If the rise in living costs has had you tightening the purse strings, we bet it’s having a knock-on effect on your beauty routines: with salon visits being forfeited or postponed.
One of the most expensive appointments on the beauty maintenance list is having your hair regularly coloured by a professional. From sun-kissed highlights to all-over colour, if you prefer to trust a stylist with your strands, stretching the time between your appointments makes sense if you’re trying to save on spending.
While less time spent in your favourite hairdresser’s chair might be great for your economy, it’s not so great for your confidence. Yale University researched the psychology of a bad hair day, and reported that when our hair isn’t looking its best, it can impact our self-esteem.
So if your crowning glory has started sprouting out greys or your roots are starting to giveaway that you’re not really a natural blonde, it’s time to turn to a little at-home help to see you through to your next appointment.
Enter, root touch-up products: a quick-fix way to disguise grown-out roots. The DIY solutions now come in powders, sprays, crayons, kits and masks, offering anything from temporary wash-out to more permanent formulations.
And while not all root touch-ups are created equally, there’s no trial and error needed to pick out the best root touch-up for your style and needs, as we’ve done the hard work for you with this beauty editor-approved edit…
Shop below
Best root touch-up products at a glance:
- Best root touch-up spray: L’Oreal Paris Magic Retouch - £7, Amazon
- Best root touch-up powder: Color Wow Root Cover Up - £29.50, lookfantastic
- Best dry shampoo and root touch-up in one: Batiste Colour Dry Shampoo - £4.25, Boots
- Best for permanent colour: Clairol Root Touch Up - £5.52, lookfantastic
- Best for fine and or thinning hair: Toppik Hair Building Fibers - £6.95, Amazon
- Best for luxury root touch-up: Oribe Airbrush Root Touch-Up Spray - £30, Selfridges
- Best for a range of root touch-up products: Josh Wood Colour Blending Brush - £19, Sephora
- Best for colour correcting mask: Christophe Robin Shade Variation Masks - £39, lookfantastic
- Best for semi-permanent root touch-up: Schwarzkopf Root Retouch - £7.52, Amazon
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Colour Wow Root Cover Up
Best for: Root touch-up powder
For precise application, you can’t beat this weightless mineral powder and targeted brush applicator that ensures you can get to, and cover, every visible root. Whether it’s blonde highlights or greys sprouting through that you want to conceal, you’ll find a natural-looking shade to match yours out of the eight to choose from.
The powder is reflective, which allows for it to blend seamlessly with the rest of your strands, and keep it feeling naturally soft with no wax or dye in the formula. The double-ended brush has a wider brush for covering larger sections and a small brush for highlights – simply tilt and use the side edge for the most natural effect. Don’t be tempted to use sweeping motions, it’s designed to be pressed into roots and this application works best.
Buy now £29.50, lookfantastic
L’Oréal Paris Magic Retouch
Best for: Root touch-up spray
Available in nine shades covering a wide range of blonde, brunette and black tones, there’s a match for everyone looking for a super quick root freshen-up or to cover greys. It’s a lightweight, temporary formulation that will last until washed out, but don’t worry it doesn’t run onto clothing or bedding.
It’s as easy to use as a shake and a spray, as the micro-diffusing nozzle can be aimed precisely where you want the formula to apply. For the most natural finish, the key is to use sparingly, and then you’ll find the spray will last up to 25 uses.
Buy now £7.00, Amazon
Batiste Colour Dry Shampoo
Best: Dry shampoo and root touch-up in one
Renowned for its affordable and effective dry shampoos, Batiste has a wide range of grease-busting bottles including these hair refreshers that are infused with a hint of colour - perfect for covering up root regrowth. There’s a blonde formula and one for brunettes that, as long as used correctly, will prolong wash days as well as your need to visit the salon
Too many people don’t use dry shampoo correctly. This should be sprayed to roots at a distance (around 30cm), massaged to work its magic and brushed out (the step so many people miss) so you’re not left with any white residue. And, don’t forget, dry shampoos are great for body boosting and root lifting too.
