Sandy says…Talk to me about these new hair color glazes on the market. What do you know? Do you like ‘em?

The Right Brain replies:
Hair color glazes are all the rage these days. We here at the Beauty Brains have taken a look and even tried them and have the following observations.

What’s in there?

Here is John Frieda’s Brilliant Brunette Luminous Color Glaze. It’s interesting to note that except for the color of the formulas, the Brunette, Red head, and Blonde formulas are pretty much the same.

Water, Propylene Carbonate, Alcohol Denat., PEG-12 Dimethicone, Dimethicone, Citric Acid, Hydrogenated Polydecene, Xanthan Gum, Dimethiconol, Oleyl Alcohol, Sodium Hydroxide, Propylene Glycol, Methylcloroisothiazolinone, Methylisothizolinone, Pearl Powder, Fragrance, Iron Oxides, Mica, Titnaium Dioxide, Orange No. 4, Yellow No. 10, Ext. Violet No. 2.

The first three ingredients are just solvents that just make the product easier to use. The next two are silicones that condition the hair and coat it with a thin, slick film. These are the things that provide the product`s main benefits. The rest of the ingredients are thickeners, solvents, preservatives, adjusting agents, and colorants.

How do they work?

The instructions tell you to put it on AFTER you’ve shampooed and conditioned your hair. Leave on for three minutes and rinse. Essentially, this product coats the hair with a slick film that doesn’t easily rinse out. As an aside, the 3 minute thing doesn’t really matter. As soon as you put this product on your hair it`s done all the work it will do. 1 minute, 3 minutes, 20 minutes, it doesn’t really change anything even though it seems like it does.

The Beauty Brains bottom line

Are they worth using? If you are already using a good conditioner (one with silicones) then you won’t see much extra benefit from these products. One Beauty Brain affiliate tested the product and could see no difference at all. The truth is the extra application of product and rinsing will actually contribute to hair color loss. If you want extra shine, your best bet is to use a shine spray that you put in your hair after you get out of the shower. These will work better and are generally less expensive.

Mid Brain muses…

Scientists think they’ve figured out the cause of gray hair. In the June 12 issue of Cell, researchers describe ‘genotoxic stress’ that damages DNA and reduces the amount of melanin-producing cells (melanocytes) in hair follicles.

What kind of stress?

While emotional stress may be one factor, the kind of stress that these researchers are talking about are more molecular in nature. These include exposure to UV light, ionizing radiation and mutagenic chemicals. It’s estimated that cells get exposed to over 100,000 stressors each day.

Can you stop gray hair?

According to researchers, the cell damage is unavoidable which suggests there is little that can be done to stop the gradual onset of gray hair. Sun protection and anti-oxidants may help slow things down but eventually exposure to environmental stress will catch up to everyone. Fortunately, cosmetic chemists have come up with hair color.  So everyone can look like they’ve got the hair of a 20-year-old.

When did you start to go gray?  And do you cover it up with hair color?  Leave a comment below because inquiring Beauty Brains need to know.

Gauhar goes gray…I am 34. My hair is about 80% gray. I am in a very conservative profession. I know that going all gray will negatively affect my career. I am having troubles with hair dye sticking to my hair. Is there any affordable, easy, simple do-it-yourself hair color, which is much better for gray hair coverage?

The Right Brain replies:

Hair color technology has been around a long time and there have been very few earth-shaking breakthroughs in the category. But now Clairol says they have a new Advanced Gray Solution technology that is gentler and provides better gray coverage. They claim that it covers gray by combining the best of demi and semi permanent hair coloring technology. While this technology is being marketed primarily to African Americans, you might find that it applies to your hair type as well.

Does Clairol Advanced Gray Solution really work?

The information on Clairol’s website was intriguing but it didn’t provide enough information for us to make a balanced assessment. So we asked for Clairol for more information. We submitted the following five key questions which they were nice enough to answer. Here are our questions along with their answers.

Q1. How does it combine the benefits from both semi and demi-permanent color?

