If anyone should have been around in the 1980s it’s me. My hair is ginormous. No back combing here it’s all me.

Exhibit A-

It’s bouffy, frizzy, thick, it wants to be vertical and it’s coming to get you. Wherever I go I leave a brown curly hair or 2. I know I should be grateful, ladies with nice normal hair tell me so, but I just can’t get it to behave. Ghd’s have saved my life but the smallest drop of rain and I’m Diana Ross again.

Since I had a baby 4 months ago my hair has been in a bun. But yesterday I decided enough is enough, let’s sort out this crazy hedge. I was going to dye it and get  a trim. Last night I got out a box of dye that I bought about 2 years ago because I fancied the colour. It’s Garnier Olio in 3.6 Deep Cherry, a “shiny morello cherry black designed to give warmth to black hair, a perfect compliment to pale skin”. Olio hair dye contains plant oils that are supposed to penetrate into your hair to make it shiny. Dye should be on just 30 mins. Sounds ideal.

So after my little children had gone to bed I got the dye on. Half an hour later babe2 starts crying… All in all the hair dye was on my head an hour and a half before I managed to rinse it off. And it took a long long time to rinse it. The extended dye time fortunately didn’t make my hair fall out.

I’m chuffed with the colour, it’s visible but not shocking. It was only after seeing a stylist (the lovely Greg at Goji in Cardiff) and having it restyled and straightened did it really shine. The Garnier Olio didn’t seem to do my hair any harm and my scalp tolerated it well. It’s straightforward enough to use and the conditioner is lovely.

As per usual I remain not convinced by Garnier’s bold claims, but I seldom dye my hair so really have little comparison. I’m happy with the shade and pleased as punch that Greg managed to tame my lions mane. Cheers Greg.

*Read my update to this review of garnier olio permanent hair dye in deep cherry here