BY DESIGN : Just Hue It : You <i> Can</i> Do It Yourself--Hide the Gray or Go Bold for Less

“Does she or doesn’t she?” Judging from the looks of drugstore shelves these days, lots of women do.

In 1993, the most recent year for which statistics are available, 43 million American women colored their hair, up 7 million from 1991 figures. More than two-thirds of women who color their hair do so at home.

“The numbers go up every time a baby boomer sees her first gray hair,” says a L’Oreal representative.

Aimed at aging boomers, experimental young teens and the timid is a staggering array of new do-it-yourself hair-color products that cost a fraction of what the process costs at a salon. A redhead can cover telltale gray hairs for under $8 and a brunette can paint in a head full of multicolor highlights for about $6. A dye job by famed Beverly Hills colorist Louis Licari can run as high as $250.

But home hair color has always appealed to the frugal. The newest products also promise sophisticated results, minimum effort and maximum ease.

What’s not easy is finding the right product. Faced with box after box of hair color, each boasting different degrees of permanency, a variety of “suspension agents,” sliding scales of coverage and even ratings, what’s a color-conscious customer to do? Start by defining your terms.

* Hair-color products are temporary, lasting one to eight shampoos; semi-permanent, lasting 24 to 32 shampoos, or permanent, meaning forever. Clairol uses a rating system: 1 is for temporary, 2 for semi-permanent and 3 for permanent color.

* Suspension agents are what carry the color; the most common are water, gels or creams. They are all messy and you still have to clean up the sink, cabinets and yourself after applying.

* Semi-permanent deposit colors represent the latest technology in home hair color. These products contain no ammonia and little peroxide. Because the natural hair color has not been bleached, it still shows through the deposit color. Semi-permanent color also grows out gracefully, fading all over, rather than leaving a distinct root line. L’Oreal’s Casting and Clairol’s Natural Instincts are two of the new semi-permanent deposit colors.

The ease and gentleness of deposit hair colors allow those with a taste for adventure to change hair color nearly as often as they change their clothes.

Cares Mills, for example, started coloring her hair when she was 13. Now, at 23, she dollops her hair with semi-permanent color about every two weeks.

“I change it whenever I can,” she confesses. This week, her shoulder-length hair is dark mahogany with red highlights in front.

Mills, a colorist at Licari’s Beverly Hills salon, says the conditioning agents in most of the colors are actually quite beneficial.

And, indeed, the latest approach in hair-color marketing is convincing consumers that the products are, to use the term loosely, natural.

* The Natural Look: Introduced late last year, Clairol’s Natural Instincts (lasts for 24 shampoos) is packaged in recycled paper products. The formula contains a long list of botanical ingredients, such as aloe, chamomile and ginseng. “It looks more cosmetic-y,” says a Clairol representative.

* The Unnatural Look: At the polar opposite of the natural look are those outrageous bright hair colors--such as lemon, fuchsia and blueberry--seen around town on the heads of teens. Crayon-bright Punky Colours, made by Chatsworth-based Jerome Russell, are currently sold only through beauty-supply stores. But company president David Jerome says the products will hit other retail stores this spring.

Applied to unbleached hair, Punky Colours act like a rinse. To get the true vivid color, however, the hair has to be bleached, Russell says. Bleaching kits will be sold with the Punky Colours when they reach the retail outlets.

* For Brunettes Too: L’Oreal’s Accenting Highlighting Duo, $5.99, contains two semi-permanent colors that can be painted on for that many-colored highlight look. It’s the first product for brunettes to have highlighting colors without bleach. Ginger and cinnamon are in the box recommended for medium brown hair. For darker brown hair, russet and mahogany are the two highlighting colors.

* For First-Timers: The newest temporary colors are designed for the first-timer who wants to dabble in hair coloring without making any permanent changes. Clairol’s 2-year-old Glints is such a product. “It’s geared to a younger market, the teens,” says a company representative. “It does not cover gray, there is no commitment, and it washes out in six to eight shampoos.” L’Oreal will have a similar, no-commitment color in a mousse form, called Exuberance, on the shelves by April.