product review: fanci-full touch-up stick

Having black hair is a lot of fun. It looks shinier and fuller, to me anyway, and it's encouraged me to try styles that didn't appeal to me when my hair was various shades of auburn.

There's really only one problem, and it's one I didn't give due consideration before I dyed it. That is that my hair is naturally light brown. So unlike many other dye jobs, as it begins to grow out, I don't get punk fabulous dark roots. I get comparatively light roots, which can look from far away like a bald spot. Um, eek.

So now I'm remembering the real reason I never dyed my hair black before: the commitment. I could go get more black dye and hit it again. I could get one of those root kits with just enough dye to cover the grow-out. I could continue washing it like a fiend and hoping it fades (the dye I used was semi-permanent). And I was just about to make a decision as to which of those paths to take when one of less resistance was presented to me in the middle of the Rite-Aid.


If you've ever noticed this product at the drug store or are, heaven forbid, in the same light root limbo I am, you may be interested to know what the hell it actually is.

The Touch-Up Stick is a tube of hard, waxy paint. You twist the bottom like a chapstick to advance the rounded tip out of the cylinder it lives in. I made a mistake in not reading the directions and assumed the product was ready to use. I ended up ripping out a lot of my hair trying to press the somewhat sticky dry paint onto my head.

The correct way to use the product is to get it wet, at which point it is just a tube of drippy brown paint. You press it onto your roots and it more or less colors them brown. Especially since I'm using it along the part of my hair, I find it challenging not getting most of the paint on my scalp. However, the overall effect is one of very dark brown roots against black hair, instead of invisible mousy roots against black hair. Therefore, I'm basically happy and can sort of agree it does what it should.

I have two complaints about the Touch-Up Stick. The first is that the paint is sticky and stiff. If you like to wear your hair loose and sloppy - and I do - this looks odd. I've only applied it really badly once, but when I did it looked like I'd been bludgeoned and blood had been left to mat my hair. Not what I was going for.

Additionally, this product "stinks like Auntie". It has a definite eau de old ladies, and it cannot be covered up. I tried spraying my normal perfume right on my scalp, to no avail.

On the whole I'd recommend it if you're very indecisive and willing to comb and part your hair nicely every day. Otherwise, I don't think it's much better, cost/benefit-wise, than living with light roots.