Much Ado About Colorants

Dear Valerie: Is it just me, or are hair color formulas based on outdated technology? Why don’t we ever hear about new launches?  —Dyeing to Learn more

Dear Dyeing:

It’s a common perception that the hair coloring industry hasn’t evolved over the decades. I could see how an outsider looking in, not having knowledge of hair color chemistry, what it takes to bring a new hair color technology to market, or having never worked in the hair color industry, could have this opinion. But I firmly believe we discovered the best technology for coloring hair back in the late 1800s. In that era, hydrogen peroxide was first commercialized to lighten hair’s natural pigment, and p-phenylenediamine (PPD), a dye precursor, was derivatized from aniline and discovered to auto-oxidize in air. Just as an aside, Eugene Schueller, founder of L’Oréal, is erroneously credited with inventing or discovering PPD for use in commercial hair color when he started the French Harmless Hair Dye Company. I needed to get that off my chest!

To this day, we still use hydrogen peroxide and PPD (and its derivatives) as a chemical basis for coloring hair, although we have a few new dye technologies available. Why hasn’t the industry appeared to evolve?

The reality is hair color is unique from other cosmetic products in that it’s intentionally designed to react upon application, whereas traditional cosmetic products are (ideally!) inert. Being reactive means the ingredients used require a specific chemical construct—they need the right structure, molecular size and reaction conditions. If all three aspects are not fulfilled, the reaction won’t proceed, or the product simply won’t work. This immediately reduces the chemistries available for use.

Furthermore, the technology must be toxicologically sound. Hair colorants are some of the most widely studied ingredients in the world and are highly regulated to ensure safety in use. In fact, while it may not be perfect, hair color is safer than ever, thanks to advances in toxicological testing.

You may be surprised to learn that, during the past 100+ years, the major salon professional brands have been responsible for developing the dye technologies we use today. I would venture to guess that, in their heyday, these brands had an annual combined multi $100 million R&D budget dedicated to the advancement of hair color science. This included inventing many of the dyes we use today, many that never made it out of the lab for various reasons and ones that couldn’t survive in the market. 

We still pretty much use the premise of hair color chemistry discovered over 160 years ago because it works—not because the hair color industry is archaic or didn’t have the wherewithal to have a great idea and explore it. In fact, we have a lot of dyes that we can use today that weren’t around decades ago.

It’s important to note—like many technologies in the beauty industry—nearly all the research historically conducted on hair color has been done in a privatized manner. This means it’s not available for academia or the public research sector because it was done in the interest of gaining a competitive edge over other companies in the same space. We’ll probably never know the scope of what has been evaluated or considered in private, but we simply can’t assume indolence in the hair color industry! Some things just aren’t possible, and others don’t make sense to commercialize.

Valerie George is a cosmetic chemist, science communicator, educator, leader, and avid proponent of transparency in the beauty industry. She works on the latest research in hair color and hair care at her company, Simply Formulas, and is the co-host of The Beauty Brains podcast. You can find her on Instagram at @cosmetic_chemist or showcasing her favorite ingredients to small brands and home formulators at simply-ingredients.com. Her email is askvalerie@icloud.com