Why You Shouldn't Buy The John Frieda Go Blonder Range *updated*

I'm not one to shy away from a negative review. I think they are just as helpful as a review telling you something is the best thing in the world. I think it's great to know what NOT to buy too. Today, I have something really negative to share with you all and for one I actually feel a bit bad about it. 

Sorry for the negativity, and sorry for the long post but I wanted to say everything rather than leaving something out.

The Product

  
I've recently ombred my hair, and because of that I decided to pick up some hair care products targets at blondes. the John Frieda Go Blonder range was on offer in Superdrug and it seemed to be targets at what I wanted. I picked up the shampoo, conditioner and lightening spray to try out on the ends of my hair. 

I used the products on my hair, and at first they seemed fine.  They weren't amazing, but they did the job of washing my hair. I didn't have an immediate reactions, and it didn't cause any irritation when I actually washed my hair and left the conditioner to sit in the ends for a few minutes.  I used the spray sparingly through the very ends of my hair, blow dried them and then pinned my hair our of my face and away from my neck and chest so I could sleep. 

The Reaction

I went off the bed, happy as larry but in the morning I noticed that a rash was appearing all over my check and neck area. I honestly didn't take that much notice of it and went of to work. At work the rash for considerably worse and began to feel like it was burning alongside a constant itching feeling. I'm quite lucky that I work in a place that has a pharmacy and I was able to get some advice on what to do to calm it down. They gave me some cream to calm the rash down and some cooling aqueous and calamine cream to sooth the burning down.  She then suggested that if the rash were to remain overnight that I should get some steroid cream to try and help it. It's calmed down a little since then, but it still itches like mad, is very red and the burning sensation is still noticeable. 

I can only say that I'm so glad I only used this on my ends. I can't even imagine what my scalp would be like now had I used it all over my head.  I won't be using these again, and it really puts me off trying other products from the range. If I got this reaction from these products, will I get the same from the others?

The pharmisist suggested that it could be an allergic reaction (something I've NEVER experienced before with any kind of product) or some kind of chemical burn. I was so freaked out by that idea that I decided to call the help line to see if they could offer me any advice on what could cause this reaction and if they had heard of anyone else experiencing this problem. I was hoping they could tell me how to calm down the reaction. 
 
I have changed nothing else in my routine either for my hair, face or body so it can only be these products causing this reaction. 

Not so gentle after all!

Awful Customer Service

I wasn't going to post a review of these products. I was quite content with the idea getting a little help from the help line that the company advertise on the back of their products.  I called the help line, and was on hold for a little over an hour. At that time I had to give up because I had to go to work. I called once and was disconnected after about 20 minutes, and then called again. The second time I called I was told that I was first in the queue, and that someone would be with me shortly. That NEVER happened. I was told about 10 times in the 40 minutes wait that I was first in the queue but all I heard was the quite 'on hold' music playing down then phone. I was so disappointed that I just felt I should write a post. Maybe this is the way I'll get the help I wanted. 

After having no success over the phone I tried to find an email address but could only find a contact form on their website. I filled it in with all my details (they asked for everything from my address to my phone number) and detailed my issues, and linked my blog post. I thought I might get some kind of helpful response here  but all I got back (a fair ol' few day later) was a generic response telling me to call them. Now, that makes no sense to me. The main thing in my email was complaining about the hour I was on the phone and they tell me to call again. Ermm, what? 

I then tried to tweeting them! I asked for a direct email address and got the same response as I did the email. They just told me to call again. I tweeted that I didn't have the time to call and wait on hold for another hour and that my email was to complain about the poor customer service. I've had no response since, so I'm at a loss of what to do.

It might have taken me kicking up a bit of a fuss but I have got somewhere with the company. I got a package in the post which included a envelope and a medical survey asking about my reaction. I filled it in and sent the products off to them. A few days later I got a call. 

I was happy that someone had taken the time to call, but it was a bit like to little to late. Sure, I accepted their apology and I suppose the excuse that phone lines were busy is acceptable. They very nicely explained about their product testing and that reactions were rare. I didn't really get any help as to what could have set off the reaction but they did tell me they didn't want to speculate as it could be anything. 

They kindly offered to send me some replacement products from sister brands as they didnt want me to react to any more of their products. 

It was kind of them to replace them, but I can't help but think it wouldn't have happened if I hasn't have posted and complained about it quite as much as I did.

I am still put off using other products from the brand, so I think I'll stick to my current shampoo and I'll continue to love Friz Ease  but I don't think I'll be trying  anything new anytime soon. 

I still highly doubt I was in the first position in the queue if I received no answer for the hour I was on the phone. If you are not going to answer the phone, or don't have the staff to monitor the call centre then please do not advertise the number of the back of all your products. 

Thanks for essentially giving me my money back but I still can't say I'm a huge fan! 

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