Organic Color Systems Featured by the New York Times

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The March 10, 2010 article in the New York Times entitled “Taking on Hair Color’s Bad Guy” was initially intended to feature the new L’Oréal product Inoa.   The exceptional reporting skills of the article’s author, Catherine Saint Louis, is evidenced by here list of great articles about the beauty industry.  It was these skills that prevented Ms. Saint Louis’ research to make Organic Color Systems apparently unable to ignore when writing a credible article about non-ammonia professional permanent hair color.  Consequently, the article became much more about the dangers and downside of using ammonia on hair and a feature article about Organic Color Systems.

At least two other ammonia-free permanent hair colors are already used in salons. One called Organic Color Systems, made by Herb UK, a company based in Lymington, England, has been available stateside since 2002, now in 65 colors (compared with INOA’s 49). Roughly 1,200 salons carry it, up from 400 in 2008, said Hilton Bell, the president of International Hair and Beauty Systems, the United States distributor for Organic Color Systems.

Its magic bullet is heat coupled with an oil base. “What we do is actually suspend color molecules in an oil base, which softens the cuticle, and then we use heat to open the cuticle,” Mr. Bell said, rather than “blowing it open with ammonia.”

In an e-mail message, he wrote: “We have been stating for years that ammonia-free and the oil-based method is a better way to color hair, for the hairdresser and the client. The fact that L’Oréal is saying the same thing now, just legitimizes the fact.”

In a phone interview, Mr. Schiraldi conceded that INOA is “not the first.” But he argued that its performance distinguishes it. No other permanent hair color can deliver “vibrant color, great coverage and maintain the condition of the hair prior,” he said. “There’s a reason none of these other brands have become successful, and you can’t chalk that up to marketing buzz.”

In Mr. Bell’s view, that reason has a lot to do with entrenched thinking. Eight years ago, convincing hairdressers that an ammonia-free hair dye could offer superior coverage was akin to suggesting the world wasn’t flat when everyone believed it was, he said.

The entire article can be found here.

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