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Before The Protector collection ever touched the shelves, it touched a stylist’s chair. Well, 35 stylists to be exact.
Today, beloved haircare brand amika is officially launching The Protector, a system-backed color protection and strengthening routine – but the brand didn’t build the hype the usual way. Instead, it opened up amika:backrooms, an insider testing program that gave 35 selected professional hair stylists early access to the product months before launch, in unmarked lab-sample packaging, to use on real clients in real salons across the country.
Inside the Backrooms
amika:backrooms was the brand’s behind-the-scenes testing ground — a space where professional stylists get to try, shape, and weigh in on what amika develops next, long before it’s bottled and branded for the public. For The Protector, that meant selected stylists received sealed lab samples with no product name or packaging, tasked with putting the formula through the same conditions their color clients face every day: sun exposure, chlorine, hard water, and the general wear of life between salon appointments.
The Products Behind the Testing
The Protector Color Protect + Strengthen Shampoo + Conditioner
This duo ($30.00 each) is built for next-level wash care, powered by a color pro-longevity complex (color-locking polymers + cortex-penetrating peptides that preserve color from cortex to cuticle), a high-refractive glossing polymer for shine, and antioxidant-rich black currant extract to fight color-degrading oxidative stress.
Best for: fine to medium hair types (1-3c) with the following benefits:
- Preserves color vibrancy for up to 40 washes
- Strengthens hair 11.5x
- 91% less breakage
- 9.2x more manageable + moisturized
- Clinically proven shine boost
The Protector Color Protect + Strengthen Leave-In Treatment
This treatment ($34.00) features the same color pro-longevity complex, plus a new lamellar liqui-crystal complex that seals the hair cuticle smooth, and black currant + sea buckthorn to combat free radicals.
Best for: all color-treated hair, especially dry, damaged, fine-medium textures with the following benefits:
- Reduces color fade + shift from UV, chlorine, copper, and pool water
- 5x stronger hair
- 81% less breakage
- 7.9x more manageable + hydrated
- 450°F heat protection
Why Stylists Were Testing It First
For colorists, protecting a client’s result doesn’t end when they leave the chair. A color service is an investment of time, technique, and trust, and what happens to that color in the weeks after — through washing, styling, sun, and pool days — determines how long it actually lasts. The Protector was built to extend that protection past the appointment, which is exactly why amika wanted professional feedback before public launch: real stylists, watching real color hold up (or fade) under real conditions.
Stylists, are you ready to give The Protector collection a try? Visit loveamika.com to shop, then make sure to tag @readthetease and @amikapro on Instagram and TikTok throughout the process so we can see how amazing your color looks. Trust us, you’re going to love this one.
