The Future of Hair Color is...Soon
By Elizabeth Angell, Allure magazine
We usually get our news about hair color trends when companies give us a sneak peek at their latest products or top colorists tell us their predictions for what will be hot. But the latest glimpse into the future comes from science! In the journal Chemical Reviews, researchers examined almost 500 recent scientific articles and patents on the chemistry of permanent hair dye, and concluded that we're about to witness an explosion of new techniques.
Related: Make Over Your Hair; Get a Better Job
Most current products are based on a technology that's been around for 150 years: P-phenylenediamine, a chemical that changes color when exposed to air. It's very effective, but it can be messy and hard to control, as any beginner with a box of hair dye will tell you. Soon, though, we may be able to apply nano-sized colorants to our hair. Instead of chemically changing our shade, these miniscule particles would penetrate each hair shaft and remain trapped inside.
Related: 10 Products That Make Your Hair Healthier-Instantly
Not only would you get a much wider range of hair color possibilities, you'd probably get truer shade and it would last longer. Scientists are also developing substances that will stimulate your genes to produce the melanin pigment that colors hair-a hair dye pill. This could permanently eliminate grays and pesky roots that need touch ups. Now, this is the kind of progress I can get behind.
More from Allure:
• 10 Hairstyles That Will Make You Look 10 Years Younger
• 17 Bad Skin Habits
• 31 New Hair Ideas for 2011
• 10 New Sexy (and Speedy) Makeup Looks
• Perfect-Skin Secrets From Hollywood's Best Derms and Facialists
Photo Credit: Getty Images
