How I embraced my dark locks again with Aveda Full Spectrum Deep Colour.
I have naturally dark, almost black hair — a pretty standard South Asian hair shade. I love my hair because I am blessed with thick waves that I can wear either straight or curly, but from time to time its natural dark shade bores me. This usually results in me lightening my hair with honey coloured highlights, or as I had been doing for the last year and a half, a pretty amazing caramel meets warm brown bayalage thanks to my regular hair dresser Ann Ngyuen. The balayage technique was new to me and easier to maintain since I am personally really lazy to go in for regular colour touchups.
The thing is, I work a lot, so lets just say I wear my hair down for two days, dry shampoo it for another and then it ends up in some sort of slicked back bun or ponytail compilation for the rest of the week until I hit day 6ish (sometimes 7) when there is simply no choice but to suds up and shampoo my hair before I start to attract wildlife from the aroma building up (Did I mention I am a beauty editor by trade?).
This, combined with regular damage from repeated bleaching and colouring and my haphazard non-styling techniques (split ends and broken hair everywhere!), means my hair needed a break from regular chemical-based colouring and bleaching. So when I was asked to try Aveda’s Full Spectrum Deep Colour, a 93 per cent natural based hair colour range, I was intrigued. Why?
Photo Credit: Amanpreet Dhami
My hair had grown out and I needed to do something with it before I looked unpreventable. I could benefit from skipping out on my regular salon bill (I really hope my hairdresser isn’t reading this). And, frankly, I wanted to see if this natural colour could do the job. Before we go any further, here’s what my hair looked like before. Note, I got a cut the day before so the dead ends in my hair are gone, but as you can see the colour is quite grown out, the tone is all over the place and my hair was pretty dried out.
Usually when my hair gets like this I end up having to colour my hair a chestnut brown, which has more of a red base and it starts to look brassy within a few weeks. So when Vanessa Bianchi, Aveda Canada's Master Colourist at Ray Civello Salon in Toronto, suggested I go fully dark and back to one shade after I told her I wanted to give my hair a break from lightening, I was a bit nervous.
Enter Aveda Full Colour Spectrum. Unlike other colour lines, this colour range is designed with naturally dark hair in mind (so its perfect for us dark haired South Asian ladies). The colour line has a cool base that gives a more controlled lift with dark haired gals like myself and creates less of a brassy undertone. For the first time in my life I realized I could recreate the rich dark brown shade of colour I always wanted and not worry about my hair having a reddish orange undertone in a few weeks where my hair was lightened.
Photo credit: Aveda
And these were the results.
My hair was immediately shinier, I didn’t experience any weird itchy irritation on my scalp during the colour process like I usually do (during or after) and the rich brown shade simply speaks for itself. Fast-forward to six weeks later and the colour is still beautiful. I get compliments all the time. One friend specifically commented on how the shade was richer than my usual brown go-to. How was this possible?
Let me break it down for you with the help of Bianchi’s expertise: “The Aveda Full Spectrum Deep line has pure tones with double the amount of pigment in the formula for extra deposit,” explains Bianchi. “A tube of Aveda Full spectrum Deep has a cooler base and because it is not a pre-blended colour line, an Aveda colourist can customize your colour using a selection of cool pure tones and pigments to combat brassiness.”
But what I couldn’t get over was how soft my hair felt. And that’s because “each tube contains castor oil, certified organic jojoba and sunflower oils to condition the hair,” says Bianchi. Plus the certified organic lavender makes the scent during the processing portion surprisingly pleasant. It’s pretty much a miracle in a professional colour tube.
The natural plant derived ingredients used in the pigments combined with the conditioning oils means those of us with sensitive scalps don’t need to suffer anymore. And if there’s any women still rocking orange henna infused locks in the older generations of your family, Aveda may be an option they can full embrace because of its pure and clean ingredients (no petrochemicals or ammonia are used).
The extra pigment also translates to full coverage for pesky grays and effortless shade transformations in the blue, red and gold ranges. So hurry up and visit your local Aveda salon (book an appointment with the Aveda salon locator at aveda.com/salons). You’ll fall in love with your dark locks all over again no matter what colour transformation you choose. I sure did!
Main Image Photo Credit: Aveda
Amanpreet Dhami
Author
Amanpreet Dhami is a Toronto based writer, editor and producer with a focus on beauty, fashion, wellness and lifestyle. Her work has appeared in TheKit.ca, 29secrets.com, Beautezine.com and Elevate Magazine, where she is the Editor-in-Chief. When she is not writing up a storm yuo can find her cooki...