14 DAY TRIAL // The first grey hair equals, for many women, admitting that age is catching up on them. They turn to hair dye to cover all these white hairs, arguably doing more damage than good because of the high ammonia content, which actually comes to weaken the hair even more. There is, it seems, a solution for this problem, even if it’s not readily accessible right now, as L’Oreal has promised to offer a treatment within the next ten years.
Hair dyes are not only expensive, they’re also not efficient in the long run as regards the above-mentioned problem, the Daily Mail says. To offer women satisfaction and the guarantee that all white hairs will be dealt with means offering them the possibility to have their hair return to its natural color, researchers at the cosmetics giant say. This means coming out with a treatment that will prevent the hair to grow old and, thus, turn white, which would perhaps be coupled with home haircare products and will ensure grey hairs become a matter of the past.
“Hair is an enigma. It is a fiber, a material with physical properties. It is also a living organ that grows, greys and falls out. How can we fight this? Do we need a physical approach or a biological approach? When hair goes grey, there is a progressive disappearance of the melanocytes from the hair. While there are still melanocytes in the hair, there is still hope that it could be re-pigmented.” Patricia Pineau, L’Oreal’s Research Communications director, says for the Mail.
This means that there is still hope, even if it’s somewhere in the not-so-near future. Researchers at the L’Oreal laboratories in France believe the treatment could be taken orally and would be completed, as noted above, by haircare products. Such a treatment would be nothing short of groundbreaking, the British publication writes, in that it will put an end to one of the biggest problems of older women, while also offering them a solution that lasts, unlike today’s hair dyes.
This, in turn, brings up the question: what will L’Oreal do if it virtually eliminates the need for hair dyes, the Mail asks. “But won’t L’Oreal be shooting themselves in the foot by developing this new technology? If women no longer need to have their hair colored regularly, what’s the future for their huge global hair-coloring business? They won’t say. Perhaps, given the astonishing nature of the new discovery, it will be worth it.” the Mail writes.
With £581 million invested in research last year alone over at L’Oreal, it’s safe to say it’s not doing it so that it can perish from the discovery, one might answer.