by Nancy Gardiner
Northern News Services

NNSL (Sep 24/97) - The home hair-care coloring market is growing and in some cases, shelf space is bulging along with it.

"The problem is, retailers don't have rubber walls, but they are making room for new hair-care products," says Rowena Martin, a L'Oreal Trainer Technician in Vancouver.

Locally, the drugstore has made more shelf space available to incorporate three new lines on the non-permanent, home-coloring market.

Donna Sauer, a cosmetician with Shopper's Drug Mart in Yellowknife, says that, altogether, there are at least six lines in the non-permanent mode, and sales "are really good."

She says one reason for the popularity is the price. "You can go to a salon and pay 60 bucks or pay $10 here (to do your own coloring)," says Sauer.

Sauer, too, uses a semi-permanent color. "I'm doing mine tonight. I do them (semi-permanents) 'cause they're a boost, more fun and gives hair more body," she says.

The most frequently asked questions, Sauer says, include: Will it cover grey and how long will it last?

"It lasts six, to 12, to 24 shampoos," she says.

Babyboomers are getting to the age where they're greying and with changes in the home-coloring industry, more people are coloring their hair.

The boomer generation is in the 45- to 55-year-old range and there's a well-known huge population in that age group.

Why is it popular?

"Before, people wanted to cover grey. Nowadays, hair is colored to make fashion statements, and people want change -- after six or eight shampoos," says Martin. "That way, you can become an outgoing little fox on a weekend, then back to normal color."

The age of people using coloring products has broadened like the range of shades now offered -- with probably more younger people becoming involved in the last decade.

"They're in their early teens -- there are children using hair coloring, right up to people in their 80s," says Martin.

Martin has been in the industry for 27 years.

Some famous people in sports and the movie industry change their hair color weekly.

Is the home coloring market taking something away from hair stylists?

"Not really. People who would not normally buy brown hair color and slap it on their hair are not people we aim at. Our consumers are people who would not pay a salon, have had a bad experience, or have 12 children and can't get to a salon and do it at midnight," says Martin.

The disappointments, Martin says, are "people expecting miracles or they're given results they weren't expecting."