L’Oréal Colorsonic review: shades of gray

When I was a kid, my ma and auntie would retreat into the bathroom, hands wrapped successful latex gloves, paper covering the counters and level arsenic they mixed unneurotic a dark, foul-smelling paste successful a integrative bowl. For hours, they’d alternately gossip and brushwood the paste into each other’s hair. When the monthly ritual was done, their grey hairs had been wholly vanquished. I, a judgmental know-it-all, would scrunch my chemoreceptor and accidental this each seemed similar excessively overmuch effort. 

They told maine to hold until I started graying.

Two decades later, I support that I was correct. Thanks to an ill-fated pandemic experimentation with purple hair, I cognize at-home hairsbreadth dyeing is simply a righteous symptom successful the butt. I vowed to ne'er bash it again. Then, astatine my past haircut, my stylist tried to upsell maine connected a dye occupation because, “You’re excessively young to beryllium this gray.” At that moment, I saw my ma and auntie successful that aged bathroom, pointing their fingers astatine me, cackling. 

Thus began my two-month experimentation with L’Oréal’s Colorsonic.

I archetypal came crossed the $124.99 L’Oréal Colorsonic astatine CES 2022. It’s a high-tech hairsbreadth wand with bristles that spit retired goo truthful you tin rapidly dye your hair. The bottommost fractional has an bare enclosure wherever you insert a refillable hairsbreadth dye cartridge. The apical fractional has a nozzle with bristles that oscillate much than 300 times a infinitesimal to evenly use color. You property a button, brushwood this happening done your hair, and voila! You’re done. There are immoderate other techy features thrown successful — for instance, the cartridges person chips truthful the instrumentality tin archer you however overmuch dye is left. The transportation is to marque dyeing your full head, basal touch-ups, and covering grays easier, quicker, and much affordable than a travel to the salon. And successful the satellite of quality tech gadgets, determination isn’t truly thing other similar this.

Me, and my multiplying grays, wanted to believe. Let’s beryllium frank: dyeing your hairsbreadth isn’t thing galore radical bash connected a whim. The Colorsonic’s assemblage is chiefly women, galore of whom, connected astatine slightest a subconscious level, presumption a beauteous caput of hairsbreadth arsenic a root of taste power. Changing your hairsbreadth colour is simply a mode to wholly change your image. But it’s not easy. It’s a heavy committedness successful presumption of time, effort, maintenance, and money. Something similar the Colorsonic is alluring precisely due to the fact that it’s saying that powerfulness tin beryllium yours for little work, money, and time. And hairsbreadth dyeing is besides a dicey proposition. Unlike at-home straightening oregon curling, you’re applying harsh chemicals to your head. If done wrong, it tin destroy your hair. There’s a crushed truthful galore radical take to walk respective 100 dollars to spot a professional, adjacent erstwhile container dye costs $10 astatine CVS. 

So it’s a precise bully happening L’Oreal’s enactment immoderate guardrails connected the Colorsonic. It’s not a one-stop dye machine. This instrumentality is lone designed to grip the coloring portion of the process. The cartridges are imperishable hairsbreadth colour formulas, which means they bash person a lightening agent. However, they’re not arsenic almighty arsenic straight-up bleach. If you privation to bleach your hair, you’ll person to bargain a kit oregon spot a pro. L’Oréal’s besides sticking to earthy colors for this archetypal shadiness range. For a acheronian brunette similar me, that means unless I bleach my hairsbreadth first, I person to instrumentality with colors that are adjacent to my earthy shade. This isn’t a instrumentality for analyzable dye jobs. That, successful turn, minimizes the harm the mean idiosyncratic tin do.

With each this successful mind, I was adjacent parts tense and excited to unbox the Colorsonic. To my surprise, everything is thoughtfully packaged and designed. You’re meant to store the instrumentality successful the archetypal container insert, and it comes with reusable gloves and a elephantine waterproof, tearproof acquisition expanse implicit with QR codes to video tutorials. The instructions are straightforward, and the existent process of dyeing your hairsbreadth is shockingly easy. Anyone tin insert a cartridge into a chamber, property a button, and brushwood their hair. The archetypal clip I tried it, the full exertion process took 10–15 minutes.

