Thursday 21 March 2013

a green coiffure fling

Last night I spent a delightful evening with some of Sydney's sustainable fashion mavens - watch this space for what we're working on - and I was reminded of Original & Mineral, a haircare range I recently tried and meant to write about. Oops!

In the past I've been a champion of Aveda hair colour due to the strength of the company's sustainability policy, the high-percentage of plant-derived ingredients, and the fact that I could still enjoy a salon experience.

Well, the love affair is over.

It turns out Aveda colour includes both Ammonia, a known allergen, and p-phenylenediamine (PPD), another known allergen and likely carcinogen. Neither are ingredients I want on my scalp, nor do I want stylists putting themselves at risk for the sake of my beauty. Even we so-called experts get things wrong, and so I had to break it off with Aveda.

But what to do about my silver sparklers? I'm not ready to accept my greys at the ripe old age of 33.

Enter Original & Mineral, developers of Clean Colour Technology, designed right here in Sydney. This professional hair colour range is free from Ammonia, PPD and Resorcinol (another toxin commonly found in hair colour), and still achieves amazing, professional results. It's used in salons across Australia and at select salons in the US, New Zealand and Singapore.



I had the colour applied at the charming Atsi hair salon in Freshwater. My silver sparklers were fully covered, the scent of the haircolour was delicious and fresh, and after a few weeks of the harsh summer sun I still haven't experienced fading.

All in all, I'm very satisfied with the coverage, the colour and the experience.  For those of you in Sydney, and especially the northern beaches, I recommend Atsi. It's a small salon with a very friendly and casual vibe (as you'd expect in this part of the world!), and I had a wonderful sustainability discussion with the co-owner Angelo. He and his wife Tanya really understand sustainability and natural hair care, and they even have their own organic hair care range in the salon. I will definitely be back!



Have you tried any other professional-quality hair colour brands? What is your experience?

4 comments:

  1. After our conversation last night I actually googled this brand & am about to book in to Atsi for a colour treatment myself! Thanks for the tip. x

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  2. Thank you Lisa for your kind words. It was a pleasure to have you with us. Look forward to seeing you again soon.

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