Harsh chemicals, nasty odours,damaged hair, even an irritatedor stinging scalp – these are all things women have been prepared to put up with to cover grey hair.But the new generation of gentler ammonia-free hair dyes promise to give us radiant colour without the unpleasant side effects.
Ammonia has been used in permanent hair colour for decades. It swells the cuticle of the hair and opens it up to allow the colour pigments to penetrate deep into the shaft. The downside of this is that hair is left roughened and prone to drying out.
Ammonia-free formulas
Women were asking for gentler ingredients in their permanent hair colourants so the beauty companies started working on finding new, much less damaging ways to infuse hair with colour. It’s still necessary to alter the pH balance of the hair and make it more alkaline so the colour molecules can do their work, but by doing away with ammonia the new dyes are much kinder.
If you have a sensitive scalp or delicate, thinning or badly damaged hair, it makes good sense to go ammonia-free. These dyes still do contain powerful ingredients – they wouldn’t cover your greys otherwise. But the idea is that anything damaging or irritating is left out or minimised as much as possible and that there is a step in the colouring process that smooths down the hair cuticle and returns it to its normal, healthy pH balance afterwards.
organic Colour Systems
This is one of the original ammonia-free colours and was established by a UK hairdresser who was suffering from bad dermatitis as a result of exposure to so many chemicals. The range is ammonia-free and harsh chemicals have been either replaced by natural products or reduced to non-irritating levels. The formula also contains organic orange, chamomile, grapefruit, aloe vera and comfrey to soothe and heal your hair.
Inoa
The latest breakthrough from beauty giant L’oréal, hairdressers are already loving this new permanent hair dye as they say it gives a brilliant, radiant finish and is fast and easy to use. It contains a patented oil delivery system that carries colour deep into the hair fibre. Greys are covered, hair can be darkened or it can be lightened up to three shades. I asked our Lifestyle Editor, Louise Richardson, to try it out and here’s what she thought of this groundbreaking new product:
“Recently, some rogue silver hairs appeared amongst my middle-aged, mid-brown locks and as my kids soon tired of pulling them out for me, it was obvious something needed to be done! Enter INoA, a revolutionary new colour system from L’oréal. Gone are the days of nostril-tingling ammonia. INoA doesn’t smell at all, yet it’s incredibly gentle and effective, delivering rich, permanent colour.
At Auckland salon Bettjemans, their expert colourists wove their magic, treating me to a most welcome scalp massage as part of the rinsing process. I’m thrilled with the depth and shine of the colour and because it hasn’t endured the usual harsh, chemical colouring assault, my hair feels beautifully conditioned.”
- Louise Richardson, Lifestyle Editor
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