Jenna just wants to be happy… In many customer reviews for a product called “Shine Happy” by Clairol, which claims to be like a salon gloss treatment, people complained that it lightened their hair colour. Is there a reason why this would occur with this product but not with the glossing treatments performed in salons? Also, relatively speaking, where do this product and the “glossing” treatments performed in salons fall on the doing-damage-to-your-hair scale?
The Left Brain enlightens her:
Clairol’s “Shine Happy” is actually like a hair coloring treatment. The reason that people’s hair is turning lighter is because they are putting Hydrogen Peroxide on it.
Glossing ingredients
Here is a list of the ingredients.
Water, Hydrogen Peroxide, Acrylates Copolymer, Steareth-21, Oleth-2, Oleth-5, PEG-50 Hydrogenated Palmamide, Acrylates/Steareth-20 Methacrylate Copolymer, Oleyl Alcohol, Etidronic Acid, Disodium EDTA, Simethicone.
Notice the second ingredient? Peroxide is the thing that colorists use to “dye” hair blonde.
Glossing treatments in a salon either do not contain Peroxide (many are just silicone treatments) or they are put on by the stylist and rinsed away before the color has time to noticeably lighten. When you do it yourself at home, leaving it on too long will result in color lightening.
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I’ve wondered about these salon glossing treatments and the Shine Happy and other similar store ones. I wonder how you’d do a glossing treatment (with just silicones) at home?
That makes me wonder whether it would be a good idea to lighten your hair (on purpose) using just a hydrogen peroxide solution. Do you think it would be possible and safe to use a 3% hydrogen peroxide solution on your hair to lighten it? Would the effect be noticeable at this concentration?
I think 3% is actually consistent with what’s in many demi-permanent hair colors. For example, Redken’s shades EQ (of which there is also a “clear” version) contains 2% hydrogen peroxide. They don’t contain a lot, so typically, if you leave it on for the amount of time recommended, you won’t see noticeable roots. Maybe some people whose hair is fine or porous need to leave it on for a shorter time?