Daily Vanity Logo

Dyeing your hair in bright, bold shades may have gotten a bad rep in the past (remember when your mum used to warn you off ah-lian colours?) but there’s no doubt that it’s hardly the case these days.

From lustrous emeralds to fiery reds, the sky is the limit when it comes to getting your dream shade these days. Well, except for the fact that most of these shades require some form of bleach, which is extremely damaging to hair.

If the thought of having a full-head of straw on your head is deterring you from getting the unicorn hair you want, well — don’t ditch those dreams just yet! Because as it turns out, there is a revolutionary new hair colouring service that could change the hair dye game as you know it: Shiseido Professional Colourmuse.

What is Shiseido Professional Colormuse?

Shiseido Colourmuse Review Products

A direct-dye colour treatment developed by Asians for Asian hair, Shiseido Professional Colourmuse contains 12 bold dye shades within their range that are intermixable to achieve an unlimited colour palette. We’re talking varying shades of pink, red, blues, and greens (or basically any colour in the universe can be created with just these 12 shades)! Their Colourmuse range can also be mixed with their other Shiseido Professional Primience colour dyes to allow for limitless creative colour creations, all while strengthening and moisturising locks.

Doesn’t that sound a little too good to be true? We admit we were pretty apprehensive at first, too. It’s why we decided to send several members of our team to try out this service for ourselves to see if it really delivers on what it claims to do. Read on to see how we found the service!

Shiseido Professional Colormuse Review: how did we find it?

 

Shiseido Colourmuse Review Hair Before

From left to right: our hair shades and texture prior to going down for Shiseido Professional Colourmuse.

We made sure to pick out several members of our team with varying hair shades and textures. The one similarity amongst us? That we all have colour-treated hair. From close-to-black to the lightest blonde, we wanted to see if the Shiseido Professional Colourmuse service would work on all hair types alike.

Shiseido Colourmuse Review Other Products

Upon arriving at the Shiseido Professional headquarters, we were escorted to their studio so we could learn more about the service. As it turns out, there is more to the Shiseido Professional Colourmuse service than just simple colouring!

There are several other products within the range to make your colouring experience the best possible one there is: the Colourmuse Colour Remover, Colour Equalizer, and Top Coat. The Colour Remover removes existing dyes on your hair, while the Equalizer pre-conditions the hair to ensure smooth, even colour distribution. Finish off with the top coat, which helps prevent colour from fading and moisturises for a salon-ready finish.

There are also specialised Colour Shampoos and Treatments available in shades of blue (for cool tones), violet (high-level and natural tones), and pink (warm tones) to ensure that you freshly dyed hair stays the shade you want it to be for as long as possible.

We’re told that there are various other colouring services provided by Shiseido Professional, especially if you want more out of your hair colouring experience. There’s Colour Cure, for instance, which provides you with a treatment pre and post dyeing for impossibly smooth, shiny locks and Colour Addict, which comes with a dye removing aspect that allows you to remove your current colour safely and effectively, allowing for different dye shades for each salon visit. Neat!

With those assurances in mind, we went on to the fun part: picking out the shades we wanted to dye our hair to. After much deliberation, we decided on green, violet, red, and ash brown respectively.

Shiseido Colourmuse Review Pink Dye

Shiseido Colourmuse Review Purple Dye

The dyes looked fresh and vibrant right off the bat. Another factor that distinguishes the Shiseido Professional Colourmuse service from others? Their dyes don’t contain ammoniawhich means you don’t feel that stinging or burning sensation as the dye is being applied, nor is there any harsh chemical scents throughout the procedure.

Shiseido Colourmuse Review Lightening

Only two members of our team had to experience lightening due to the shades of their choice. 

Left: Hair prior to lightening. Right: Hair after lightening process. 

We were advised by our stylist to lighten our hair before beginning the dye process, due to the vibrant nature of the colours we selected. Bear in mind that this isn’t bleaching, though: it simply involves dyeing our hair a few shades lighter to ensure that the colour shows up exactly how we like it.

This is one of the main highlights of Shiseido Professional Colourmuse, after all: achieving bright, vivid shades without having to damage our locks through bleaching.

Shiseido Colourmuse Review Equalizer

With our hair lightened, a coat of Colourmuse Colour Equalizer was applied on to our hair to ensure that our vibrant dye picks would have a nice, even finish.

Shiseido Colourmuse Review Colouring One

Shiseido Colourmuse Review Colouring Two

There was no discomfort involved in the dye process, with the colours absorbing and penetrating in just 25 minutes. We’re told that this is due to the anti-red melanin colour pigments that are formulated in Colourmuse dyes — the redness in Asian hair is typically more resistant to absorbing colour, so the dyes in Shiseido Professional’s Colourmuse range are specially formulated to combat this. Score! No dry, straw-like hair that is impossible to comb through after, either — there’s Hyaluronic Acid in there, too, which is often found in skincare products due to its intensely moisturising properties.

Once that was done, our hair was washed out, blow-dried, and styled to reveal the final results. Let’s just say that we went through a real transformation!

Shiseido Colourmuse Review Wan Kee Violet

Colour of choice: Violet with pink highlights

Shiseido Colourmuse Review Angela Green

Colour of choice: Ash with green highlights

Shiseido Colourmuse Review Mel Red

Colour of choice: Red

Shiseido Colourmuse Review Emily Ash Blue

Colour of choice: Ash brown with violet and pink highlights

What are our thoughts on our new hair colours?

Wan Kee Final

Wan Kee: “I love how my new hair colour is subtle yet striking! I also love how my hair felt after the dye job— it didn’t leave my hair feeling dry or straw-like at all, for one, and it actually felt even more moisturised and healthy after the whole process. I was also initially very apprehensive as to how the colour would turn out, but I have to say that Shiseido Professional Colourmuse surpassed my expectations. The colour went on easily, and stayed on even after several washes. It’s definitely my top pick for anyone with coloured hair looking for a new look!”

 

Shiseido Colourmuse Review Angela Front View Green

Angela: “I really didn’t think I’d be able to pull off such a bright, vibrant shade of green, but this range of dyes by Shiseido Professional really made it possible. Plus, the whole process also didn’t take as long as I expected it to, despite requiring the additional step of having to lighten my hair! Normally, I’d have to waste away a whole day at a salon to achieve this sort of results, but everything was wrapped up within a few hours at Shiseido Professional. I love it!”

 

Mel 3

Mel: “I’ll admit that I was really, really wary when I first went down for this treatment! I wanted something a little bolder than my usual browns and blacks but nothing that was too OTT either, and I felt that Shiseido Professional really delivered on that aspect. I also loved how my hair feels soft and bouncy to touch, despite just having dyed it! It’s better than other dye jobs I’ve tried out so far.”

 

Shiseido Colourmuse Review Emily Ash Grey Front View

Emily: “Dyeing my hair is always such a stressful experience for me, because I hate how stinging the dye feels on my already-sensitive scalp. Plus, the colours hardly ever turn out the way I want it to, especially when I’d really prefer not to bleach. That’s why my experience at Shiseido Professional was such a pleasant surprise: it was the first time I experienced no discomfort at all when it came to dyeing, and they got it to the exact subtle shade of matte ash I wanted, despite it not being on the colour chart in the first place!”

 

Find out how you can experience the Shiseido Colormuse too!

Click here to find out more

This article is brought to you by Shiseido Professional.