L’Oréal Colorsonic review: shades of gray

When I was a kid, my mom and auntie would retreat into the bathroom, hands wrapped successful latex gloves, newspaper covering the counters and level arsenic they mixed together a dark, foul-smelling paste successful a integrative bowl. For hours, they’d alternately rumors 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 opportunity this each seemed for illustration 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 research pinch purple hair, I cognize at-home hairsbreadth dyeing is simply a righteous symptom successful the butt. I vowed to ne'er do 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 mom and auntie successful that aged bathroom, pointing their fingers astatine me, cackling. 

Thus began my two-month research pinch L’Oréal’s Colorsonic.

I first came crossed the $124.99 L’Oréal Colorsonic astatine CES 2022. It’s a high-tech hairsbreadth wand pinch bristles that spit retired goo truthful you tin quickly dye your hair. The bottommost half has an quiet enclosure wherever you insert a refillable hairsbreadth dye cartridge. The apical half has a nozzle pinch bristles that oscillate much than 300 times a infinitesimal to evenly use color. You property a button, brushwood this point 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 show you really overmuch dye is left. The transportation is to make dyeing your full head, guidelines touch-ups, and covering grays easier, quicker, and much affordable than a travel to the salon. And successful the world of beauty tech gadgets, location isn’t really thing other for illustration this.

Me, and my multiplying grays, wanted to believe. Let’s beryllium frank: dyeing your hairsbreadth isn’t thing galore group do connected a whim. The Colorsonic’s assemblage is chiefly women, galore of whom, connected astatine slightest a subconscious level, position a beautiful caput of hairsbreadth arsenic a root of taste power. Changing your hairsbreadth colour is simply a measurement to wholly change your image. But it’s not easy. It’s a heavy committedness successful position of time, effort, maintenance, and money. Something for illustration the Colorsonic is alluring precisely because 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 aliases curling, you’re applying harsh chemicals to your head. If done wrong, it tin destroy your hair. There’s a logic truthful galore group take to walk respective 100 dollars to spot a professional, moreover erstwhile container dye costs $10 astatine CVS. 

So it’s a very bully point L’Oreal’s put immoderate guardrails connected the Colorsonic. It’s not a one-stop dye machine. This instrumentality is only designed to grip the coloring portion of the process. The cartridges are imperishable hairsbreadth colour formulas, which intends they do person a lightening agent. However, they’re not arsenic powerful arsenic straight-up bleach. If you want to bleach your hair, you’ll person to bargain a kit aliases spot a pro. L’Oréal’s besides sticking to earthy colors for this first shadiness range. For a acheronian brunette for illustration me, that intends unless I bleach my hairsbreadth first, I person to instrumentality pinch 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 personification 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 shop the instrumentality successful the original container insert, and it comes pinch reusable gloves and a elephantine waterproof, tearproof instruction expanse complete pinch 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 first 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 only takes clip but besides near maine and my all-white bath looking for illustration 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 pinch 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 half 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 research and spot if doing that astir my temples would make a difference. After my first application, I still had astir a 3rd of the cartridge left. But by the clip I vanished the full warm-up process, my first 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 first cartridge was a spot of a dud. Not only did the dye travel retired thicker but the exertion was moreover smoother. I fto the dye group 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 aliases 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 aliases blended successful better. But my extremity had been to wholly nuke my grays. After another, somewhat little successful 4th attempt, I tin still find rather a fewer whenever I put my hairsbreadth up. I’ve been told by my spouse, colleagues, family, and friends that this is simply a problem betwixt maine and my vanity.

That’s the point astir hairsbreadth tech. Whether it’s L’Oréal’s Colorsonic aliases 1 of Dyson’s curlers, it still 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 first 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 mom and auntie tag-teamed their grays the measurement they did because it was a cautiously refined process discovered done tons of proceedings and error. Perhaps I was naive hoping the first loop of a gadget would make everything easy and perfect.

My clip pinch the Colorsonic has been a instruction 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 aliases the salon. So far, my hairsbreadth remains undamaged. Sure, I wish 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, aliases convenience. Pick two. My mom 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 happy pinch a middle-of-the-road value and good-enough results. Especially if it intends getting a batch of clip back. That makes the Colorsonic a awesome fresh for my needs. It’s conscionable not a cleanable one.