Living Proof, the problem/solution hair care company best known for its innovations in fighting frizz (No Frizz), creating volume (Full) and, yes, securing Jennifer Aniston as a spokesperson and partial owner, was recently awarded a U.S. patent covering a hair coloring innovation in its pipeline. The innovation brings together two properties that have historically been a tradeoff in hair color products, the company said: color brilliance and durability.

“This is something that we see as a totally new breakthrough in the hair color arena. It identifies a new class of dyes that have long lasting wear properties. One of the biggest frustrations among women who color their hair is color fading; color gets dull and brassy during normal wear between services. Our insight allows us to create vibrant dyes,” said Eric Spengler, SVP of R&D for Living Proof, whose background includes working on the product development team at Procter & Gamble’s Clairol business.“This is an exciting area. Our company is growing drastically, primarily from the hair care and treatment business. This is a third leg.”

While there is no specific launch date and no product that has been developed, Eric estimated that Living Proof coulb be in salons in the next 12 months to 18 months.

The claimed dye compounds in Living Proof’s technology contain three parts: a chromophore which is responsible for the color of the dye; a color-fastness moiety, which is responsible for binding the dye compound to hair; and a linker, which connects the chromophore to the color-fastness moiety. Ultimately, the technology has yielded “a whole new class of dyes.”

Entry into professional hair color will see Cambridge, Mass.-based Living Proof competing squarely against global hair color giant L’Oréal, as well as Procter & Gamble, Paul Mitchell Systems, TIGI, Schwartzkopf and Goldwell. Indeed the company, which in the first quarter secured $30 million in funds from institutional investors, has the perfect person in Jennifer Aniston to promote any hair color innovations in ads. Jennifer joined the brand as co-owner and hair care spokesperson in October 2012, and ever since the company has seen tremendous growth in both consumer awareness and retail sales. According to the results of a year-long study, Living Proof brand awareness was 140% higher than it was the year prior. To date, Living Proof, which sells its hair care products in Sephora and Ulta, has more than doubled its business this year. The company was created in 2005 by a founder of Polaris Ventures and fueled by technology supplied by Dr. Robert Langer, a Massachusetts Institute Technology professor. Items first came onto the market in 2009.