A hair dye that will cover greys without damaging your locks is the holy grail for many who regularly head to the salon, and scientists may be on the brink of creating just such a miracle product – all thanks to graphene.

Graphene, a Nobel Prize-winning material created by British scientists, is a form of carbon that is 200 times stronger than steel and, more importantly some may argue, can be used to make a new hair dye that is non-toxic, non-damaging and lasts through many washes without fading. 

Researchers at Northwestern’s McCormick School of Engineering found a way to add colour without using harsh chemicals, such as ammonia and bleach, to penetrate the hair. Instead, graphene, which is flexible, can be  wrapped around the hair.

As graphene is a dark colour, it works especially well for those going from blonde to brunette and was majorly tested on blonde hair samples, in the study published by the journal Chem, which means it is also well suited to covering greys with darker colours. This development could ultimately change what the hair dye industry currently looks like.

Hair dyed with graphene is also less prone to static and it is a water-based treatment which could be applied to hair by spraying without any prior skin tests.

The researchers have so far developed graphene-based hair dyes in multiple shades of brown and black, and next they plan to experiment with a wider variety of colours.