Review: Garnier HerbaShine Hair Color

Now that companies are offering a 10 minute solution to covering gray, it’s highly unlikely I will ever go back to suffering for 25-30 minutes unless I’m testing a product.  We will be a slave no longer to our hair color.
Garnier HerbaShine promises “radiant, shiny color” in 10 minutes, to blend and cover up to 70% gray in 18 shades minus the harsh ammonia.  I checked out #200, Soft Black to cover my own lovely shades of gray and found several things that I liked about HerbaShine.
• No foul odor
I cannot tell you how many times my eyes have watered from excessive fumes.  HerbaShine smells pretty fruity for a hair color, I found it to actually be pleasant.
• Less hair damage
Since this is ammonia-free and fortified with avocado oil, shea butter, and bamboo extract, it seems like my hair wasn’t angry with me when I was finished.  It was soft and shiny after rinsing and applying the included conditioner.
• Blurred line of demarcation
I know I’m not fooling anyone with my black hair color, but it’s the last thing I feel like I have from my youth.  Because I choose to try to prolong the magic for as long as I can, when black hair color meets gray new growth, there is almost always a very hard line of demarcation which makes it even worse and more tell-tale.  I’m about 3 weeks in to my HerbaShine experience and it has slightly faded on-tone to an even softer black which I don’t mind.  I feel like I can maybe squeeze another week out of it.
• Cream Formula
I appreciated that I didn’t have any drips since it was a cream formula that stayed put while it was on my hair.  Clean-up was much faster and it was easier to control during application.
Without getting all Mr. Wizard, Garnier describes HerbaShine as neither a semi-permanent nor a demi-permanent hair color, but a soft-lift.  It’s not going to be your go-to hair color if you want to take your hair from brown to blonde or much lighter from where you’re already at, but to go a little darker or blend gray, I found it effective.  I’m not sure what the results would be with any of the other shades since I’m almost always the darkest of colors offered, but from what I’ve experienced–I’d say this is a good at-home solution to go 1-2 shades darker and blend (not entirely cover) gray without it being too obvious!