HOME HAIR COLORIST > Lesson 2

Understanding the LEVEL SYSTEM of HAIR COLOR

Everyone MUST understand a few of the basic rules of Hair Color, they are not difficult, they are easy. I want you to understand them so a much larger percentage of women will be able to color their hair at home and it will come out correctly. There are just too many people having their hair

CHART 02-01

destroyed by BOXED HAIR COLOR KITS...they should be destroyed and the process I am teaching should be made mandatory . It involves more flexibility, so you are not given a set bottle of hair color with a set bottle of peroxide ( that come in those damn Kits) for everyone.

LEVEL is the unit of measurement used to identify the lightness or darkness of a color; it is sometimes referred to as value or depth. Colorists use the LEVEL SYSTEM to analyze the lightness or darkness of a hair color (See chart 02-01).

Hair color levels are arranged on a scale of 1 to 12, with 1 being the darkest and 12 being the lightest ( not too long ago it was 1-10 ;some new HIGH LIFT Blonde's added 2 more light levels). The names for the natural hair color levels may vary from manufacturer to manufacturer but they each use this chart as the base.

What I want you to learn here is simple....try to get very comfortable with these Levels and especially:

KNOW YOUR OWN VIRGIN (without color or anything on it) LEVEL OF HAIR COLOR

that is an important piece of info and will be important for the rest of your life(even though it will change as you turn grey!)

Please figure that out right now and email to me ______________.

If you are a redhead (as am I) its a tiny bit more complicated, you still use the same chart to figure it out, you would just draw your finger across the chart to the different "hues" it goes from Gold/Red to Red to Red/Gold to Red/Violet and keeps going as well.

For example:

KILLER CHEMIST > NATURAL LEVEL COLOR: I am a Level 8/RG

which means my roots or virgin hair is a LEVEL 8 Red/Gold (or Light Copper). Knowing that piece of info helps me be able to figure out more accurately what to use to color my hair with hair color.

You will impress the Hell out of your Hair stylist as well, if you go into your next appointment spouting off the "levels" - they will be very impressed. I have run into many a Hair Stylist that still have not memorized them (but they should).

Using and knowing this chart really well, is what you need to learn in order for you to become a good HOME HAIR COLORIST.

I'm going to plaster this onto your brain this week. .. by showing you many different ways to memorize and relate it to your hair...

So get ready!