Hair Apparent: Clairol nice’neasy root touch up

Okay, I admit it. Back in the day I liked to mix things up with the crowning glory. I never went so crazy as to be all Manic Panic, but I had a thing or two for henna, and just a lot of different boxed color over the years (we will deny the plat blond period – a look my sisters can somehow pull off – because there wasn’t even a movie role to justify such crazy choices). Anyhoo, the love for color accelerated when, around the tender age of 22 I began to get the gray strays. While annoying, nothing, and I mean nothing, prepares you for root rot. When you start getting that silvery patch at the temples and you aren’t Anderson Cooper, life just gets a little less pretty. I envy silver foxes, and I will never be one.

Enter maintenance phase. Imagine this new cycle: Color. 2 weeks roots. Color. 2 weeks later roots. Color. (you get the picture). That’s a lot of chemical going on. Not to mention seriously drying your hair out. So when I saw Clairol’s nice’n easy root touch up it jumped out for two reasons:

1) A way to avoid the salon to save on process and damage
2) A way to save $$$

Here is the thing. This is the second time I’ve tried this method. It promises 100% gray coverage in 10 minutes. I have also used Clairol’s Perfect 10 system (awesome). Root touch up falls short for one main reason:

Formula Amount – too little. I realize this is a root touch up, but if you have grays,this just is not enough. They need to double the portion. You are asked to touch up the area of your desired hairstyle. The formula doesn’t seem to stick even after keeping on the recommended 15 minutes.

On the plus side: If you don’t have massive root exposure, this touch-up does seem to blend in well with existing color (I used Dark Brown).

Unfortunately, this is no bargain. My roots will have to be conquered with Perfect 10, which is triple the price. I’m not about to go granny yet.

Have you tried this product? Let me know your experience in the comments. Photos welcome.