Review: John Frieda Go Blonder

‘Wow your hair looks blonde!’ That’s how I was greeted by a friend the other day. Ever since I got my hair cut I have been using some John Frieda Go Blonder products to get that dull winter look out of my hair and spruce it up for summer. Curious to see whether it works? Then keep on reading.

John Frieda Sheer Blonde Go Blonder Lightening Shampoo and Spray

I am a natural blonde. When I was a kid my hair would go white over summer, but as I got older my hair got darker. Right now it’s a dirty blonde color: some darker patches at the bottom, with golden blonde, honey blonde, light blonde and even a hint of red all put into one big mix. I had some highlights done almost 2 years ago, but those are pretty much gone, same goes for the bright red I had put in last December. So the pictures you’re about to see: that’s all my actual hair color.

The reason why I wanted to try these products is because over winter I get roots. That’s right: due to less sunlight, my hair still grows and a color difference between my roots and the rest of my hair appears. It looks as if I had a bad dye job or as if I haven’t taken care of my hair color in a while. Since I didn’t want to wait until we get an actual summer over here, I decided to try this and see whether I could lighten up my roots and make my hair one color. That is also why I only have the shampoo and the spray. I don’t wash all of my hair with shampoo, only my head and I didn’t want this stuff to go into my ends. Why? Let’s have a look at the ingredients shall we:

AQUA, HYDROGEN PEROXIDE, POLYSORBATE 20, VP/VA COPOLYMER, POLYQUATERNIUM-47, PARFUM, ETIDRONIC ACID, SODIUM HYDROXIDE, SALICYLIC ACID, ACETAMINOPHEN, PHOSPHORIC ACID, POLYQUATERNIUM-55, PROPYLENE GLYCOL, ACID VIOLET 43, VITIS VINIFERA JUICE EXTRACT, CITRUS MEDICA LIMONUM PEEL EXTRACT, HELIANTHUS ANNUUS SEED EXTRACT, CHAMOMILLA RECUTITA FLOWER EXTRACT, GLYCERIN, ALCOHOL, PEG-40 HYDROGENATED CASTOR OIL, TOCOPHEROL, VITIS VINIFERA SEED EXTRACT, BUTYLPHENYL METHYLPROPIONAL, LIMONENE, HEXYL CINNAMAL, LINALOOL.

Those are the ingredients of the spray. As you can see, one of the first ingredients is Hydrogen Peroxide. No wonder it lightens your hair, as peroxide is also used to bleach hair. This is why I only used the spray for a little while and only on my roots. I didn’t want it to damage my hair or my scalp and my ends are dry as it is. I used it on towel dry hair, just sprayed it into my roots, ruffled my hair and that’s it. I used it for about 2 weeks after washing my hair.

AQUA, SODIUM LAURETH SULFATE, SODIUM LAURYL SULFATE, LACTIC ACID, GLYCOL DISTEARATE, CETYL ALCOHOL, BETAINE, CHAMOMILLA RECUTITA FLOWER EXTRACT, CITRUS MEDICA LIMONUM PEEL EXTRACT, CURCUMA LONGA ROOT EXTRACT, CROCUS SATIVUS FLOWER EXTRACT, HELIANTHUS ANNUUS SEED EXTRACT, VITIS VINIFERA JUICE EXTRACT, VITIS VINIFERA SEED EXTRACT, BENZYL ALCOHOL, COCAMIDOPROPYL BETAINE, GLYCINE, GUAR HYDROXYPROPYLTRIMONIUM CHLORIDE, COCAMIDE MEA, PEG-40 HYDROGENATED CASTOR OIL, SODIUM HYDROXIDE, GLYCERIN, ALCOHOL, BUTYLENE GLYCOL, SODIUM CHLORIDE, PROPYLENE GLYCOL, SODIUM XYLENESULFONATE, MALIC ACID, TOCOPHEROL, DISODIUM EDTA, METHYLCHLOROISOTHIAZOLINONE, METHYLISOTHIAZOLINONE, PARFUM, ACID YELLOW 3, LIMONENE, BUTYLPHENYL METHYLPROPIONAL, LINALOOL, HEXYL CINNAMAL.

These are the ingredients of the shampoo. There is no peroxide or ammonia in the shampoo. Instead it uses fruit and flower extracts to gently brighten and lighten your hair. I have been using the shampoo every time I wash my hair for 4 – 5 weeks. I used the spray to speed up the process, but then continued with the shampoo as it’s less damaging, and I also feel that it makes your hair look nicer too.

But now for the million dollar question: Did it work? Yes it did! I have some before and after pictures to show you the difference.

Before

You can clearly see that the top 10 cm of my hair is darker and there is some sort of line in my hair, where it goes lighter. To me personally it looks gray, murky and dull.

After – shade

Different lighting, but you can see there is no line in my hair anymore. It is less murky and looks even.

After – sunlight

I think you can really see the difference here. Especially because it is taken from the same side of my head. The roots are gone and my hair is one color again.

As you can see this product really works. I do think that if your hair is darker it will have little to no effect. The effect is subtle, but it is just enough to lighten up my hair and make it appear fresh and as if I just came back from the hair dresser. I will now stop using the products until my hair goes murky again, but with summer on its way it should take a while for that to happen. All I know is that I will never have to spend money on highlights again. I can just use this!

Have you ever tried the John Frieda Go Blonder products?