Hair to dye for

I don’t know what color my hair is anymore. I started coloring it very early. While accompanying my mother to her weekly salon visits, I decided that press-on nails didn’t cut it for me anymore. I needed something more adult. So I went ahead and colored my hair a tawny brown and permed it into what was described by the stylist as "bouncy waves." The perm I hated – it made look like a farm poodle. The color I loved, and I’ve never been the same since.

When you start coloring your hair, you don’t really think about the chemicals that go into your hair. However, the more you do it and the more damaged your hair gets in the process, the more delilah you get. Thank heaven that we have multi-million dollar companies to develop products that color and actually leave hair in better condition than ever.

The leader in innovative color products since the early 20th century, L’Oreal has created more patents in the chemistry of haircolor than any other company in the industry. They have products like Majirel, a cream color that produces true results every time, leaving the hair in the best possible shape due to its patented Ionene G molecule found exclusively in their professional hair-color products. It colors not only the external shaft, but down to the core as well. The result is multi-dimensional color that doesn’t fade.

Extensions of this line include Majiblond, a high lift-and-deposit blonding system; Crescendo, a gel colorant that gives 100-percent gray coverage while boosting fine hair and making it fuller; Diacolor, a no-ammonia tone-on-tone color; and the bleaching systems Majimeches, Pure Platine, and Composite Max.

New products include Composite Color and Majicontrasts, a highlighting system for dark hair that lifts and deposits in just 15 minutes. And arriving soon from L’Oreal is Richesse. This is a tone-on-tone hair color that processes in 20 minutes with absolutely no ammonia, and provides excellent gray coverage.

This breakthrough in haircolor was launched at the the stylin’ Raffles Grand in Singapore, with hundreds of top stylists and beauty journalists from all over Asia in attendance. Any chick worth her rootless crown of glory knows that this is serious business. With the fashion industry ever evolving, hair has become one of the most effective accessories in making a statement. L’Oreal’s shades vary from natural tress hues to luxurious, high- fashion shades, all of which never look mousy or gauche.

L’Oreal Professionnel showcases Sunset Diva, the spring/summer 2005 trends for hair, on April 25 at the New World Hotel. To share the international haircut and color trends, Andrew Barton of the prestigious Saks Academy in London will be there to lend his strands of wisdom.

Barton, a favorite among celebrities, will be joined by 10 of L’Oreal’s Artistic Ambassadors. The show will be capped with a final salute to 10 icons that exemplify excellent performance in their chosen fields.

So, as L’Oreal would aptly say in their legendary ads, don’t settle for anything less, because you’re worth it!