A Paris Hair Dye, a Junior Copywriter and Clairol Hair Color at Home

A Paris Hair Dye, a Junior Copywriter and Clairol Hair Color at Home

Clairol hair color has a better origin story than most perfumes, and it begins with a Depression-era trip to France. This edit follows it from boxed kits to purple toners to root touch-ups for the weeks between colors.

In 1931 a New York chemist named Lawrence Gelb sailed to France with his wife Joan and their two sons, looking for something to sell back home. What they found was a hair color made by a small Paris company called Mury, and it was called Clairol. Joan Gelb saw the potential at once, and the dye was said to penetrate the hair shaft. She became the company's president, gave demonstrations to department store buyers and hairdressers, and made hair color sound like grooming rather than scandal. Clairol hair color left salons for bathrooms in 1956, when the at-home Miss Clairol arrived with a line written by a junior copywriter named Shirley Polykoff: does she or doesn't she, only her hairdresser knows for sure. I love how modest the promise was. Not dramatic, just natural. Nice'n Easy followed in 1965 as the shampoo-in version. Below are four boxed kits, shown in medium brown as an example: Nice'n Easy permanent, Natural Instincts demi-permanent, Root Touch-Up permanent and the ammonia-free ColorStrong. Choose your own shade.

Twelve boxes on a pale gray page, one for each product in the first three grids of this edit, each with its brand and name printed below: Clairol Nice'n Easy Permanent Hair Color, 5 Medium Brown, Clairol Natural Instincts Demi-Permanent Hair Color, 5 Medium Brown, Clairol Root Touch-Up Permanent Hair Color, 5 Medium Brown, Clairol ColorStrong Ammonia-Free Permanent Hair Color, 5.0 Medium Brown, Clairol Professional Shimmer Lights Purple Shampoo, Clairol Professional Shimmer Lights Purple Conditioner, Clairol Professional Shimmer Lights Violet Toning Mask, Clairol Pro Shiner Gloss Treatment, Clairol Root Touch-Up Hair Coloring Spray, Medium Brown, Clairol Root Touch-Up Temporary Concealing Powder, Dark Brown, Clairol Root Touch-Up Semi-Permanent Hair Color Blending Gel, 5R Auburn Red and Clairol Professional Beautiful Collection Advanced Gray Solutions.
Clairol hair color

Four boxed color kits

Keeping blonde and silver bright

Color only looks good if the tone behind it holds up. This grid is for blonde, highlighted, silver and gray hair, and every piece here is about keeping it bright. The purple shampoo and purple conditioner are the regular pair, aimed at the yellow that creeps in as color fades. The conditioner can be used twice a week or as needed, and the brand says the violet toning mask goes on clean, wet hair for five minutes, once or twice a week. It has lavender extract plus jojoba, coconut and argan oils, so it feels like a real conditioning treatment. The Pro Shiner gloss is the odd one out, with no tint at all, just a treatment you use in place of your regular conditioner. A tip: start with the shampoo once a week and see how your hair reacts, because violet pigments can build up cooler than you expect. What I would skip is leaving any of it on for longer on a hunch. Follow the minutes on the label.

Tone and shine

Covering roots between colors

This is the grid I would keep in a drawer. New growth shows long before the rest of your color does, and none of these pieces is meant to replace a full color. The spray is the fastest, a ten second cover for grays that is water resistant and made without peroxide or ammonia. The concealing powder is temporary, washes out with shampoo, and the brand says it can also conceal single strands, touch up temples or define brows. The blending gel is semi-permanent: brush it on, rinse and go, with the brand saying it lasts through 10 or more washes. Beautiful Collection Advanced Gray Solutions is from the professional side, free of ammonia and peroxide, and the brand says it suits curly and coily textures. I would test the shade on a hidden section first, because touch-ups read differently on dry hair. What I would skip is layering several of these on the same day. Pick one.

Between colors

Pick your own shade

Home color is a bit of chemistry and a bit of patience, so the last thing I want to say is practical. The box asks you to do an allergy patch test 48 hours before coloring, every time, even if you have colored before. Clairol repeats it on its help page, and so do I. The shades shown here are examples, such as 5 Medium Brown or 5R Auburn Red, so match your own color by the swatch on the pack, and your natural base, not by the name. And after that, go slowly. If you want to keep browsing, I also put together Good Dye Young and Wella Hair Color at Home, Plus the Glosses and Color-Safe Shampoos to Keep It Fresh.

More for color treated hair, from roots to gloss