Recommend a home hair gloss treatment ... *clear* (ie no colour, just the shine)?

[nongnangning]

About ten years ago my then-hairdresser used to do what he called a "gloss treatment" - which, as he told it, involved taking an element of the hair dye process, just a clear part, and using it like a semi-perm dye. It didn't change the colour of my hair but made it nice and shiny. It lasted about a month.

I would really like to be able to do this myself at home but have got confused by all the words gloss and glaze on hair products now. Some of these seem to be just conditioner, others something more.

Can anyone suggest how to do this or a good affordable product to try? I went to Boots and stared at all the packs of hair dye - but they all seem to be colours.

TIA for your home gloss tips!

Watching as interested in same…

Also interested, I was looking for one with colour but again got confused with the terminology, my search turned up semi-permanent dyes/toners but I still wasn’t sure if that was the same thing.

I’m not sure if there’s a high street equivalent, but I’m a hairdresser and would use something like this in 0-00 clear:

https://www.chrisandsons.co.uk/schwarzkopf-professional-igora-vibrance-60ml-new.html?gadsource=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiA-aK8BhCDARIsAL-H9l8fMMdmU31RGIRX8ax6D8DBaW1SPj9hF-o1TyOI0XgeQVXwe8MYaAsuPEALwwcB

Mixed with 1.9% developer.

https://www.chrisandsons.co.uk/schwarzkopf-professional-igora-vibrance-1-9-6-vol-developer-gel-1000ml-new.html

Sebastian Cellophane. Clear semi permanent.
£40 but that's many applications.

Redken shades in clear. It's mixed with a developer and used the same way as a hair dye, without the dye. I think you can get it at Sally's without a trade card.

These say professionals only on the website. Do you know where home users can get them? They look great. I use the Revlon colour range which is again professionals only but Amazon sell it.

On Amazon.

£32.20 on Notino. States free p+p

Thank you so much @RedLightsStopSigns @YesIReallyDidOK @PiggyPigalle for these brilliant hints. So helpful. Really grateful. I am going to give it a go with whichever one I can get hold of and see how I get on.

It’s a professional product u can order online but i wouldn’t !!
im a stylist and some of the glosses will lift your natural base if u dont know what product line your using and when u have a shift in the natural base it will reveal warmth
Hope this helps anyone before u dive in with the above recommendations !
This is why we are qualified and trained we have knowledge on different products lines !
what is acidic and alkaline !

Thank you for the warning @Londontown12 . At my hairdresser it costs £100+ to get one of these glosses. Hence wanting to have a go myself. Obviously if I wanted balayage or something I would go to the hairdresser. But this seems more like a case of applying a clear colour which I feel even I ought to be able to do without mucking things up too badly. I hear what you say about specialist knowledge - and I accept that if I use dye out of a box from the chemist I probably won't get such a good look as if I do it at the hairdresser.
However, if anyone can suggest somewhere in London that would do a decent job of gloss that is at the more affordable end I would also look at that

Glaze does this - different colours and a sheer version. Designed to be used at home and temporary. I’ve used a brunette one and it worked well but not tried the clear https://glazehair.com/products/super-gloss-200ml-sheer-glow

https://www.treatwell.co.uk/places/treatment-ladies-hair-glossing/offer-type-local/price-17-to-40-gbp/in-london-uk/
if u pop in where u r in filters price range that should help x

Just a thought as well if u ring don’t say colour or semi colour just say u want a clear toner aka gloss treatment, because they will book u in for colour and only use a toner !! I’m trying to help x

TYSM @Londontown12
So "clear gloss" in hairdresser-speak is actually just using the "toner" part of the dying process?

@Floradorachance I had a look at this one in Superdrug but wasn't sure whether this product was actually a "shiny conditioner" rather than a semi-permanent gloss. How long did your shine last when you used it?

It's not the dye that lifts, it's the developer, so you still need to be careful using these products and accept that if it doesn't go well there may be unintended effects.

I've tried this colourless one - I have grey hair that I put a temp blonde rinse on every 3 weeks or so. I used the Glaze once - you have to heat dry rather than use it as a conditioner. I dutifully blow dried with big brush and yes, it did look better but was greasy the next day. Perhaps I put too much on but my hair usually goes a week before needing washing again. It's joined the collection of bottles and sprays in my hair drawer.

I’ve used it twice - it lasts about 5/6 weeks. They have a couple of different products - the ‘super gloss’ you apply like hair dye (can be on wet or dry hair) and then just dry/style as normal. That comes in clear or various shades. This is the one I’ve tried and liked. Then they have the mirror glaze spray which has to be heat activated - sounds like this is the one @Lifestooshort71 had disappointing results with.

This was useless in clear on my grey hair.

@Lifestooshort71

What blonde rinse do you use please

Fancy a change

Yeah to be fair I only have a few greys so far - this doesn’t cover them but gives a nice shine/tint to the rest of it. It’s definitely not as good as a going to the hairdressers but a good cheaper alternative.

Yep !!!

Sebastian Cellophane won't shift anything, as it merely coats the cuticle in the same way way that Henna does or the old Loving Care. No patch test required.

The reason Sebastian won't sell to the public is to protect its salon owners. There is even a comment from one on Amazon who wished to cease stocking the full range but still buy the very popular gloss.
Sebastian wouldn't allow that, which is why the salon owner buys it from Amazon.

Something I have found with glosses, is that if they're coloured, the end result is better shine. I applied a colour a couple of shades lighter than my own so as not to be noticeable.
If you do apply a hair cuticle coating, leave time before a hair colour.

Would these glosses have a thickening effect by any chance? I don’t want to dye my hair, but I’m always on the lookout for something to thicken my babyfine hair without weighing it down.