Be A Lock Star

Posted: Monday 10 October 2011 11:44am

To dye or not to dye isn’t much of a dilemma in Australia, it seems. Eight out of 10 Australian women colour their hair to turn back the clock or to bring out their inner Linda Evangelista by trying something new, according to L’Oreal Paris.

Three out of eight of us opt for the DIY approach with home hair colouring, a further three out of eight always book an appointment at a hair salon and the remaining 25 per cent alternate between their bathroom sinks and the stylist to achieve a more vibrant looking head of hair.

Only four companies dominate the Australian hair colourant market estimated to be worth $180 million a year – L’Oreal Paris, Garnier, Clairol and Schwarzkopf – and we’ve been faithful to many of the same brands for years.

You would think that with more of us than ever reaching for the bottle, hair colouring would be a breeze. It is, of course, as the major companies are constantly updating their products and making them simpler to use. But hair colouring isn’t just about fudging our age and fashion, it’s also about the health of our crowning glories.

TAKING CARE
One of the most commonly asked questions is – Will regular colouring thin my hair? It’s no mystery why this is a popular query because women aged 40 to 54 are the main colourant-buying age group revealed, according to a Roy Morgan Research study.

But the hard facts are that many people only start colouring their hair when it turns grey, when it has begun to thin naturally as part of the ageing process. Or, if they have started colouring their hair at a young age, they notice that their hair starts to thin in their 30s and 40s. Again, a natural sign of ageing.

A bad colour job, on the other hand, can cause breakage but don’t confuse this with hair loss.

Colouring your hair regularly does tend to dry the hair, though, especially when you use a permanent colour or the dye contains a bleaching agent. To keep hair in tip-top condition, always choose a moisture-balancing or hydrating shampoo and conditioner such as Clairol Herbal Essences Hello Hydration Moisturising Shampoo and Conditioner (both rrp $5.99) or Pantene Pro-V Daily Moisture Renewal Shampoo and Conditioner (both rrp $7.99). Or, better still, use one of the many colour-enhancing shampoos and conditioners on the market that not only “lock in” your colour longer, they also nourish the hair.

Top buys include: L’Oreal Paris Elvive Colour Protect Shampoo and Conditioner (both rrp $6.95) and Garnier Fructis Colour Resist Shampoo and Conditioner (both rrp $5.95). Regular blonding treatments can leave hair even more dry and brittle. Pantene Pro-V Night Miracle Leave On Creme Serum (rrp$9.99) helps to repair each cuticle as you sleep.

CHOOSING THE RIGHT PRODUCT
Whether to choose a permanent or semi-permanent colour ranks right up there with Hamlet’s To Be or Not To Be as one of the most repeated dilemmas of home hair colouring.

If you are a newbie or have hair that is less than 15 per cent grey it could be better to start with a semi-permanent which washes out after 6 to 8 washes. But if you’re looking to cover more grey permanent hair colour is best because it is mainly applied to new hair growth at the roots, briefly overlapping previously dyed hair.

A semi-permanent colour is applied over the whole head each time because it fades more rapidly so with hair growing at the rate of 1.2 cm a month, if your main aim is to wash away the greys the ends of your hair would be subjected to a colour treatment they don’t need every few weeks and could end up being darker than the roots.

Good buys in permanent hair colours are: Clairol Nice ‘n’ Easy Colour Blend (rrp $13.99), L’Oreal Paris Excell10′ (rrp $18.35; 19 shades) and Garnier Nutrisse 100% Color ( rrp $14.95). If you just want to change your hair colour rather than banish grey hair, Schwarzkopf Brilliance offers an intense range of vibrant fashion colours to choose from ($14.99).

And an absolute godsend when you are travelling or don’t have the time to do a whole colour job is Clairol Nice ‘n’ Easy Root Touch-Up (rrp $12.59) which nixes greys that show through your parting, forehead and temples halfway through the colour cycle in just 10 minutes.

SAFETY FIRST
Regular use of many everyday products causes us to wonder about the possibility of long term effects. For the past 30 years there have been recurring scares about hair colours causing cancer. As a result, hair colourants are one of the most studied and researched of personal care products.

Many of the carcinogenic ingredients fingered two or three decades are no longer used in today’s products and evidence that hair colouring is safe has been demonstrated in two large scale studies by the American Cancer Council and Harvard University.

It’s only been a few years since health food stores were the only places you could buy an ammonia-free hair colourant. The drawbacks of many of these natural colourants was early fade-out and/or dry or brittle hair.

Then L’Oreal Paris, mindful of the fact that many women now want to limit their daily exposure to chemicals, launched Casting Creme Gloss (rrp $16.45; 28 shades). It was such an immediate success with Australian women that it captured a massive slice of the ammonia-free home hair colourant market within a few months. Enriched with royal jelly, Casting Creme Gloss offers rich-looking, intense results that lasts up to 28 shampoos.

Which brings us to some of the most important advice of all. Most “issues” with hair colours arise because the dye doesn’t take evenly. It’s often not the product that is at fault but the state of your hair. A week before colouring, ALWAYS treat your hair to an intensive conditioning treatment to strengthen it so that it really does look as lustrous as shiny as the model’s on the box.

THE ULTIMATE DIY GUIDE
* Always buy a product with a colour guide to show you what the finished results will look like.

* Don’t shampoo just before colouring or you will strip your hair of its protective natural oils.

* Always follow the packet instructions religiously.

* Don’t try to change your hair colour hair by more than three shades. Even Charlize Theron didn’t look good when she briefly dyed her hair black and Catherine Zeta Jones aged a decade when she once turned blonde.

* Smear your hairline and ears with Vaseline to stop the colour staining your skin.

* Watch the clock and don’t leave the colour on for too long.

* Bear in mind that the colour depicted on the box, like a paint chart, is only approximate.

* When repeating a colour, put it on the roots for the first 15 minutes, then massage or comb through the rest of your hair.

* Don’t over-use heated styling appliances and always towel dry your hair before using a brush or comb.

For more information about achieving salon-quality results from home hair colouring, plus the top tress trends for summer, celebrity colourist Belinda Jeffrey (think Miranda Kerr, Megan Gale, Sarah Murdoch) answers commonly-asked questions - just click here.

by Elisabeth King

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