassy old-growth hair. Combining the color dye with a 10 volume developer is being called demi-permanent these days, and it is supposed to be a deposit-only coloring option (as opposed to stronger developers which simultaneously bleach/lighten your hair AND deposit color). I used half of my 6 oz concoction (3 ozs color cream and 3 ozs 10 volume developer) for my roots (let sit for 20 mins), then used the rest for my ends and combed it through (let sit for additional 10 mins). The color is WONDERFUL (no red cast!! finally!!!), my hair feels far less damaged than the last time I colored with boxed kit developers, and it's much shiner to boot. It may be one shade darker than the box, but that's to be expected. It will lighten up to that exact color over the next 2 shampoos. I'll never use anything more than a 10 developer ever again. If you're going to buy your own developer from Sally's you *could* also buy the l'oreal excellence cream color, too, and avoid the boxed kit altogether. BUT, I can't find 5AB mocha ash brown, though I do see a 5.1 ash brown. I just don't know if it's similar enough to the 5AB mocha ash brown boxed color. Maybe I'll try it down the road. For now, though, I'm buying several more boxes of this color.

Great hair color, looks beautiful, easy to use and didn’t damage my hair!

There are medium browns, and there are medium browns. This is the best of the best. Nice, rich, no RED! Great coverage, and with Ardell Gray Magic, spectacular coverage. This covers more than "lightens" your hair because Excellence doesn't have ammonia. Preference has ammonia and lightens a lot, but to use that, you really have to be 25% gray or less. Otherwise, you'll wind up with being very light in the "root" area and dark elsewhere. It doesn't even matter if you only do your roots. It just doesn't cover gray well enough. Hair after around 45 years of age becomes very "porous" and grabs the color more. This is why women wind up with light roots and dark ends, because it grabs too well, BUT NOT THE GRAY HAIR. This is partially to do with gray hair being more color resistant and the heat from your head with the ammonia (which winds up lightening it too much). The trick is to use a hair color without ammonia and use Ardell Gray Magic. About 10 drops per ounce and do the ROOTS ONLY. Every once and a while you will want to change your hair color or take out the "very dark" spots. Use a product called Color Oops. It's great! Don't store it though. It has a shelf life. Buy it and use it right away. The Extra Conditioning should be enough for most people, but if you have stubborn dark saturation, try the Extra Strength. This stuff is amazing. It literally lifts all the color out of your hair! No harsh bleach, like in Effasol! It does have a bit of 10 volume Hydrogen Peroxide, but that's lower than the usual 20 volume you get in these kits.