Colorists continually mitigate trade-offs between great color and damaged hair. Now, color is getting a big boost and damage is getting the boot with Advanced Coloration. This new brand claims to be the first hair color with "micro-pigment sized" color molecules.

Explains Bonnie Boozer-Magee, VP of sales and marketing for the Atlanta-based manufacturer, "My partner worked with an Italian chemist for three years to create the patent-pending process. Until now, all color molecules were refined similarly. Most were 89-percent to 90-percent pure, which is a macro molecule, chemically speaking. By refining them differently and losing harmless impurities that take up space, we achieved 99.8-percent purity, in a smaller, micro molecule."

Boozer-Magee says because the color's molecular size is so tiny, it requires minimal cuticle swelling to get in the cortex. For this reason, Advanced Coloration relies on less than .5-percent ammonia, as opposed to the usual 2.8 to 4 percent. The double-pigmented, tube color is mixed in a 1:2 ratio with the patent-pending developer, which slows initial oxidation, so that more precursor gets in the cortex before oxidation begins. (Smaller molecules = faster oxidation.)

"You get high-definition color and complete gray coverage," says Boozer-Magee. "Also, a 7-volume developer allows the color to transform to a true demi, without the need for a separate line."

Advanced Coloration is sold direct to salons, which makes it uniquely affordable. Visit www.advancedcoloration.com for information.

Five weeks before being photographed, this hair was colored with one part Advanced Coloration's Intense Dark Red Blond 6.66RR with two parts 30-volume developer.