One of the pioneer’s of DIY root touch-up products, TouchBack by ColorMetrics, is increasing distribution in the mass market with a temporary color shampoo and conditioner. Its founder, Joan Lasker, spoke with Beauty Insider about the new concept, the state of the DIY temporary hair color category and how for the first time root-touch up kits are outselling boxed hair color.

Beauty Insider: Give us a brief history of TouchBack, when it launched, what’s its distribution was and how it changed root coverage.

Joan Lasker: TouchBack is a marker for the hair … and a marker is a writing instrument. I loved the gesture, so I went outside the hair color industry to develop the marker technology. The result was TouchBack. We knew there had to be a better way than crayons, mascaras and powders to cover gray roots. I wanted real hair dye that would bond to the hair without flaking or rubbing off, temporary color that stayed in the hair until you washed it out— and the marker was the perfect way to deliver it. It took a long time to develop: four years of research and testing, six device and formula patents.

Prior to the marker, we sold the formula in a bottle with a wand applicator, and the customer base of that original system continues to expand: the same great formula, at a lower price. Our first sales of the TouchBack Wand were in 2004; TouchBack Marker launched in 2009.

The products blazed a trail into the innovative use of temporary color, without ammonia or peroxide initially to combat gray roots—now to conquer fade.

At the start, distribution was strictly in professional and specialty channels: salons, plus Sally Beauty and Ulta.

In 2013 we made the decision to introduce the TouchBack Marker in drugstore distribution for the following year. Walgreens sold three shades in 7,400 stores and CVS sold two shades in 7,700 stores. All of products in mass will be under the TouchBack brand name.

In January 2015, Walgreens will add two more shades of the TouchBack Marker (five total) and launch three shades of the TouchBack Wand.

In March 2015, CVS will add another shade of the TouchBack Marker (three total), launch three shades of the TouchBack Wand and launch three shades of the TouchBack Color Shampoo and Color Conditioner.

The TouchBack Wand is making its first appearance in mass in Walgreens in January 2015.

BI: What is next in the TouchBack product pipeline?
JL: Color between Colorings is the overall concept: TouchBack Color Shampoo and Color Conditioner duo adds back color and shine to faded and sun-damaged hair. Temporary hair color applied in the most natural way possible: once a week in the shower and the color lasts through three normal washings. We’re really excited about this system, because it is the culmination of our search to color hair instantly, without harsh chemicals. TouchBack’s

Color between Coloring system is the new, low-impact way to keep hair beautiful between applications of permanent color.

BI: What have been the brand’s biggest challenges and how have you overcome them?
JL: In quick succession, we won multiple awards for innovation in hair color, and this did a lot to build confidence in temporary hair color as a viable touch-up for gray roots. And while the category continues to be dominated by permanent hair color re-purposed as touch-up, we firmly believe that this will change, as the advantages of temporary color become more widely known.

Meanwhile, for the first time in the history of hair color, a root touch-up in the form of permanent color is actually outselling the boxed hair color from which it emanates. And on the temporary side, we have inspired an explosion of temporary touch-up products in the market: powders, sprays, mascaras and crayons that compete, whatever their merits, with TouchBack for market share.

Increased competition is a challenge, but touch-up is a now a hot category … and a rising tide lifts all boats.

BI: Why now to take the brand to a broader distribution? Will traditional pro outlets/specialty retailers see a conflict in selling to a more mass market?
JL: Let’s face it, lots of people get their hair colored in a salon by a professional, and lots of people choose to do it themselves. There’s nothing new about this. It’s about how we live and how we shop.

Is TouchBack perceived as a threat by the professional colorist? Some say yes and some say no, but we have yet to meet a professional who does not agree that TouchBack is great temporary color. It’s really not about “them-or-us”— it’s about the consumer.

BI: Do you personally see this as a shift as to where professional beauty is going?

JL: No, I do not. I see a shift as to where manufacturers and food, drug and mass retailers are going. Unlike specialty chains like Sally Beauty, Ulta and Sephora, professionals have never been aggressive sellers of retail consumer products. And now the entire universe of mass-market retailers carries products of all major manufacturers of professional beauty products.

Sales of product in salons have always been something of a stepchild, despite the fact that there is money to be made. Manufacturers tend to focus on back bar product for salons, and salons do not want to see professional products on the shelves of mass merchants, where, in the past, it has been acquired through diversion.

The salons are not going away, but the future growth of professional beauty, as I see it, is in the chains of food, drug and mass. That is why the TouchBack brand now lives on the shelves of CVS and Walgreens, with more to come in 2015 and beyond.