Qwerty’s questions…Clairol now has something called just Gray Solution with a retexturizing pretreatment. What does the Retexturizing Pre-treatment really do and will a regular perm hair color work just as well or will this product do better at keeping gray roots colored longer?
The Beauty Brains respond:
Let’s start by reviewing Clairol’s instructions for this product:
How do you use Gray Solutions?
Step 1 Pretreat: Apply the retexturizing treatment to dry hair.
Step 2 Mix: Combine the color cream with activator (hydrogen peroxide solution.)
Step 3 Apply: Work the color mixture through your hair (this actual procedure varies depending on whether you’re touching up roots or doing all over coloring.
How does Gray Solution work?
The Retexturizing Pretreatment is basically a solution of fairly concentrated positively charged conditioning agents (namely Quaternium-80 and Soytrimonium chloride) in propylene glycol.
This mixture can work three ways:
First, the propylene glycol is pretty good booster of water absorption and will allow the hair to swell faster and better and the aqueous mixtures of peroxide and dye intermediates to get inside the hair and do their thing. Second, it conditions the hair, making it softer and easier for the color to penetrate.
And third, because they are positively charged, these conditioners react with the colorants, locking them into place.
Does Gray Solution work better than other colors?
If you read the product claims carefully you’ll see that it promises to give you “long-lasting coverage of resistant grays” and that the color “lasts and lasts.” It doesn’t say how long it should last and it doesn’t make any comparative claims to other products.
We’ve never tested this product but if the pretreatment does truly allow more color to penetrate it would give Gray Solution an advantage in terms of color longevity. Of course no matter how long the color lasts, you’ll still have to worry about your roots showing as your hair grows out.
The Beauty Brains bottom line
To be honest, we can’t tell you for sure that this is worth the extra money (Priced at about $30 it’s a bit more expensive than other hair colors). But if you’re having trouble with your grays being resistant, there’s enough science here to indicate that the extra step of the pretreatment may help.
Nice ‘n Easy Gray Solution Gray Retexturizing Pre-treatment Ingredients
Water, Propylene Glycol, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Quaternium-80, Soytrimonium Chloride, PEG-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Phenoxyethanol, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Fragrance, DMDM, Hydantoin, Disodium EDTA, Hydrolyzed Sweet Almond Protein
Image credit: http://pixabay.com
If you do decide to try Gray Solution
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Fyi…the $30 price appears to be for a pack of three
Thanks Klee, we didn’t catch that.
Thank you BeautyBrains! I appreciate the answers the Brains provide and the research the Brains do!
We love you too, Qwerty!
Grey hair sometimes looks frumpy but silver foxes are sexy.
I love my silvering hair but I loathe grey/white/silver/transparent hairs in my fairly thick eyebrows. I promise myself that I will not tweeze them but I always do and it makes my brows look ragged and balding in spots.
And please don’t tell me that coloring my brows is dangerous. I’ve done it since I was 30 and I’m now 80.
Has anyone used this product on eyebrows and if yes, does it work? I made my brows platinum for decades but with my ancient face, the look no longer works. And the Wella Color Charm permanent gel hair color that I use doesn’t really color the grey.
@Marly I would not know if it works on eyebrows or if it is even good or safe to try on eyebrows. I have not yet tried it on my hair. I probably will at some point but right now I am still considering it. I just thought you might want to post your question in the forum. I think you will have a better chance of getting an answer there. Good luck.