La Riche Directions White Toner: Review & Results

White Toner 2

Why hello there, you scoundrels. Some of you might have read my post last week where I documented how I home bleached my hair. Although I was really happy with how it turned out (and most importantly, the fact that I didn’t go bald) I knew the yellowy-toned bleach colour wasn’t what I wanted this time around and so decided to buy a toner to attempt to get my hair the white/grey colour of my dreams. The toner that I bought was La Riche’s Directions semi permanent white toner. I bought two pots from this eBay seller for Β£7.89 – I think you can track them down cheaper in shops, but I was happy enough with this price for two.

The toner was really easy to use. After washing hair, you apply this and then are instructed to leave it on for 15 minutes. Because I had some quite strong yellow tones in my hair, and also because I wanted it as white as possible, and ALSO because I just like being a risk-taking motherbitch, I decided to leave it on my hair for closer to half an hour. I rinsed it out and VOILA:
White Toner 4

Apologies for the poor quality iPhone pictures, but I think this demonstrates the results pretty well. As you can see, the toner managed to take almost all of the yellow out of my hair. The parts which had the brassiest tones – annoyingly, right by my fringe at the front of my head – still remained a slightly different colour, but this was to be expected considering all of the different things I had going on in my previously dyed, extension-filled head of hair. Because I left it on longer than suggested, some bits took on a lilacy hue but to be honest I was fully okay with this, and actually quite like it.

The toner left my hair feeling nicely conditioned, and one pot was enough to do my whole head (which might not sound like a great feat, but bear in mind it took three boxes to bleach). It’s supposed to fade after a couple of weeks, but I’m hoping my silver shampoo and conditioner, coupled with the fact that I try to get away with washing my hair as little as possible, will drag the colour out for a bit longer.

I’m still on a mission (entitled Operation Granny Chic) Β to get my hair even whiter, so will keep everyone updated on how this goes. If anyone has any product recommendations for me then let me know!

22 Responses

  1. Sarah T September 11, 2013 / 11:42 am

    Love the outcome!
    xxx

    • Claire September 11, 2013 / 12:06 pm

      Thank you! It’s still nto QUITE as white as I want it but getting there πŸ™‚ xx

  2. becki & jess September 11, 2013 / 11:45 am

    Your hair looks great! Jess had the yelloy problem when she had electric blonde hair! Looks great though! Xox

    • Claire September 11, 2013 / 12:07 pm

      Agh it’s such a mare isn’t it! Hopefully a few more doses of this and lots of silver shampoo will keep it at bay though. Thanks πŸ™‚ xx

  3. Sarah September 11, 2013 / 1:07 pm

    Looks great! I haven’t had much luck with this toner in the past, will try it again after seeing these results though! xo

    • Claire September 11, 2013 / 2:50 pm

      Ah really, what problems did you have with it? I doubt it would have had this much of an impact on mine if I had only left it on the for the recommended 15 minutes, so maybe bending the rules sometimes is the best plan aha πŸ™‚ xx

      • Sarah September 13, 2013 / 9:58 am

        No particular problems, just never saw any *dramatic* results, I’ve got some to try tonight, staying hopeful ha! xo

        • Claire September 13, 2013 / 10:16 am

          Ooh let me know how it turns out πŸ™‚ xx

          • Lloyd November 1, 2014 / 6:49 pm

            Hi there just to let you know a professional product to get hair crystal white (and no lilac tones) is frosty milkshake by loreal. Available at Sally’s mox half tube with 9% Creme peroxide and leave for 10-15 mins then rinse x

  4. Clo's Beauty Spot November 11, 2013 / 9:56 am

    I am trying to get my hair silver/white at the moment, so I’m catching up on all your blog posts for some tips. They have really helped me πŸ™‚ thanks so much… I just hope it turns out ok hehe x

    • Claire Cavanagh November 11, 2013 / 10:10 am

      Aw glad it’s helped lovely πŸ™‚ Mine’s still not QUITE the colour I want it but getting there! Looking forward to seeing how yours turns out xx

  5. MM July 7, 2014 / 5:53 pm

    i have ombre.. but when i got it done, my ends were silver/platinum but now they’re brassy… if i use this, will it affect the brown in my hair or it’ll just fix the brassy blonde?

  6. Lucy November 22, 2014 / 2:40 pm

    Hi, I too want to get my hair as white as possible but I’m really sceptical about it. I have already bleached hair which is a quite pale yellow-blonde, and once I get my roots bleached I want to use a toner. I’ve found your post very helpful, but would you recommend the Bleach London white toner or the Directions? I don’t mind slight lilac tones if they will washout in a few washes, but when I’ve previously used Directions hair dye it only lasted two washes! Based on the before and after images I’m thinking about Directions. Thank you.

  7. lousiana swanepoel September 26, 2015 / 10:51 am

    Your hair looks great!!! I’m using the same one and it’s the only toner that works that good.

    • Claire September 28, 2015 / 7:59 pm

      Glad you’re getting on with it πŸ™‚ xx

  8. Amy Jo McLellan October 1, 2015 / 10:22 pm

    I know it’s not *as* white as you wanted it but you can really see the effect of it!

  9. Georgia February 21, 2017 / 12:39 pm

    I haven’t got bleached hair in a light blonde naturally, however I want to get it a bit whiter and bright would bleach London toner, directions toner be suitable to use or is there something better ? Thanks !

  10. alice January 23, 2018 / 9:38 pm

    I know this is from 4/5 years ago, and you may of discovered this already, but if you put it on DRY hair it works a lot better xx

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