Before You Add That Hair Dye to Your Cart, Jennifer Aniston's Colorist Has One Piece of Advice—Hold Out

Unless you always color at home, in which case, forge ahead.

I know it's tempting, scrolling through all those top-rated hair dyes, root touch-ups, and highlighting kits, but if Michael Canalé, the colorist behind Jennifer Aniston's sun-kissed caramel strands, can give us one piece of advice it's to fight the add-to-cart urge. Home color? Consider it a last resort, unless you're already a bona fide at-home colorist—in which case, you can bask in your DIY prowess and remember this day every time one of your well-meaning girlfriends turns her nose up at your $7-a-pop Nice 'N Easy.

As for the rest of us, we've invested in countless trips to the salon to get the perfect mix of mushroom brown with the most delicate of face-framing ashy highlights, now why would we take a box of all-over color to it? Mama strictly forbid any type of artificial hair color when we were in high school—granted we did take things into our own hands barely two weeks into our undergraduate careers and, just as she promised, we rue the day. But those years of follicular irresponsibility are long behind us, and we've invested in a trusted colorist to help us once again achieve the color of our youth.

Now we find ourselves in unusual circumstances. Even though we're not out and about town, two-inch root growth can be a mood buster. That might sound frivolous or vain to say in light of all that's currently going on, but if camouflaging your roots and curling your hair each day is what gives you the courage to get out of bed, take a stroll around the block, and maybe even bake up a batch of that No-Knead Bread you've been intending to take on for years, then don't even give it a second thought.

With that viewpoint in mind, we reached out to Canalé for his best tips for helping our roots (and subsequent sanity) make it through this time with limited damage done. The real clincher was to stay the course by resisting the urge to color at home. Color-extending shampoo and conditioners like his Cleanse and Soften are gentle enough to preserve color while battling oxidation, a process that can cause color to change or fade over time.

When roots inevitably begin to show—and they will—he gave three quick techniques. The safest option is a hairband that covers the hairline. Another no-damage-done option is to use a spray or powder concealer. They come in a vast array of color choices and should keep things covered up until your next wash. If you're in need of a stronger fix, semi-permanent hair color will last up to four weeks, but that's the most dicey of the safe options.

As for his view on embracing hair growth and letting your natural color shine through, Canalé simply says, "Remember, roots are in style." If Jennifer Aniston's colorist says it's so, we're inclined to take his word for it.

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