Review: L’Oreal Root Rescue

Before Purchase: I had purchased a different brand of root touch-up previously and noticed Root Rescue on the shelf. When I came across a coupon for it, I decided to give it a shot.

My disclaimer: I’ve been coloring my hair myself for about 10 years now. While some of you may be cringing at that, I have to explain that my hair is pretty resistant to salon color. Due to my thyroid disease and the medications and supplements I take for it, I have patches of hair that will refuse to take the dye even with pre-developing and other such preparations.

I’ve done hilights, bleaching (I had extremely blue hair at one point, which then went to brown with a Rogue streak, and then back to my natural blonde with a neon red peekaboo!), semi/demis, and permanant color, all myself. As it stands right now, I’ve been using Feria reds for the last 5 years or so aside from the random couple of months where I tried black about 4 years ago.

Price: Ulta sells this for $7.99 USD, but I have been finding $2 off manufacturer coupons in the weekly ads, which I use in conjunction with the coupons Ulta sends out. With coupons it’s competitive, but at regular price it costs almost as much as a box of regular color. Edit: I found it at a local Target for $5.99 – huge difference!

Packaging: Root Rescue’s packaging is pretty standard; the box is smaller than normal home haircolor (less product, of course) and should have some sort of tamper-evident sticker on it when you buy it. The color is in a little jar, which you add to the tube of developer (again, standard). That tube has an odd little bristly cap that you’re supposed to use to help apply the color.

Ingredients: They are listed clearly on the box. I am unsure if they are the same for some colors.

The Product: I actually tried two different shades; first I tried 4R Dark Auburn on a month old all-over color done with Feria R68 Ruby Rush. Some weeks after that I did an all-over color with Feria 67 Cardinal (my usual shade) and did the touch-up with 6R Light Auburn a few weeks later.

Both times my roots were matched pretty well, even though L’Oreal does not list my shades as matches because the Root Rescue auburns are more natural, while the Feria reds I use are much more unnatual red. Light Auburn was a little more coppery than the Cardinal in my case, but nothing that the average person would notice.

As I mentioned above, I am naturally a blonde. That plays a big part in how reds and auburns take in my hair, so your milage may vary.

The bad part? This is a quick-acting touch-up formula, so it did irritate my scalp more than I’m used to due to the extra harshness of the color. If you have a sensitive scalp or have skin issues on your scalp, I strongly recommend not using Root Rescue.

The weird: I’m not sure what to make of the bristly aplicator cap on the developer tube! In ways it was helpful and in other ways it was a hinderance.

Final Thoughts:

• Was I happy with my purchase? Yes.
• Would I purchase L’Oreal Root Rescue again? I have plans to soon.
• Rating? 4 out of 5 stars.