Sun-In Hair Lightening Spray.

I feel awful for doing two bad beauty reviews in less than a week, but I guess the truth needs to be told! I promise I’ll do a good review on Wednesday!
So a couple of weeks ago I got the Sun-In hair lightening spray, after a friend recommended it. I have blonde hair, which goes dark blonde in the winter and light blonde in the summer when it’s had quite a bit of sun on it. I have never once dyed my hair or put any type of chemical on it before, I am a complete hair-dye-virgin, so to use sun-in was a huuuuge step for me!
This summer has been such a wash-out that my hair has stayed dark blonde, and I honestly hate it. I miss it being light blonde with all my natural highlights in it, and I just don’t feel that the dark blonde suits me or feels ‘me’. So I turned to sun-in after seeing the great results it gave my friend with dark brown hair.
Here you can see the difference between my hair in the summer when I’ve been in a decent amount of sun, and in the winter (this isn’t a before/after of the sun-in product, it’s all my natural colouring that changes with the weather. The light haired photo was taken a couple of years ago, and as you can see I was pretty tanned too, and the dark haired one where I’m as pale as a ghost was last week). 
Now, sun-in is for blonde to dark brown haired people, it is not for those with black hair as it will turn it ginger. My friend E used the gentle one, and as it worked on her dark brown hair, it should work on my dark blonde hair, right? Wrong. It didn’t work. At all.
I followed all of the instructions religiously, and after it didn’t work the first time, I tried it for a second, and third time. Despite blow-drying and straightening my hair after all three attempts (it works with heat), it didn’t make my hair lighter at all! Yet it worked after just two tries for E! So weird.
And the worst part? It completely damaged my hair. I used to have beautifully silky soft and shiny hair from never using chemicals on it, and after I used sun-in (which contains hydrogen peroxide), it became straw-like; very knotty and dry, and just generally felt rough and absolutely horrible!
I threw the bottle straight in the bin, and went out to buy intensive conditioners, and thankfully I chose one with keratin in it so after a few uses of it my hair is now back to it’s normal shiny, silky smooth self. I’ll do a separate review post on that conditioner because I’m SO happy I’ve found it – it’s the best one I have ever used, and doesn’t break the bank! So keep an eye out for that review – it’ll be up Wednesday 🙂
So, a word of warning; unless your hair is used to chemicals, be very careful when using this product.
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Catherine Lux
Catherine Lux

Catherine Lux is a veteran travel blogger by night and the Head of SEO at Havas Media Group by day. Originally from Surrey, she spent four years living in Australia (2007-2009, and 2016-2018), and now lives in London. An ex-party girl sometimes prone to relapses, she loves nothing more than sharing her fine dining and luxury travel experiences with her loyal readers.

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11 Comments

  1. Unknown
    September 23, 2012 / 9:39 pm

    Oh no, good old Sun In ruining more hair. It contains something called metallic salts which are only found in products like this and just for men, it's a pain for us hairdressers to get rid of.
    Plenty of deep conditioning treatments and love and your hair should be in tip top condition again x

    • Catherine Lux
      September 23, 2012 / 9:52 pm

      Oh gosh! Why on earth do they put it in products advertised for women?!

      I've been using this tresemme intensive conditioner over a week now and my hair is thankfully back to being lovely and soft 🙂

      Safe to say I will NEVER use any type of chemical in my hair ever again!

      Cx

  2. Unknown
    October 1, 2012 / 2:40 pm

    this is terrible, i wanted to try this aswell as i'm trying to get my hair as blonde as i can at the end before the salon next month, i was going to buy this, so glad i stayed clear!i was told to apply macadamia oil to my hair after i had it bleached this month!
    its worked quite well at helping to nourish it as bleach leaves gour hair dry doesn't :/
    i love tresemme products might give the mask a go to!

    charlotelizabeth.blogspot.co.uk

    • Catherine Lux
      October 3, 2012 / 3:55 pm

      It really is awful! Don't do it, just wait until you go to the hairdresser so they can do it properly and advise you the best way to lighten it.

      Definitely try the tresemme mask! It's fantastic! 🙂

      Cx

  3. Anonymous
    December 26, 2014 / 10:24 am

    Correct me if I'm wrong, but in your photo that says 'Dark Blonde Hair' your hair is brown. I've always equated blonde hair with the colour yellow but so many women who have brown hair seem to think of themselves as blondes. Is this a case of the emperor's new clothes or am I missing something?

    • Catherine Lux
      December 26, 2014 / 10:31 am

      To be honest that probably wasn't the best photo to use – it was taken in a very dark club with terrible lighting. I might actually change it to a photo taken in natural daylight. But anyway, I've actually asked many hairdressers about this as I myself think my hair is light brown in the winter months (then it goes really blonde in summer completely by itself!), but every one of them has said it's just dark blonde. I guess it's all a matter of opinion and the light you see it in at the time.

  4. Anonymous
    June 5, 2015 / 8:13 am

    Worst product ever.

  5. Unknown
    June 26, 2015 / 2:21 am

    I use this stuff RELIGIOUSLY, I don't understand how theres so many bad reviews.
    I went from dying my hair all the time to just using this and my hair is in such good condition, it's glossy,thick and smooth and made my hair that golden blonde rather than my original blonde! So strange when people have such differing results

    • Catherine Lux
      June 26, 2015 / 7:34 am

      Oooh weird!! Maybe after using hair dye your hair likes the sun-in as it has less chemicals? For me I think because I'd NEVER dyed my hair before, my hair just freaked out!

  6. coco
    October 12, 2016 / 4:00 pm

    it's better to use it when you're have already naturally blonde hair. When you're hair become darker and darker trought the years, it's a verry good product for maintain you're blonde hair.

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