What Is a Hair Gloss? Here Everything You Need to Know

If the world were perfect, everyone would be born with shiny, reflected hair. This isn’t necessarily the case, though; it may be after heat processing, bleaching, dying, or experiencing hair breakage. To restore your hair’s natural shine, try using a hair mask or oil. However, if you’re in a hurry and want your hair to seem like a diamond, hair gloss is the way to go.

Using a hair product like hair gloss can make your locks look like they belong in a shampoo commercial. “Glosses usually help with shine and even tones,” explains Lucille Javier, a colourist at New York’s Mark Ryan Salon.

Hair glosses are fantastic since they are mild but effective because they do not completely process your hair like dyes do. Salons offer gloss treatments for those who prefer to have their hair done by professionals, but there are also several at-home remedies that work just as well.

Hold on tight because we’ve done the legwork for you and gotten the lowdown on hair glosses from the pros. Read on to see if it’s the perfect choice for you. What follows is an extensive explanation of the many uses of hair gloss, how treatments for it work, and how frequently you should use it.

Hair glosses are what?

In a short-term fix, hair gloss can improve the condition and colour of your hair by coating it and penetrating the cuticle. The creator and creative director of XMONDO, Brad Mondo, describes an at-home hair gloss as a semi-permanent treatment that improves the health and smoothness of your hair while adding shine.

Could you tell me the various kinds of gloss?

In most cases, a combination of pigment and developer is used to create a professional-grade semi-permanent gloss. According to Javier, “direct dyes” are a stain because they include only pigment.

Additionally, she mentions that you can customise your hair colour by mixing several kinds of hair glosses. The frequency with which you should apply hair gloss is proportional to the intensity of your colour. Always with your colourist before deciding how often to apply gloss treatments.

There are benefits to glossing virgin hair as well as dyed or chemically processed hair. Depending on your intended appearance, a gloss might be transparent or coloured, says Mondo. To apply a gloss, you are not required to dye your hair. Use of a clear gloss will not cause the hair colour to fade. The only thing it will do for your hair is improve its health and lustre.

Are glosses a solution for discolouration or brassiness?

You can “fine-tune” a shade with a gloss to make it more uniform, darker, or lighter. Salon services involve “it’s mixed specifically for a client and their needs,” she explains. Because of the intense sheen and the little change to their hair, several of my clients love getting glosses more often.

Javier outlined the following tips for dyed hair, while she suggests consulting your stylist for the best advice:

“Red is one of the colours that fade very fast,” said the strawberry blonde with red highlights. The more vibrant the colour, the more frequently you should gloss. Hair dyed a dark red or auburn shade requires less maintenance than strawberry blonde hair.

The frequency of applying a gloss depends on the hair’s tone; for example, silver-blondes or extremely light white hair are more likely to have their hair glossed more often.

Javier notes that people with darker hair tones “can get away with colouring hair less often.”

According to Mondo, “you must first understand what your priorities are” before deciding on a gloss. Are you aiming to make your hair cooler and less voluminous? Seeking a deeper shade? So, if that’s the case, you should choose a coloured gloss that achieves your target effect. A clear gloss, on the other hand, is perfect if all you want is some sheen for your hair to seem healthier.

Which hair types are compatible with hair gloss?

Glosses are great for many hair types, including straight, wavy, and curly hair. This treatment will greatly assist you in achieving your objective of shiny locks.

It is recommended to use a hair gloss how frequently?

Although the exact frequency with which you should apply hair gloss is a matter of taste, Javier recommends doing it every four to six weeks. If you want your hair colour to last longer after dying it, Javier recommends to use more gloss.

At what point does hair gloss start to fade?

“The treatments lasted about a month,” Javier explains. “The colour stays in longer when you use colour safe-conditioner and when you use water that is cooler in temperature.”

Salon glosses tend to have a slightly longer duration compared to glosses that are applied at home. “In salons, they use demi-permanent colours mixed with a developer, but when you do a clear gloss at home, the colours are usually semi-permanent,” explains Mondo. “At-home glosses just sit on top of hair, while semi-permanent glazes and glosses penetrate slightly into the hair, making them last longer.”