What Is In Plant-Based Hair Color?

Historically, plants were used to dye all sorts of fabrics. Gardens were harvested for blooms like indigo, saffron and madder root to produce a wide spectrum of blues, yellows, reds and many combinations of those primary colors. People also applied plant-based dyes on their hair and skin until the emergence of modern cosmetic and hair color products.

The hair color commonly found in salons today contains a variety of chemical ingredients, including ammonia-based developers that help push the color into the hair strand. But plant-based hair color--like Biolage Haircolor--contains no ammonia. Instead it is formulated from plant-based colorants that are carefully selected, purified and coated with coconut oil to help maintain healthy hair. Biolage Haircolor also contains purified henna leaves with no metallic salts; cassia leaves for intense shine; and a small amount of pure direct dyes used to balance and stabilize each formula. It’s vegan and “clean”--containing no more than 10 ingredients total.

What Can Plant-Based Hair Color Do?

Modern plant-based hair colors are quite sophisticated and effective, thanks to advanced scientific know-how when it comes to selecting and combining the best ingredients. Hairstylists are using plant-based Biolage Haircolor formulas to tone or gloss hair that has already been colored or lightened; to refresh or enhance natural hair color and to blend away grey hair color.

And thanks to a modern lineup of shades that includes warm and cool natural hues, as well as choices from the fashion spectrum (Mint, Rhubarb and Lavender for example), you can sport nearly any Instagram-worthy hair color. One note--because plant-based hair colors are direct dyes, they are classified as “deposit-only” which means they are no-lift products that will not lighten the hair.

How Long Will Plant-Based Hair Color Last?

A modern plant-based hair color formula like Biolage Haircolor lasts up to 20 shampoos. Some fading will occur, but thanks to the smart balance of ingredients in each color, the hair color will not become brassy, ashy, browned out or greened out as it fades—it will fade on-tone and just gradually become lighter.

What’s The Best Hair Care For Plant-Based Hair Color?

For best results, your hairstylist will use a balancing treatment like Biolage R.A.W. Acidic Milk Rinse immediately after the color service to rebalance the hair’s pH level. This helps the color last longer and keeps the hair softer and smoother. Between color applications, regular use of a natural-origin color hair care system like Biolage R.A.W. Color Care Shampoo and Conditioner will keep colored hair as healthy as possible, doing so with ingredients like meadowfoam and coconut milk and without additives like silicones, sulfates, parabens and artificial colorants.

What A Hairstylist Has To Say About Plant-Based Hair Color

“Typically, when a client requested natural hair color, we didn’t have many options,” says Los Angeles-based salon owner and Matrix Artistic Director Dan Csicsai. “Henna was about the only thing that was 100 percent natural, but henna contains high levels of metallic salts that aren’t good for the hair, plus henna shades are limited, difficult to control and difficult to remove from the hair.

Other natural products simply didn’t perform the way hair color clients expected. But we’re finding Biolage Haircolor delivers excellent results. It’s mixed with water instead of developer; it delivers healthy, shiny hair color and actually makes the hair stronger. And the shades are all inter-mixable so the color options for every client are limitless.”