A Sun-In Story

Melissa Coker
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Melissa Coker

Last night at dinner, I asked my friend Melissa Coker (the designer behind Wren, pictured above with our buddy Max) who colored her hair. “I do it myself,” she said, “with Sun-In,” Sun-In! The spritz that everyone tried at least once during middle school, which might have turned your hair an unflattering shade of copper/orange? Well, the formula has evidently been refined, since Melissa swears by it for maintaining her warm, flaxen color. Shocked, I asked her to explain:

“I don’t know why I started doing it. It was like seven years ago when I first tried, and my mom was like, ‘’You will look like a penny.’ But it’s not true, I never look like a penny. It takes, like, five minutes, and I do it whenever I remember, which is once every eight months or so. I’ll be, like, 'Oh my God my hair looks brown,' so I’ll put Sun-In on it. I just did it three weeks ago: I only spray it on the roots, and then blow-dry it. It’s heat activated—I don't go in the sun. And five minutes later, it’s lighter. My hair naturally is pretty light, but this definitely makes it more light. I wouldn’t consider myself a strawberry blonde, but people say that. They also say Sun-In makes your hair orange, so maybe that’s what why it looks strawberry blond. Is it bad for you? I don’t know… I’m so good with all that natural stuff, I’m so all-natural with everything, that I feel I’m allowed this. It’s my cheat. Well, red lipstick is my cheat, but this is my other cheat.”

—Emily Weiss