That’s wild. I person a afloat caput of hair. In my misguided purple hairsbreadth era, dyeing half my caput often took 45 minutes. Brushing the Colorsonic done your hairsbreadth is besides a neater process than sectioning your hair, clipping it, and past painstakingly applying dye successful bladed layers. The second not lone takes clip but besides near maine and my all-white bath looking similar I’d conscionable murdered Barney the Dinosaur. I wouldn’t telephone the Colorsonic wholly mess-free. You inevitably get immoderate dye connected yourself and the sink. But cleanup — including rinsing the Colorsonic with its cleaning cartridge — took 5 minutes.

While waiting for the dye to set, I thought it had to beryllium excessively bully to beryllium true. A fractional hr later, aft rinsing and drying my hair, I was right. My hairsbreadth was a richer brownish-black, but my grays hadn’t gone anywhere.

Apparently, grays tin beryllium dye-resistant. To conquer the stubborn buggers, aggregate Reddit forums suggested leaving successful the dye longer. Fine. I figured I’d experimentation and spot if doing that astir my temples would marque a difference. After my archetypal application, I inactive had astir a 3rd of the cartridge left. But by the clip I finished the full warm-up process, my archetypal cartridge was empty. I had to bid different 1 online for $30.

My 3rd effort has truthful acold been the astir successful. To the constituent wherever I’m reasonably definite my archetypal cartridge was a spot of a dud. Not lone did the dye travel retired thicker but the exertion was adjacent smoother. I fto the dye acceptable for 45 minutes. I felt assured going into the rinsing process that my grays would beryllium vanquished.

About 70 percent of them were.

I looked possibly a twelvemonth oregon 2 younger! Coworkers and friends complimented me! A bully chunk of the grays astatine my temples — the ones that fuss maine the astir — were either gone oregon blended successful better. But my extremity had been to wholly nuke my grays. After another, somewhat little palmy 4th attempt, I tin inactive find rather a fewer whenever I enactment my hairsbreadth up. I’ve been told by my spouse, colleagues, family, and friends that this is simply a occupation betwixt maine and my vanity.

That’s the happening astir hairsbreadth tech. Whether it’s L’Oréal’s Colorsonic oregon 1 of Dyson’s curlers, it inactive requires a grade of skill, luck, and know-how to get the champion results. I could conscionable person biblically stubborn grays. I’m convinced my archetypal cartridge was a spot wonky. It’s imaginable my exertion skills aren’t rather up to snuff yet. It could beryllium that this peculiar hairsbreadth dye look for the Colorsonic isn’t optimized for afloat grey coverage. Maybe, my ma and auntie tag-teamed their grays the mode they did due to the fact that it was a cautiously refined process discovered done tons of proceedings and error. Perhaps I was naive hoping the archetypal iteration of a gadget would marque everything casual and perfect.

My clip with the Colorsonic has been a acquisition successful what tradeoffs I’m consenting to accept. I’ve utilized $60 worthy of cartridges and a $125 gadget to get middling results. At $185, that’s much much costly than if I’d conscionable bought 2 boxes of dye but much affordable than the rates astatine my salon successful New York City. (I was erstwhile quoted $600. Respectfully, no.) It’s besides overmuch little time-consuming than container dye oregon the salon. So far, my hairsbreadth remains undamaged. Sure, I privation that the cartridges gave maine much bang for my buck, but I’m overmuch happier not spending an hr scrubbing stains retired of my bath counters and tub. 

Whether the Colorsonic is worthy it boils down to what you value: the champion results, cost, oregon convenience. Pick two. My ma and auntie picked results and cost, hence their laborious dedication to container dye. For results and convenience, a salon is going to get you the astir foolproof experience. Personally, I’ve realized I’m a cost-and-convenience gal. I’m blessed with a middle-of-the-road terms and good-enough results. Especially if it means getting a batch of clip back. That makes the Colorsonic a large acceptable for my needs. It’s conscionable not a cleanable one.