L’OREAL INOA COUTURE COLOR
Aptly named the “hair color of the future”, L’Oreal knocked it out of the park with INOA, with a whopping 22 patents to its name. What’s so special about INOA? It’s secret lies as much in what is in it as what isn’t. They added oil (a friend to strands) while removing the ammonia (an enemy of good hair), which is a fine tradeoff when you think about what harsh chemicals do to stylists and operators who are breathing in fumes for 14 hours a day.
As Teresa Probst at Varin Salon in New York City explains, “It has no ammonia so it doesn’t strip your hair. The hair feels softer, stronger and loaded with 50% more natural shine and better color retention. There is nothing else like it—it is truly the best hair color on the market.” Touted to be less corrosive than ammonia, which can remove paint off your car, INOA preserves the integrity of natural, healthy hair. Sounds good? Agreed.
I admit that I approached INOA with a healthy dose of skepticism, mainly because I was not unhappy with the high end color Teresa was already using on me BI (before Inoa). It is also more expensive in the salon, but only slightly more and yes, I am worth it! But it’s hard to resist a color system that so many hair professionals are telling you is the the best thing since the Brazilian took off. So I took the plunge with relatively low expectations and was pleasantly surprised.
Why do I love it? In a word my golden blonde is BLONDER—which is a good thing at these prices. My hair is also SOFTER and I can practically see myself in the SHINE. It feels sort of like there is a halo around my head that I surely did not earn.
INOA’s claim to fame is that it is an oil-based system, which has been a hot trend in haircare ever since those pretty turquoise bottles of Moroccanoil took over salons everywhere on the planet. So INOA maximizes the effect of permanent hair color, while it minimizes the damaging effects by providing more lipid protection.
Clearly ammonia-free color is the new black in hair care. It can be likened to the sulfate-free craze in shampoos. Sulfate-free cleansers for hair used to be something one had to hunt for in organic, natural beauty stores, and celeb-infused Wen informercials. Now the category seems to have multiplied at all price points, fueled largely by the green beauty trend as well as women (like me) who spend so much on their Brazilian keratin treatments that they won’t dare wash their hair with real detergents for fear of losing a single day of gorgeous straightness. Ladies, INOA is a keeper and lives up to the hype.
