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One Girl's Quest for Lighter Locks: L'Oréal Professionnel INOA

6/25/2010 10:00:00 AM by Colleen Moody

What it is: L'Oréal Professionnel INOA

I have a confession. My hair is a virgin. At least it was. After a bad breakup I thought about coloring my hair as part of my breakover. Luckily, I was (a) too lazy and (b) too broke to actually go through with it. But as summer started to creep up, my daydreams of lighter hair came back and, after hearing senior editor Andrea's mantra, "lighter, brighter, happier," regarding her own colored locks, I decided this time I'd go through with it. Watch out, world: I was going blonde.

Or so I thought. After scheduling my appointment with Doug Macintosh at the John Sahag Workshop, he took one look at me and said, "Nope." No? How can this be! Doug explained: My eyes were too warm to have most blonde hues, and he was nervous I couldn't pull it off right away. Well, that's all I needed to hear. No one wants to look like one of those poodles whose owner dyes them pink and then parades them down Park Avenue. Instead, Doug told me he was going to give me lots of sun-streaked highlights, "like Jennifer Aniston." Did you just put me and Jennifer Aniston in the same sentence? Proceed, Doug.

Doug colored my hair using L'Oréal Professionnel INOA, the new ammonia-free hair color that doesn't sting or leave you with that awful smell you typically have to endure when coloring your hair. It's healthier for your hair and changes your shade up to three levels, making your color look natural and even.

Doug pieced through my hair, highlighting random sections to make it look like the sun had naturally lightened it. After foiling me up, he sat me under a heat lamp that resembled a rotating UFO for about 25 minutes, followed by a gloss treatment to bring out my new color. When I was washed and dried, my hair looked like I'd just stepped off the beach. It was a mix of brunette and blonde, which some stylists have dubbed "bronde" this season. "Everyone looks at Jennifer Aniston and Gisele Bündchen's hair and loves their color because it looks so natural, but it's actually not," Doug told me. Now I was in the bronde group and loving it. It's subtle and just the change I needed for summer. Added bonus: Since it's mostly highlights, the maintenance is relatively low, which also means cheaper for me and my wallet. Check out my new hue below!