Aveda Full Spectrum Demi+™ Line [Source: Aveda]

In the past 15 years, technology has advanced in all areas of our lives. From the way we use our phones, to how we order our take-out meals, improvements in technology have made day-to-day tasks more efficient.

Beauty products have also continued to advance with technology and new formulas – especially hair color.

For the past two years, scientists at Aveda have been researching and formulating a new demi line to meet their colorists’ and clients’ needs. Fifteen years ago, Aveda’s last demi line—Full Spectrum™ Deposit Only Color Treatment—was released. Now, it’s time for Full Spectrum Demi+™, which rolls out in early spring 2018.

Meet Full Spectrum Demi+™

Before developing Full Spectrum Demi+™, Aveda chemists surveyed colorists to find out what they loved about the existing line and where they felt there were areas for improvement.

“We re-tooled all our favorite parts of Deposit Only Color Treatment,” Wendy Prior, Executive Director of Technical Education for Aveda, says. “The shine is vastly improved with certified organic kukui essential oil in combination with certified organic castor and jojoba oils.”

A customizable processing time is another improvement Full Spectrum Demi+™ boasts. Depending on the end result desired, colorists can choose to process five minutes with a five-volume developer (full processing time for a sheer tonal result) or up to 20 minutes with a 10-volume developer for more opaque gray blending.

All this is possible with a new gel formula that drives into hair and penetrates without the use of ammonia.

Formula Facts

The first benefit colorists will notice in the Full Spectrum Demi+™ formula is its texture.

“It’s a sugarcane-based gel formula that has good spread-ability,” Prior says. “A little goes a long way, and rinse and removal are simple.”

Ian Michael Black, Aveda Global Artistic Director for Hair Color, adds: “The gel can be quickly applied with a hair color applicator bottle or bowl and brush—the gel spreads easily and quickly.

The formula itself, true to Aveda, is filled with plant-derived oils including L-arginine, which works as a power booster to increase pH for maximum color deposit into every strand, which provides lasting results that fade on tone.

“It drives into hair and penetrates without the use of ammonia,” Prior says.

“The formula is fully oxidated, so it’s a bit more durable. The color does not develop until it’s under the cuticle. That’s where it grows in size and gets stuck in there.”

Other key ingredients include:

• A conditioning blend of certified organic plant oils, kukui, sunflower, castor and jojoba, helps improve the condition of damaged hair and provide radiant shine.

• Green tea extract helps create a broader spectrum of color by acting as a naturally-derived color modifier to enhance the shade range, helping provide the ultimate colorist’s palette.

• Butylene glycol, derived from sugarcane, helps create a gel base formula that has a smooth consistency for easy application.

Black says the new formula also achieves more shine and vibrancy—and better gray coverage.

“We’ve also increased the range of tonal intensity by using the tones on their own,” he says. “It also improves the condition of damaged hair while delivering radiant color and shine.

Shades and Customization

Chrissie Gilberti, Director of Hair Color Education at Paris Parker salons in the New Orleans area, has tested Full Spectrum Demi+™ on a few clients. She says she wanted a line she could use to refresh ends that was super fast and easy to apply.

“Nobody wants to come and hang out for three or four hours in the salon,” she says. “We can put this on at the shampoo bowl or the chair and be done in five minutes.”

The five-minute processing time of Full Spectrum Demi+™ allows colorists to deliver beautiful, vibrant tone quickly—a game-changer for their business.

“The service provider can offer Full Spectrum Demi+™ to any guest—whether they booked a color service or not,” Prior says. “It’s the perfect line for the color shy, too.”

You can put on a tone to refresh or cool down warm tones, or use just clear for shine. It gives colorists the opportunity to talk to guests in a new way. Full Spectrum Demi+™ washes off in 40 shampoos, so it’s low commitment with a short processing time.

“And shades are expertly calibrated and formulated for predictable color results every time,” Black says.

Gilberti predicts it’s going to be the go-to for clients who want to start dabbling in hair color.

“It’s a minimal commitment with 40 washes (about eight weeks), and it’s an alternative option to 100 percent opaque color,” she says. “And for gray blending, it gives lots of shimmer.”

Gilberti has tested Full Spectrum Demi+™ on a client with gray, and leaves it on to process for 20 minutes to get more coverage.

“It’s just beautiful—like no other demi or semi I’ve seen when it comes to coverage and shine,” she says. “The tone and level are so rich without making the color look lighter or darker. And with this client, I’ve found she’s back in eight weeks to touch-up regrowth before the color fades.”

Even the way Full Spectrum Demi+™ is formulated can be customized. Two developers (five and 10 volume) that are not dedicated to the line can be used—liquid for bottle application, or cream for bowl and brush.

The line features nine levels of color, 10 tones, and one clear, which can be used to dilute when customizing a shade.

“If I do a scalp-to-ends with Full Spectrum Demi+™, I’ll get a dimensional, incredibly shiny end-result,” Gilberti says. “It’s also great for anyone who wants change without the commitment of permanent color.

“I recently gave a model a dimensional, darker color than what she typically wears. If she wants to change it in eight weeks, she can do so without a lot of damage.”

Black says the gel formula is also more efficient, since it spreads through hair more easily, so colorists use less product.

“It’s also more versatile because we have designed a system in which shade selection, variable processing time and choice of developer allows the ultimate customization of tonality, coverage and intensity,” he says. “We have more efficient guidelines around specific results from low volume, short processing (toning), to higher volume, 20-minute processing for intensity and coverage.

“The Full Spectrum Demi+™ technology makes final results more predictable,” he adds.

Full Spectrum Demi+™ is currently being tested in a few salons and will roll out in Aveda salons across the country in January and February 2018.