Sun-In
The drugstore spray-in lightener that promised a sun-kissed, surfer blonde: spritz it on, sit in the sun or run the blow-dryer, and wait. For '90s teens who weren't allowed to dye their hair it was the loophole, and plenty of heads came out the orange, brassy color hairstylists warn about.
Sun-In is older than the '90s kids who remember it. It first caught on in the 1970s with ads full of sun-kissed models on the beach. A 1971 Glamour ad told readers, "Just spray Sun-In under the sun, and see what happens," and MEL Magazine traces its fans back to the late '60s. The Tennessee company Chattem bought the brand in the mid-1970s. Chattem's strategy was to buy small or struggling product lines and market them in niches where the giants weren't competing, and within about five years it also picked up MUDD Facial Masque and Corn Silk cosmetics. Sun-In was one of the brands that took Chattem into cosmetics and toiletries.
By the late '80s Sun-In was a summer standby, and a 1989 commercial sang "Put sun in your hair!" Chattem added "Gentle Highlights" and "Natural Lemon" versions in 1988 and was still selling Sun-In in the mid-'90s. For a lot of '90s kids it was a loophole. "Like most young teens in the late '90s I wasn't allowed to dye my hair, but I thought, 'Hey, I can buy something similar for a few dollars!'" one fan told CNN in 2023. "Even my mom knew what it was." You sprayed it on and let the sun or the heat of a hair dryer do the work. Its lemon and peroxide strip pigment from the hair, and that is where the orange came from. Atlanta stylist Brandi Jacobs explained that darker hair "has to go through several phases of orange and yellow tints before it is stripped enough to appear blonde." Another hair professional, Cindy Marcus, called Sun-In "every hairstylist's worst nightmare."
Sun-In never went away. In July 2017 Focus Consumer Healthcare bought the brand. The current formula has less peroxide, plus chamomile and aloe, and by 2022 the company had about 100 part-time brand ambassadors on college campuses. Gen Z rediscovered it on Instagram and TikTok, and its marketing director, Brittany Dedman, called it a "gateway drug into hair color" for people who can't afford a salon.
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