The product I am reviewing today is the Lee Stafford Bleach Blondes Shampoo. I've had some fashion of Blonde in my hair for quite a long time now so understandably I've tried the majority of violet toning shampoos on the market. I have my favourites (Fudge Clean Blonde Shampoo) along with some that do the job of toning but without the other lovely benefits of a good shampoo and this unfortunately is the latter.

If you're blonde you'll understand that it isn't the easiest of colours to keep looking fresh, bright and non brassy. If you think being blonde is an easy, lazy hair colour to go for then you are wrong. Unless you use the correct products and look after your blonde then you are going to become very dull and extremely brassy very quickly and that is not an attractive blonde to be. The good news is, with just a few simple switches in hair care products you can keep your blonde looking almost as good as the first day it was coloured. The most important one in my opinion is a violet toning shampoo. There are plenty out there and you don't need to pay a great deal of money to get a good one, but of course everyones hair needs are different and that is why I am sharing this one with you.

Unfortunately for me the Lee Stafford Bleach Blondes Shampoo just didn't tick all the boxes. It's one that I used a while back but couldn't really remember how impressed I was with it so I purchased it again recently to try and review. So lets start with the positives.

Pros

One thing I do like about this shampoo is that the violet pigment isn't too strong, meaning that it would be ok to use regularly without fear of your hair turning purple. I washed my hair and left this on for around 5/10 minutes whilst I got on with doing other things. I was quite wary about doing this as I wasn't sure how strong the colour would be, but I guess I wouldn't know if I didn't try and I wouldn't be here telling you that you're safe to leave it on for a little while.

Secondly I have to mention the scent of this shampoo. As with all Lee Stafford Products this smells amazing and it does lightly linger in your hair afterwards.

I wouldn't say this shampoo is particularly moisturising but it certainly didn't strip my hair of any moisture it already had. I hate when I use a shampoo that leaves my hair with that squeaky clean feeling that causes tangles and a matted mess and this one certainly did not do that at all. It left my hair quite manageable just after shampooing which I was slightly impressed with.

Now unfortunately for me, the pros end there. That's not to say this product wouldn't be suitable for you so please read on.

Cons

As with all shampoos I start off with a small amount on my hand (about the size of a 50p) and only use more if I need to. I rub my hands together first to start lathering the product before I apply it to my hair. When I put my 50p sized blob of Lee Stafford Bleach Blondes Shampoo onto my hand I thought it resembled blackcurrant jelly. Seriously it was wibble wobbling all over the place with its jelly like consistency and I was a bit dubious as to how well it would lather. I was quite disappointed as I must have had to use about the equivalent of four or five 50p pieces to get enough lather to feel that I was shampooing my hair effectively. This doesn't make the product cost effective at all, and I would rather spend a bit more money on a product that will last longer because I don't need to use as much. It isn't overly expensive at £6.99 for a 250ml bottle but when I can spend £9.95 on a 300ml shampoo that lasts me months and meets my needs better, I wouldn't bother.

I don't use a violet toning shampoo every time I wash my hair. I would say I use it 1 in every 3 washes just to keep on top of any brassiness. Usually when I have used a violet toning shampoo I can really tell the difference once I have washed and dried it. It leaves me with really white toned blonde sections in my hair and I can 100% tell the difference to before. With this shampoo, I couldn't really see much difference. No, there wasn't particularly any brassiness, but there wasn't any bright white blonde either. I guess this would be perfect for you if you weren't looking for such a dramatic effect but wanted to keep your blonde a little brighter, but for me it didn't impress me enough compared to other products I've used.

Once I'd dried my hair I wasn't blown away with how my hair looked. It was quite dull in comparison to what I'm used to and although it had quite a lot of texture it didn't feel as clean as usual.