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Best Pick: Garnier Nutrisse Ultra Color Lightening Gel

Not just for blondes! Gradual hair lighteners work brilliantly on naturally dark Asian hair.

Best Pick- Garnier Nutrisse Ultra Color Lightening Gel

Hair damage cannot be undone or repaired — unlike your skin, which naturally heals and protects itself — and mishaps can also be expensive to fix. Which is why I am hesitant to tell you all about one of my bathroom staples. There’s no risk-free way of trying gradual hair lighteners, but I have used them on my Asian hair for the past 15 years with great results and so I want to share. Asian hair is also scientifically quite different from Caucasian’s, but all the posts I’ve read on gradual hair lighteners are non-Asians.Salon Selectives Lighten Up Subtle Highlighting Foam

The first gradual hair lightener that I’ve ever tried was Salon Selectives’ Lighten Up Subtle Highlighting Foam for Dark Brown or Auburn Hair back in high school to cheat my parents’ no hair colouring rule. Its lightening effect was so gradual and natural looking that no one knew it wasn’t my natural hair colour. (I never had visible regrowth as after I achieved my desired effect, I used it on my roots only about once week.) I remember buying all the clearance stock I could find when they discontinued it — I still have an unopened bottle! The numerous lightening sprays I’ve tried since then — somehow they are all marketed strictly to blondes — worked the same way, but they were difficult to control and left hair feeling quite dry.

Best Pick- Garnier Nutrisse Ultra Color Lightening Gel (open)

New Garnier Nutrisse Ultra Color Lightening Gel (hover over the image above for ingredients) is the first gradual hair lightener I really love since Salon Selectives’ long discontinued foam from well over a decade! It’s very easy to use, non-drying, and lightweight. There are a number of ways to use this — I apply it on clean, dry hair then blast with a hairdryer for a few minutes and leave on. It takes about 3 applications using this method to make my naturally dark, resilient Asian hair approximately one shade lighter. You can also apply it on damp hair but the excess moisture will dilute the strength of the lightener. You don’t have to use a hairdryer (or sit in the sun) as gradual hair lighteners don’t actually require any heat to work  — but, heat does speed up the processing time so you can get faster results.

I have no issues whatsoever with the lightening gel — it doesn’t make my ends dry or roots greasy. Since the lightening effect is very gradual (one application won’t make a difference on dark hair), I feel it’s absolutely fool-proof. And I’m pretty sure that it is  — I apply the gel in haphazard, slapstick blobs with my fingers, and it still lightens up my naturally dark hair evenly.

hair
I know before/after pictures come in pairs but I’ve been using gradual hair lighteners now for more than 15 years, so there really isn’t a “before”. This is the “After” — my Asian hair is naturally dark brown (it isn’t black).

Everybody says gradual hair lighteners will “ruin hair” and turn it orange. Perhaps not suitable for previously chemically-treated or fine hair as they can absorb the agent more quickly, resulting in drastically faster lightening results. As someone who has been using them on natural dark brown Asian hair for well past a decade, this just isn’t possible unless you overuse; it’ll take many applications to reach that orange brassy stage! As long as you have realistic expectations and exercise a little self-restraint, it is a great non-damaging alternative to hair colouring for slightly lightening up naturally dark Asian hair.

You can find Garnier Nutrisse Ultra Color Lightening Gel only in Canada —150ml for CDN$11.89 at Amazon.ca HERE — but, L’Oreal Casting Sunkiss Jelly in 03 (which I tweeted about last month in April here) is at Amazon.com HERE. It leaves a film-y residue that makes my roots a bit lank and greasy, but it looks, smells, and works the same.

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