Why is Gluten Used in Hair Color?

We've explored why gluten-free hair color matters, but why is gluten added in the first place? 

To answer that, we have to review how hair color works on the structure of your hair. Permanent color opens the hair shaft so it can remove natural pigments and replace them with artificial pigments that give you the color you want.

Because of this process, a protein is needed to preserve the structure and cortex (middle part of the shaft) of your hair. Many formulas use either wheat—which contains gluten—soy, or oats to do this.

Madison Reed uses keratin, a natural protein found in both hair and skin, to strengthen and preserve the cortex. This allows our color to be both gluten-free and restorative for your hair!

That's the thought we put into every product we make. It has to be healthier, easy to use, and still deliver high performance results to be called Madison Reed.