A1. Beautiful Collection Advanced Gray Solution combines the gentleness of a semi-permanent color with the coverage capabilities of a near demi-permanent color. Typical semi-permanent colors often wash out quickly and provide only limited gray coverage. This is because semi-permanent color is a one-step process that delivers dye molecules that sit just under the hair cuticle, causing the color to wash out quickly. Alternatively, demi-permanent hair colors are used with a developer that contains peroxide. The developer, in conjunction with an oxidative dye, forms a molecule that is able to penetrate the hair shaft to provide longer-lasting results. Unfortunately, peroxide is not beneficial to African-American hair because it weakens it, making it even more susceptible to chemical damage. Advanced Gray Solution’s SynAIRgy technology creates a whole new kind of dye system – one with direct acting dyes that wrap the outside of the hair, and oxidative dyes that react with oxygen in the AIR (instead of a developer) to form a larger molecule able to penetrate more deeply into the hair shaft. With no ammonia and no peroxide, it’s gentle enough to use immediately after a relaxer service.

Q2. What are the ingredients in the product?
A2. Advanced Gray Solution’s enriched formula contains oleic acid and fatty alcohols to leave hair feeling moisturized and full of shine. The entire ingredient list includes:

* Water * Oleic Acid * Toluene-2 * Ascorbic Acid * Undeceth-3 * Cetearyl Alcohol * 5-Diamine Sulfate * 2-Methylresorcinol * Alcohol Denat. * Glycol Distearate * Fragrance * 2-Amino-6-Chloro-4-Nitrophenol * Ethanolamine * Cocamidopropyl Betaine * Resorcinol * Disodium Edta * Hydroxyethyl-2-Nitro-P-Touidine * Basic Blue 99 * HC Red No. 3 * M-Aminophenol

Q3. How does Advanced Gray Solutions react with oxygen in the air instead of a developer?

A3. Advanced Gray Solution’s breakthrough SynAIRgy technology contains an oxidative dye that uses oxygen in the air as a color developer to form a large dye molecule, eliminating the need to use a product with hydrogen peroxide for longer-lasting coverage.

Q4. How does it form a “larger molecule able to penetrate more deeply into the hair shaft” when generally speaking, smaller molecules penetrate better?

A4. The word ‘larger’ is a relative term. A molecule that is larger than the direct dye molecules will stay under the hair cuticle and begin to wedge itself into the cortex.  Smaller dye molecules like the ones in direct dyes will simply sit under cuticle and rinse out within 4-6 weeks.

Q5. Are there any details on the testing that was done to establish that Advanced Gray Solution provides up to 50% gray coverage vs. up to 25% for most other semi-permanent colors?

A5. The secret to Advanced Gray Solution’s greater gray coverage is the formula’s new-to-the-world SynAIRgy technology. With this breakthrough technology we are able to have two dye systems: direct acting dyes that sit just under the hair cuticle, and oxidative dyes that penetrate more deeply into the hair shaft. Since gray hair lacks melanin, we found that this two dye systems works significantly better than other semi-permanent colors to provide longer-lasting gray coverage.

The Beauty Brains bottom line

Without first hand information of their formulations or access to their test results, it’s difficult for us to determine if this technology provide differentiated benefits that are consumer perceptible or not. But Clairol was kind enough to provide relatively specific answers to our questions, even if they may be lacking in some detail. Nonetheless, we thank them for that information. In our experience, very few brands are willing to submit their products to this kind of scrutiny; so we give them high marks for their openness. Having said that, its up to you to decide if you think the information they provided was helpful in making your decision to try their product. I’m sure they’d appreciate hearing your feedback.

What do YOU think? Did Clairol’s answers to our questions convince you that their product lives up to their claims? Here’s your chance to have your voice heard by a major beauty products manufacture. Leave a comment!

Jennifer has an unusual problem..I highlighted my hair and recently had my roots done. I use a Bio-ionic blow dryer and curling iron a few times a week. I just noticed last night that the ends of my hair are turning pink!!! Oddly enough, one of the pair of silver colored hoop earrings that I often wear is also turning pink. This may be due to tarnish and unrelated to the hair turning pink but I can not figure out for the life of me why my ends are turning pink!! Can you please help me?

The Left Brain Brainstorms:
From your description it’s hard to say exactly what’s causing the pink spots, but we like your earrings theory. The hair dye could be reacting with the hoops causing a metal “salt” to be left on your hair. This kind of chemical reaction (metal oxidation) can result in a pink color. (At least you don’t have a hair dye allergy or your face would be swollen and puffy.) We can’t prove this is the cause, but it does make us worried about dying our hair and wearing silver.

