There’s no hiding from gray hair. Many of us start regular hair coloring every four to six weeks. But root regrowth shows as soon as one week after a coloring session. I’ve searched endlessly for a root touch up product to extend the time between coloring appointments. My gripe about root covers is that they look either unnaturally dull and dark, or clumpy and greasy. They flake quickly. And if your hair gets unexpectedly wet (rain, humidity, sweat) most root covers melt faster than the Wicked Witch of the West in the Wizard of Oz. So I was excited to find 4RootZ Colored Hair Gel, a natural looking styling gel that when used wet or dry, conceals gray hair until your next shampoo without the dreaded fallout, flaking, or weird inky look of many root covers.

Some of us got some gray hair as early as in our twenties due to stress, diet or hereditary causes. Some of us just have a few errant grays on our temples so we don’t want to color our entire head, just cover a section or two. I’ve tried drugstore to salon brands, and it is surprisingly difficult to get good temporary root coverage, especially if you have dark hair.

4ROOTZ FEATURE OVERVIEW

4RootZ Colored Hair Gel is a unique type of gray hair concealer: it is a gel that can be used on wet or dry hair to style hair while covering gray. It is alcohol-free and non-damaging to hair. It does not flake and it does not leave a residue. It will last through getting wet such as unexpected rain or humid conditions and stays put until you shampoo it out.

It comes in black and brown. Brown can be applied lightly enough to seem like natural root shadow on a dark blonde or redhead or applied a bit thicker for light to dark brown hair.

ADVANTAGES

• Unlike some other root touchup systems, 4RootZ Colored Hair Gel can be used on more than just a small section of root regrowth, it can be used on the hair length itself. It can be used by men and women to make hair appear thicker at the hairline and men can use it to fill in the appearance of the color and thickness of a beard or sideburn area.
• Even if you don’t color often or perhaps do not color at all, perhaps you’d like to conceal gray for a job interview, date, reunion, or other events. Maybe you want to see how some color might look before committing to regular hair coloring. 4RootZ Colored Hair Gel is an ideal choice for you.
• Since the gel can be used on longer sections of hair, it is great for transitioning hair color. If you are growing out your hair to transition to all gray or a gray you can dye pewter or platinum, that middle stage of hair dyed hair and half gray can look terrible. 4Rootz Colored Hair Gel can ease that transition.
• Nothing is needed to seal the color in place. But I found you can put hairspray over it if you wish to style more than just with the gel.

WHY 4ROOTZ IS SUPERIOR TO POWDERS, SPRAYS, WAX CRAYONS AND SPONGE-ON LIQUIDS ROOT COVERS

Having personally tried a full range of root covers at all price points from drugstore to salon brands, 4Rootz is by far a preferable choice and the only one that has not required a mid-day touch-up.

Each root cover method has its’ flaws.

Powder-based root covers are similar to dark, high-pigment eyeshadow pans and applied with a small flat brush. The pan powders look very dark, powdery, dry and do not naturally reflect the light, so they look odd but do conceal roots for a few hours.

There are also aerosol or pump sprays that distribute powder with a bit of adhesive with varying degrees of success. Root concealer sprays only last as long as the adhesive fixer does. Then the powder starts to flake and fall off onto the face, hands, and clothes.

Most powders, regardless of delivery system, have no sheen and appear too matte to discretely match the actual hair color.

Any moisture can disturb powder root concealer and make it run onto the skin, including sweat, rain, steam, or even just high humidity.

Crayons root concealers have a makeup foundation to wax-like consistency, more like the makeup used to fill in sparse eyebrows. The wax does stay put, but often looks greasy on top of hair, and not like hair. This method best serves when very few hairs need to be concealed or darkened, such as filling in gray or sparse eyebrows, perhaps a few grays at the temple.

Wet sprays or sponge on concealers work essentially like a sponge applicator shoe polish tip concept, and often look about as natural. They go on dry hair and are supposed to last until they are shampooed out but they tend to clump hair together like it is dirty or greasy. They appear semi-transparent in harsh office lighting. They are easier to control when it comes to color placement and getting hard to access areas like the hairline, sideburns, temples or on a beard. They can be used to create a more natural look when less coverage is needed.

That’s my take on traditional gray root coverage products. Better than going out with obvious roots, but not by much. In my opinion, even the best of them are too opaque and obvious in office lighting and especially sunlight.

4ROOTZ APPLICATION AND EXPERIENCE

4Rootz comes in a generous size tube. Just a small amount will cover gray.

APPLICATION: I apply 4Rootz to clean, damp hair, but it can be used on dry. I comb it through with a narrow width comb or my fingers to distribute it evenly. It washes off my hands fairly easily.

STYLING: It does not dry greasy, there is the mildest sheen, like natural hair. If I apply it to wet hair, it dries without being chunky or piece-y like some gels, and if I use a hairdryer it has a smoother, fuller look. I also tried putting it on damp, freshly washed hair at night, braiding my hair into one or two braids, and letting it dry overnight for soft, beachy waves. It did not get on my pillow.

PIGMENT: It is a HIGHLY concentrated pigment, so a variety of brown hair tones can use it, even dark blondes and redheads, depending on how thinly it is applied. It is a nice overall tint, not heavy or ink-like. It looks natural to me in both office lighting and sunlight.

CONSISTENCY: Styling with it is not like a sticky hair gel, it feels more like a like a creamy lotion. You may wish to rub it between your fingers to warm it a bit for easy application and distribution.

RESULTS: It is not completely covering every single gray, but it is doing a pretty convincing job at hiding roots from being obvious and it blends well. I would recommend starting with less product than you think you need and adding more from there. It doesn’t flake so adding more when the hair is dry doesn’t appear crunchy.

WEAR/FALLOUT: It is fine when I brush my hair mid-day, although I would recommend not to brush hair too much during the day, as with any gel styling product. There are no granules of product flaking off. I also do not find it coming off on my pillow or clothing.

SMELL: There is no detectable scent to me.

CONCLUSION

If you color gray hair, you likely experience unwanted tell-tale roots between colorings. Having a reliable and versatile root concealing product saves time and money between colorings without harsh chemicals that can harm the hair. If you plan the coloring of your hair to look its’ best for a special occasion or event, or want to wait another week or two between appointments, 4Rootz Colored Hair Gel is an invaluable resource.

Most root covers leave me wondering if my hair looks weird in that lighting or if it has worn off already, but 4RootZ stays put all day and looks natural in a variety of settings.

Even if you do not color but wish for occasional gray coverage, 4RootZ Colored Hair Gel provides coverage that stays put without appearing harsh, sticky, too matte or dark. It blends well into hair and beards while providing scalp coverage and conceals roots without fallout or staining of clothes, skin or pillowcases.

WHERE TO FIND IT

Find the 4RootZ Colored Hair Gel in Brown or Black at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0794DB9RV

Style Chicks received 4RootZ Colored Hair Gel in Brown in exchange for our unbiased review and received compensation for our time and effort. However, our experience with the product and the opinions expressed in this review are 100% ours.