The Pink Shoe Diaries

I have a new love in my life.


Aveda color depositing conditoner. In "Madder Root" specifically.

I have been a red head for most of my life and as I get older, my hair gets more and more brunette which is So Annoying. My mother says this is payback for dying my hair so many times in high school/early college. If she is right, and this is indeed payback, then it is a mighty mean payback if you ask me. No offense to brunettes but once you have been Red, it is so hard to go back.

And to add insult to injury it tuens out that red hair dye is the most wily color there is, and tends to wash out the fastest. So in theory I could go to the salon with a picture of my hair color in 9th grade and say "Make me look like that again!" but it would be back to basics within 4 weeks. sigh.

So first I went to CVS to see what they had to help me out, and the sales girl pointed me in the direction of John Frieda who has a color-enhancing hair care line. However after reading the back of one of the bottles and seeing the phrase "NON COLOR DEPOSITING" i knew it wasn't really what I was looking for.

So I did what any other person with inordinate amounts of downtime at work does, I researched online. What could I do that would make my hair more red without going to the salon every month and without resorting to Adventures in Home Coloring which in the past for me has led to Bozo colored tresses.

I stumbled across a hair color message board, where the praises of Aveda were sung repeatedly. Supposedly they have a line of color depositing shampoos and conditoners that work wonders, AND do little damage to the hair. AND the more you use them, the more color you get and the longer it lasts, which conversely means that if you hate it, don't use it again and shampoo your head a few times and it's gone.

So what do I have to use?

So I popped into the Aveda Salon on Boylston last Sunday and asked a sales girl about this miracle conditioner. She confirmed to me what I had read about it, and added that I didn't even need to use the shampoo but could use whatever shampoo I had at home and the color dpositing condiitoner and be A-OK. (P.S. I love when sales people tell you NOT to buy something. It makes me want to tip them or something). So after consulting the different colors, and consulting the stylist I decided on Madder Root which "Adds red tones to dark hair". For $16 I figured it was worth a shot.

So the next day I went to work. I shampooed, and then drenched my hair oh so evenly in the bright red conditioner. The instructions say to leave it on for 2-5 minutes, or for longer depending on how colored you want your hair to be. Since my motto is More is Less, I left it on for 20 minutes which in the end proved to be just about right for me. After my shower I blew my hair out straight so I could really see the difference and it looks GREAT. Not too red, but more like I went and got me some red highlights which is exactly what I wanted. I have a feeling that if I did it again today it would be all out red, but we all know about me and not washing my hair more than 2-3 times a week.

The best part about it is my hair feels really contioned...not straw like , as it has a tendency to feel after getting dyed.

So, if you are looking to get a li'l change going on for the holidays you should definitely check it out. Even if you're just looking for a hint of new color temporarily I really think this is the way to go. And it really is true what they say.

Redheads have more fun.