Sitting in my bathroom, I’ve dimmed the lights, turned on my calm-vibes Spotify playlist and I’m armed with a tint brush and plastic gloves.

In truth, Madison Reed just empowered my introvert self to brave a DIY coloring job—and to revert back to my natural shade. Goodbye bright blonde, hello ash brown beauty. Ultimately, it took a box color (and a gloss reapplied 6 months later) but, oh do I look lovely.

For my fellow introverts out there, hair salons can be less than soothing. I know it sounds silly, but something about the swivel leather chairs, the bouncy-bounding music, the gossipy vibe and the overly photoshopped magazines (someone please send our salon-owning friends a Darling subscription) always left me feeling a bit “blah.” Plus, on the drive home, I always keep checking the rearview mirror, trying to decide if what just happened to my hair was a valuable investment of time, money and energy.

Needless to say, when it comes to my hair, I really just wanted to put my trust in myself. I wanted to touch up my roots at my own whim. In my own house. On my own time.

So, I read about Madison Reed, I took their hair test online and then I bought a box (the Silicy Blonde).

And then a week later I bought another box (Bologna Blonde).

Because, I suddenly realized if I was going to trust myself to color I might as well trust my intuition and go with the darker-ash shade that I’d been craving. Three weeks later (and lots of wishing Madison Reed was on Amazon Prime) my second box arrived.

Applying the dye was fairly easy and my hubby volunteered to help with some of the hard to reach pieces. Hello, back of scalp! Anyways, he eyed my spa-esch bathroom setting and couldn’t help but smile.

After washing my hair and a quick blow dry, I looked at the results. Originally, I was worried that my  2” of root regrowth (above my ancient golden blonde highlights) wouldn’t blend well with this “box color” but Madison Reed made me double take. My hair was ashy and even-colored with super subtle highlights.  Hurray!

As far as my texture of my hair after dying. I’m used to the drier feel of chemically-altered hair so that came as no surprise after using this dye.  In general, my hair always reacts like that to any chemical change, even after the professional salon care I received in the more chemically-neutral Aveda salon. But, if you have virgin hair, I’m not sure what the response of your hair would be.

When it comes to coloring your hair (outside of henna) there will almost always be some chemicals involved.  Even with the dyes considered more natural (like Aveda’s salon line which totes about 99% natural hair dye), you’ll still find some ingredients you might want to be mindful of, like m-Aminophenol, p-Aminophenol, 1-Naphthol, and Resorcinol.  For me, I just wanted to get back to my natural color quickly (1-2 dye job) and afterward take a mindful sabbatical from bleaches and dyes.   

Amy Errett founded Madison Reed when she had the idea to take EU’s more rigorous hair dye safety standards and bring them “across the pond” to America. She named the company after her young daughter and then began working with Italians to carefully craft a dye with less of the more common toxic dye ingredients in the US. Madison Reedy’s dye is free of PPD, ammonia, parabens, phthalates, SLS, Titanium Dioxide and resorcinol (a known carcinogen). Madison Reed hair colors use micro-pigment technology and other formulation advancements that increase the quality of the color while minimizing harsh chemicals. However, it’s good to note that in some cases Madison Reed did switch one concerning ingredient for a different less-known (and also somewhat concerning) ingredient. Think Ethanolamine instead of Ammonia, PTDS instead of PPD and 2-Methylresorcinol instead of Resorcinol.

Two weeks after I colored my hair, we took a trip to Europe and I forgot to bring a color-safe shampoo. Whoops. My ash color faded quickly and became a much warmer tone. I still loved the general look of the color, so I didn’t touch it for months (literally) but there was a lot more contrast between my roots and tips than I’d normally want.

Months later, while I was perusing on Madison Reed’s website,  I saw their new glosses.  A few clicks and I was scrolling through before and after pictures of what the glosses could do. I ordered their ash-toned gloss (espresso) online. By the time I got the gloss, my roots were now about 3” grown out. I applied a gloss only on the colored hair (not my roots) and waited for 15 minutes before washing it out in in my the sink (the fewer chemicals on my whole body the better right?)

Anyways, good news. With that last gloss, all my brassiness was gone. I also have about half the bottle left if I ever wanted to do a touch-up.

Do you have a more natural and/or eco-friendly option to color your hair? My sister and I would adoring hearing about it (and maybe try it out too).  Let us know below.

Cheers,

Hazel

Good for You - I appreciate that Madison Reed is without added parabens and phthalates. Although I wish there was a touch more transparency on their website of the ingredient exchanges they made.  I combined the ingredients in the both the cream and color activator and here’s the list of what to you’ll want to be mindful of.  Toluene-2,5-diamine sulfate, Ethanolamine, p-AMINOPHENOL, 4-chlororesorcinol, m-AMINOPHENOL, 2-methylresorcinol, Sodium Metabisulfite, Cocamide MEA, Propylene Glycol, Propylene Glycol, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, 2, 4-diaminophenoxyethanol hcl and Hydrogen peroxide.  Instead of using Madison Reed’s barrier cream and wipes, I just used coconut oil and some organic baby wipes (to cut down on the chemicals/perfumes).

Good for Others - Madison Reed is a brand that cares about empowering women. From their “Own Your Beauty” series to their partnerships with Tech Women and Lean In.  The company also team members to get involved and help others on a local level.  For instance, many Madison Reed employees recently volunteered at GLIDE,  a charity organization in San Fran that offers 3 nutritious meals each day to the city’s poor, homeless and hungry. Madison Reed has some lovely and inspiring articles on their blog, I’d love to see a few more posted about how  they source their materials and the code of ethics the company follows.

Good for Earth - Madison Reed’s packaging has always been 100% recyclable, but they recently updated their box so that it is now 35% smaller—using less material and less energy to ship. The company doesn’t test on animals, nor do we commission animal testing. My fingers are crossed for a bit more transparency on where ingredients are sourced and what happens to the by-products.

C&C Overall - If you are looking for a 100% natural dye kit, this isn’t the product for you (opt for henna) but, if you love a good DIY (that is actively trying to be healthier than the large majority of box-colors out there) then you are bound to love Madison Reed. The colors, the customer service and the care the company offers is truly delightful.  The Madison Reed permanent color kits retail for $25. The semi-permanent Color Reviving Gloss I used is a bit pricier, averaging at around $30 although, with my hair it’ll last for two applications.