The advancements in home hair colouring and care have arrived at a perfect time.

A new generation of hair-care and dye innovations are disrupting how we perceive at-home hair colour.

I’m not ashamed to admit that I’ve had an intimate relationship with boxed hair colour. I met my perfect blond (L’Oréal Paris Superior Preference) at the drugstore, which sparked an eightyear love affair. We were good together— really good. But in 2011, my eyes started to wander. I became infatuated with the ultra-flaxen colour that hairstylist Guido Palau whipped up backstage for models during the Fall 2011 shows. The colour was dubbed “Balenciaga blond” because of its prevalence on the house’s runway. I knew I couldn’t achieve this platinum blond from a box, so I dumped my shade and connected with a colourist, who set me up with the icy-blond hue.

Fast-forward to now. I recently dipped back into at-home dye, thanks to Moroccanoil’s new Color Depositing Mask in “Rose Gold,” and my eyes were opened to how much this category has changed over the past decade. A 2019 Procter & Gamble study found that

almost half (49 per cent) of Canadian women colour their hair, which is a small drop from previous years. This decrease has been linked to millennials losing interest in traditional salon services, along with concerns surrounding hair damage and harmful ingredients. “We’re seeing that millennials are taking matters into their own hands,” says Brennen Demelo, L’Oréal Paris Canada hair artist and expert. Changing work and lifestyle environments means that spending hours in the chair every eight weeks is not only expensive but also too much of a commitment. “They’re looking for products that are fast and easy and that focus on maintenance,” he says.

The shifting of consumers’ mindsets has spurred brands to continue advancing innovations (and ingredients) within formulas and to create new delivery methods that go beyond the bottle. One innovative segment that’s booming is root maintenance. “These products have vastly improved, and the kinds of delivery methods have exploded,” says Kevin Shapiro, vice president of marketing at Coty. Both permanent or temporary options are available, and they can be applied with mascara wands, crayons, brushes, sponges or sprays. Both Clairol (with the Root Touch-Up portfolio) and L’Oréal Paris (with Magic Root Cover Up) have created collections to address a full spectrum of grow-out needs.

Any colourist will tell you that when it comes to at-home colour, it’s important to know when to DIY and when to pony up for the salon. “With home colour, there’s a safe zone to stay in,” says Stacey Staley, owner of Blonde Salon in Toronto and co-owner of Bluxom Salon in San Diego. Staley says the sweet spot is to stay within two shades, lighter or darker, of your current colour. Another challenging area to navigate and that’s best left to the pros is when you’re switching up your shade. “Many consumers don’t realize that if they’ve coloured before, the new colour can’t lift and deposit tone on the previously coloured hair, only their natural hair colour,” says Shapiro.

Hair texture is also a big factor to consider before picking up the bottle. Curly or afro-textured hair can actually be altered by certain dyes, especially when it’s bleached. “Any time you start to spike the hair’s pH, even with colour, you can actually destroy the curl pattern; it can act almost like a »

relaxer,” says Fay Linksman, educational trainer and studio manager at Wella Professionals. If you decide to colour your curls at home, tread carefully: Do a patch test, and stick with darker (than your natural hair) demi-permanent shades. Demi-permanent hair colour is ammonia-free, so its molecules get under the outer cuticle of the hair shaft but, unlike permanent dye, don’t penetrate the cortex. Instead, the pigment coats the hair and gradually washes away. “When it comes to lightening highly textured hair, leave it to the professionals,” says Staley.

To further customize the at-home experience, and for those uncertain about taking the plunge into permanent dye, there’s a new class of hybrid hair colour that’s making its way onto our heads: nourishing treatments mixed with colours, tints and toners. Products like DPHue Gloss + Semi-Permanent Hair Color and Deep Conditioner ($45) and Garnier Nutrisse Color Reviver mask ($11) are for people who are either uncertain about taking the plunge into permanent colours or want to boost their current hue. Temporary and semi-permanent dyes infuse your hair with soft, natural-looking colour that washes out after several (five to 30) shampoos, making them the ultimate choice for commitment-phobes. Plus, these versions are infused with conditioning masks so the products can be applied with ease in the shower—and only take five to 20 minutes to develop.

A major piece of the hair colour puzzle is in-shower and styling care. Think about it as your colour’s insurance policy. When you dye your hair, the pigments are held inside the hair strands, says Kirsten McIntosh, a technical development specialist with Revlon Professional. Strands are surrounded by colour-stealing culprits such as water, heat and pollution; these can lift the hair shaft’s cuticle, allowing pigment particles to escape, resulting in faded colour. McIntosh says that the most important thing you can do is use colour-safe sulfate-free shampoo.

It’s clear that brands are listening to what we want and pivoting to address demand with customizable, convenient and inclusive colour options. No matter what shade you are, the future is looking bright.