As a fan of bubble foam hair color, I’m always excited when someone recommends a brand to try, especially since I’m constantly changing my hair color. I prefer bubble foam because it’s gentle, and it often doesn’t have that awful hair dye scent. My usual go-to is the Kao Prettia brand, but it’s getting harder to find stateside, and when I do find it, I have to wait forever for shipping, and the price third-party sellers charge has gotten ridiculous, so I had to wave goodbye to my favorite brand.
Upon a friend’s recommendation, the *Chang-Po bubble foam hair color came into my atmosphere. Like Kao Prettia, the product is a foam, and it involves mixing different ingredients to create the foam. It’s fast, easy, and pretty much fool-proof. I tried three different colors: #6 Dark Brown (which is my natural color), #5 Natural Brown (what my hair is in the summer), and 5V Wine Claret (because I always have to have purple or blue in my hair). Here are my experiences with each.
Ingredients
The ingredients are the same across each of the dyes.
Use
Mixing and using the dye is easy and done in a few steps:
- Place solutions one and two in the provided shaker bottle.
- Screw on the top, then shake the bottle.
- Comb through your hair and eliminate any knots.
- Add a towel around your shoulders to protect your clothes. Swipe Vaseline along your hair line and forehead to protect skin from the dye (this is important. You’ll find out why shortly!)
- Wear the provided rubber gloves (again, this is important), squeeze the bottle to dispense the foam, then massage it into your hair. I prefer tips to roots, but you can do it roots to tips.
- Follow the directions and wait the recommended time period (10-15 minutes).
- Rinse your hair until the water is clear. Then, use the provided shampoo and rinse again.
- Dry and style as usual.
Individual Impressions
On the box, claret wine is a gorgeous shade of purple! The box promises a nice, rich purple. Unfortunately, this color was the most disappointing out of the three tried.
I followed the directions for this shade to a T only to have the color not take in my hair at all. I tried it again and left it on an additional ten minutes with the same result: The color did not show up in my hair (My hair, at the time of trial, was a light ash brown). This was a shame because Claret Wine was the color I wanted the most. Perhaps it was a bad lot across the two boxes I tried. Unfortunately, this shade failed to meet expectations.
#5 Natural Brown
The natural brown is a nice, medium shade brown that looks almost like a dark ash on blonde hair and a smooth, almost-caramel shade with some red highlights on darker shades. This color was perfect for the summer because it did have the most natural look to it, and it didn’t detract from highlights and lowlights like the dark brown shade did directly after hair was dyed.
Unfortunately, this shade fades quickly. In under a month, my hair’s shine and luster faded, and since my hair is naturally dark, the lighter, now-splotchy shade looked bad with dark brown roots. This one did require a lot more touching up then other shades of brown I used from other bubble foam makers, so this was disappointing.
While the color lasted, this shade was the prettiest of the three trialed, but the maintenance was too much of a hassle.
This color literally put the “dark” in dark brown. Full disclosure: I accidentally left this color in longer than 10 minutes because I started doing laundry, so it ended up staying in my hair for 30 minutes. I do not recommend leaving this dye in your hair for longer than the recommended time!
While I hoped for dark brown, the additional time caused the dye to turn my hair just a shade below black. When I saw the completed results, I was mortified over how dark my hair turned out. The box shows an almost soft, chocolate brown. My hair was two shades darker than this. This may be my fault due to leaving the dye in my hair too long, but it is a shock.
The dark brown shade lasted the longest out of the three shades tried. With each wash, the color barely faded, but it did shift from black to dark brown in five washes. What I liked about the dark brown color is that, as it faded, it looked the most natural out of the colors. It picked up my highlights well and had a good, natural shine. While it was initially the most shocking color when the dye was rinsed out, it turned out to be the best overall shade.
However, this shade also stains the most. I had split seams in my gloves and didn’t realize it until it was too late. Unfortunately, my hands were the same shade as the dye for a week. No amount of scrubbing removed it from my hands, so check the gloves prior to use!
Overall
The Chang-Po bubble foam colors are a good answer to some of the other Korean and Japanese bubble foam dyes that are becoming increasingly difficult to fine in the US. The colors are good, especially the darker shades, even though the more “unusual” colors may not take. Overall, the experience was a positive one, so the Chang-Po bubble foam hair dye does earn a 3.5/5.
Do you have any products you want us to try? Let us know! We’d love to try your recommendations for future reviews.
*Kcrush writers are not affiliated with the companies or brands mentioned. We are also not compensated for promoting the products listed. We spend our own money on these products by choice, so recommendations and reviews are bias-free! Hooray!
—-Joelle Halon