Keep It Simple, Hair Color Rules That Are Simple As Pie

The More You Know The Less You Fear
....use that as your mantra for learning this crap
Wouldn't you LOVE to understand how to color your hair perfectly?
So if you wanted to have blonde hair one month......and brown hair with just a few blonde ribbons a couple months later, you could do it yourself
and it would look like Julia Roberts hair
NOT Britney Spears

Education - Education - Education....and its not that hard. Promise.


Hair Color = As Simple as Addition and Subtraction

The first of many important coloring facts many Cosmetologists have not learned, so puts you ahead of them

<>When you apply Color(Tint) to the hair you are ADDING Color.

Color + Color = MORE Color, so the hair has more pigment.

f the color used is addition only, the hair will often but not always be darker.

<> Deposit Only tints (Semi or Demi Permanent Color) are frequently used to change tonal value without changing the lightness or darkness of the actual color of the hair. This is about the least complicated method of tinting hair as you will not have a "LINE OF REGROWTH" ( line where the new color has changed the old color) The Demi Permanent line I use called Color Touch (by Wella's European division) is probably the single best line of hair color on the planet. If I had to pick one line to use and get rid of the other 15 lines I carry...that would be it - which would surprize many because it is not permanent. This line imparts the most incredible amount of shine and moisturizers though....so it wins hands down as the "condition" of the hair is the most important factor for me.

<> When hair is lightened (no matter how little) you are subtracting pigment (lifting its called).

many think lightening hair is deposting a blonde color to the hair, it is NOT. Which is why every person ends up with varying shades of blondes. What is actually a happening is the colors are being LIFTED out of your hair to create a lighter appearance. If this is confusing to anyone PLEASE point that out. This is a trough concept the first time around for many, I want to be sure you are getting it, especially before we go on....

<> When you use a tube of hair color (Single process hair color) that is lighter than your own virgin hair that Tube of Color is a wonderful little tube of magic...... it performs many little works of wonder when it is mixed with the developer and applied to your hair.

That color performs "2" main chemical actions on your hair at the same time, it both #1: "lifts"(lightens) hair color out of your hair and # 2 "deposits" new color onto the hair. This is the concept that many do not understand. The chemical process performed once you mix that developer with that tube of color is a 2 step affar.....called Lift and Deposit.

<> Another way of saying this: Single-process hair color uses both (-) subtraction to remove pigment and (+) addition to replace or add artificial pigment.

BROWN is the basis of all Hair Color

Complementary colors ( remember what this is- extremely important) turn a brown of some shade. When 2 complementary colors are mixed they create the presence of the 3 primaries in uneven amounts.

For example: Yellow mixed with Violet will make a pale brown....because yellow, the stronger color, will dominate the formula. Violet is made from Red & Blue

When you mix yellow with Violet, you achieve a shade of Brown.

Mix opposites on the color wheel always results in a BROWN-ing effect. S I M P L E

these theories work in hair color - mixing house paint - dying your clothes - painting a picture - even frosting a cake....which is why I feel these little theories are worth teaching in high school to kids.

they teach kids the difference between

a teaspoon and a Tablespoon in Home Economics in high school, what's wrong with teaching the basics of COLOR?

EVERYONE will color their hair in the future...I am sure of it.

I'm of the belief that the way hair color is going in the very near future HAIR COLOR will be so rich, so conditioning and so strengthening to the hair that it will be mandatory for a good strong head of hair. MARK MY WORDS ON THAT

If hair color is done correctly even now, (that is a big "IF"), hair will be in better condition once it is done. Mine is and all my clients are... so it is nearly there already.

I cannot say this enough >> This does NOT include the boxed Kits, those are disastrous.

All virgin hair is a shade of Brown....which contains all 3 primaries

Whether hair is dark brown,

or black ( the bluest brown; Levels 1 or 2-4)

Auburn ( the most warm brown, Levels 5-7)

or blonde ( the most yellow or lightest brown, levels 8-10)

the color is an uneven combination of the three primary colors.

Uneven amounts of yellow + red + blue = Brown

a lot of hair Stylists do not understand this.........

Equal amounts of Yellow + Red + Blue = Black/Gray/or Platinum depending on the level

KEEP IT SIMPLE RULES

1.) Lightening the hair is when pigment is subtracted.

Which creates an imbalance of the Primary Colors.

Remember the Color Swatch charts I've showed you with the LEVELS going from top to bottom and then the 'tones' running across the top. Every line of Color chooses the "tones" they think will interest Colorists so they will want to use their line of color. Remember how much 1 Salon spends on this every month ( $5,000. - $20,000. = A LOT!) Therefore, the "tones" or "Series" that are represented are represented by one letter. You learn to figure them out.

For example a few sure shots are: N = Natural A= Ash G= Gold R= Red

2.) Brown is actually an uneven mixture of 3 primaries - red, yellow & blue

3.)Very blonde hair is brown with a dominance of yellow,

Red hair is brown with a dominance of red tones

& black is the bluest brown.

When you are lightening color, you are not actually dealing with brown, you are dealing with the Underlying or DOMINANT REMAINING PIGMENT ( DRP) : which is usually red, orange, gold or yellow.

#1. Warmth is released when you begin to lighten hair.

#2. The 1st pigment to leave the hair is during lightening is BLUE....therefore leaving Red & Yellow tones ( brassy)

Because blue is the first pigment to leave the hair, you would go quickly into the red zone, which is also the most difficult zone to leave.