What can you do about it? Shampooing twice a day for a few days might help. And as a last resort, you can cut the ends off and go to Eve’s Addiction or Philip Noel for a new pair of hoops!

The Right Brain instructs…

We haven’t done a Beauty Science post in a while so here’s one on hair color.

Alright, admit it. You’ve gone to the salon or bought a box at the store just to change the color of your hair. It’s not surprising as over 75% of women in the United States report coloring their hair.  But did you ever wonder what exactly is going on?  How are your lovely brown locks transformed into sassy blond strands?

A brief history of hair coloring

Before we talk about how hair color is changed now, it is helpful to know how women have been modifying their hair color for centuries. Ancient Egyptians were known to use indigo leaves, black walnut shells and henna extracts to give their jet black hair reddish or bluish tints. Women in India also used henna to color their hair. Lighter colors were achieved by the ancient Roman women who used acidic plant extracts and sun to bleach their colors. Unfortunately, these natural solutions had limited and inconsistent effects. And it wasn’t until the late 1800s when hydrogen peroxide solutions were introduced that people were actually able to create truly blond hair.

What makes your hair’s natural color?

You might be surprised to learn that all natural hair colors are the result of only 2 types of hair pigment. That’s right, red heads, blonds, and brunettes are all created by the same 2 pigments. Both of these pigments are a type of melanin and it is produced right inside your hair follicle. Phaeomelanin is responsible for the yellowish-blond to red colors and Eumelanin is responsible for the brown to black shades.

What about gray hair?  Well, this is what happens when you stop producing these melanin molecules. Grey/white hair is what hair looks like when there is no pigment.

How is hair color changed?

If you’re like most people, you’ve changed the color of your hair at some point in your life. There are really only three ways that hair is colored, bleaching, staining, or a combination of both. Which one you use depends on primarily on factors including your starting hair color, your ending hair color, and how long you want it to last.

Going lighter

We’ve already talked about what gives your hair its natural color. If you have dark hair and want to go lighter then you have to do something to remove the color you’ve already got. This is where bleaching comes in.

Bleach (most commonly hydrogen peroxide) chemically reacts with the hair’s melanin rendering it permanently colorless. How light it gets depends on the strength of the bleach solution and the amount of time it is left on the hair. If you have a really dark color you’ll need to use repeated applications to chemically change all of the melanin. But even if you use the strongest bleach you can find, the hair will maintain a pale yellow tint. This is due to the fact that there is still some melanin that will remain unreacted. To get all of the pigment to react, an alkaline solution is used in addition to the peroxide in order to open up the hair’s cuticles and allow the bleach into the hair shaft.

Note that bleaching is a permanent color change that is not reversible. If you lighten your hair you can only go dark again by coloring it or letting new hair grow out.

Making your hair darker

To make hair darker you’ll need to add color to it. If you are not sure about a new color, you should start with a temporary hair colorant. Temporary or semi-permanent hair colors are stains that deposit color on the outside of the hair shaft. These are the same type of compounds people have been using for centuries. Unfortunately (or fortunately) they wash out after a number of shampooings.

Of course, the lighter your hair the easier it will be to add different hair colors. If you have blond hair you can go to almost any color from black to red to brown to blue. If you have dark hair changing to a different shade will require a different strategy.

Changing to a different hair color shade

If you want to really change your hair color then you’ll want to have a permanent dye job. No matter what hair color you start with, permanent dying is a two-step process. First, your natural hair color is removed through the process of bleaching as described above. Then the hair dye is put on your hair where it chemically reacts to permanently change the color. Typically, both of these processes happen at the same time.

The permanent hair dyes are special chemicals. They start out as tiny molecules (called monomers) that are small enough to penetrate into your hair shafts. Then when they are there, they react with each other to create bigger molecules (called polymers). These polymers are so big that they can not be washed out of your hair. They stay in your hair even through shampooing. At least they are supposed to.

The problem with ‘permanent’ hair color

In an ideal world, permanent hair color would stay permanent. Unfortunately, hair color can be removed and it is, EVERY TIME YOU WASH. Anytime you expose your artificial hair color to water and shampoo you lose more and more hair dye.  And it doesn’t matter what kind of shampoo you are using.  ALL Shampoos that require you to get your hair wet will strip hair color.  This is why you are not able to keep the just-from-the-salon look for more than a couple of days.

Interested in other beauty science topics?  Leave a comment and we’ll try to do a write-up soon.