Buy now £4.25, Boots
Clairol Root Touch Up
Best for: Permanent colour
For those looking for a more permanent solution, Clairol has these popular root touch up kits that promise results lasting up to three weeks. They come in a generous range of 18 shades that cover blonde, red, brown and black tones. It will surprise you how easy and speedy they are to use, as you can’t go wrong with the drip-free, mess-free formulation.
To use, simply mix the colourant with the developer as instructed, and then you’re ready to apply to regrowth with the precision-angled brush. Leave it for 10-15 minutes, then rinse. It’s that simple!
Buy now £5.52, lookfantastic
Toppik Hair Building Fibers
Best for: Fine and or thinning hair
These clever hair-thickening products not only create the look of a fuller head of hair but double up as a brilliant root touch-up too. Made-up of coloured keratin fibres that you simply shake onto areas where you’d like to conceal signs of hair thinning and pat into place.
To use as a root concealer, sprinkle lightly along your parting to grown-out roots and you’ll undetectably blend away greys and regrowth. Pick from five shades, from medium blonde to full-on black, and four different sizes so you can try its magic with the small 3g before you commit to a larger bottle.
Buy now £6.95, Amazon
Oribe Airbrush Root Touch-Up Spray
Best for: Luxury root touch-up
Packed with hair nourishment, housed in chic packaging and always incredibly fragranced, Oribe’s hair products always go the extra beauty mile. This root touch-up spray in the brand’s collection is no exception. While a spritz onto your parting sees the natural micro-fine mineral colourants adhere to strands and even out colour seamlessly, it also acts as a dry shampoo and leave-in conditioner.
It’s infused with rice starch to absorb excess oil and dirt, but you won’t find any powdery finish thanks to the added hair-loving conditioners that leave strands feeling silky smooth – it tames any frizz and flyaways to boot. Fine, thin hair types will also love the body and root lift it’s able to create. Currently available in the UK in four shades.
Buy now £30.00, Selfridges
Josh Wood Colour Blending Brush
Best for: Range of root touch-up products
London-based celebrity hair colourist Josh Wood has a brilliant collection of root touch-up products, including new root smudge powders, airbrush root sprays, root marker crayons and these blending brushes in his hair colour and care line-up. The latter is not only our favourite from the bunch, but one of his bestsellers too. You’ll find it in three shades: dark blonde, light brown and dark brown.
The click-brush contains a wet formula designed to be used on wet or damp, clean hair. You simply paint onto roots, style and dry with your hair dryer for it to set. You’re then left with cleverly disguised roots with no evidence you’ve skipped your regular salon appointment, and the temporary colour lasts up to three washes.
Buy now £19.00, Sephora
Christophe Robin Shade Variation Masks
Best for: Colour-correcting mask
An alternative to root touch-up products, are colour correcting masks that freshen up colour so you can prolong the weeks between your salon visits. And they don’t come more luxuriously rich and nourishing or better pigmented than Christophe Robin. Choose from five shades that all neutralise unwanted tones that naturally develop in-between your colour, bleach or highlights – think brassiness, or yellowness in blondes and redness in brunettes.
Each mask is enriched with almond oil and nutritive buriti oil: two of many ingredients that make up this softening, smoothing and shine-promoting hair mask. Yet, it’s the pigments that vary in each colour that refresh hair’s hue and keep roots looking less obvious. Pricey, but worth every penny to look after your locks.
Buy now £39.00, lookfantastic
Schwarzkopf Root Retouch
Best for: Semi-permanent root touch-up
Designed as a seven-day fix to give roots and greys a new lease of life, you’ll find this semi-permanent root touch-up in four shades: chocolate brown, natural brown, dark brown and natural blonde. While there isn’t a shade to suit all, it is a worthy buy if you do fall into one of these tones.
There’s no colour mixing required, all you have to do is apply to clean and towel-dried roots and contours of the face (if required) and leave on to let it process for between 10-30 minutes before rinsing.
Buy now £7.52, Amazon
Verdict
The Color Wow Root Cover Up ticks so many boxes. Easy to use, the temporary powder formulation blends seamlessly and can be applied both precisely and widely thanks to the double-ended brush. You’ll find it stays put too and comes in a wide range of shades.
