Democrat & Republican of Hair Color: Permanent Hair Color > Holds Down 2 Opposing Jobs

Lift & Deposit ; 2 Jobs of Permanent Hair Color

Must Work Together For Good of Hair,

Come From Completely Different Camps

Permanent hair color, or single-process hair color is designed to permanently alter the natural pigment of hair. Oxidative color, henna, metallic, compound dyes and bleach are all considered permanent tints.











Today we are talking about permanent hair color. The only category of all the hair colors that performs 2 actions - while its on the hair - at the same time! With Semi & Demi Permanent hair color they have one job only and that is to "deposit" color onto the hair strand, which is why they do not lighten the hair.
There are 2 'jobs' that PERMANENT hair color is capable of performing

• lifting &
• depositing

It is also called subtraction of the hairs natural pigment and addition of synthetic pigment.

Permanent color is exactly as it sounds - it penetrates into the cortex of the hair and becomes "locked" in through a process called oxidation. Permanent color forever alters the texture of the hair, causing it to swell ( giving it body!)- which is why if you have thin hair, coloring it with permanent color makes you feel like you have a whole new head of hair. This is the #1 reason I color my own, and many like me do - I color mine the same color it is, I have no gray, I color it for the body... I have always felt my hair is in better condition since it has been colored with the top of the line professional hair colors, which is why I have made them available to you. If you are a fanatic about your hair, this is your web site.



The difference in quality between some of the professional lines even is tremendous, let alone coloring your hair with what you find in Sallys. I would never color my own hair with Matrix colors even, I value my hair, its condition and how it looks. So if you are a fanatic like me, I would suggest using Wella's Koleston Perfect, the ColorTouch line or any of Renbow's colors - all of them are made available to you through Killerstrands - join the Google Group http://groups.google.com/group/killerstrands/topics to view the color charts up close, drop me an email with PRODUCT ORDER in the subject line at: Killerstrands@gmail.com - for more info.
Permanent color means the color lasts until it grows out or is cut off. Once hair is permanently tinted is cannot be made "untinted". (unless of course you go through the Decolorization method http://killerstrands.blogspot.com/search/label/decolorization%20of%20hair )
Keep in mind if you are lightening, you are subtracting (-) or lifting color.
Lifting: Removing, subtracting, or lightening color from the hair. The lightening ability of hair color .... or the amount a certain volume of developer will oxidize

Depositing: adding color to the hair. the portion of single process oxidation when the color enters the cortex of the hair.
However in permanent hair coloring (not using bleach), there is also a stage that deposits color pigment into the hair. If you are depositing , you are adding(+), therefore, when you both lighten and deposit color, you are doing both subtraction and addition! This tint service is the highest in demand, BUT . . . it is the most difficult one to do correctly. Still, it is so much easier using the LEVEL SYSTEM which is why I have been trying to cram that into your head...the Level system will conquer so many issues for so many of you, just trust me and keep going over it , it took me over a year to thoroughly understand it. Just keep reading and using it - even if it seems foreign to you, I promise one day it will 'click' but you MUST keep reviewing it.

I realize we don't want to get too technical, nor into too much chemistry-head mumbo jumbo - but . . . in order to understand this we have to graze across those subjects for a bit, bear with me.

Permanent haircoloring products are designed to permanently alter the natural pigmentation of the hair. That line of demarcation appears when using this category of hair color,  demi's also produce this line, semis don't. The most distinctive point to permanent hair color is that it has the ability to "lighten" your natural hair because it is lifting the natural pigment out of the hair strand when applied. Ammonia (in the tube) combines with hydrogen peroxide in the developer to lighten the natural pigment, therefore making the change Permanent. With this technology you are able to go from a Level 7 to a Level 10 with a tube of color, NOT BLEACH. Many people like this idea, although this is where one will run into the "yellows" many times, if not performed correctly.







Permanent hair color has 2 tricks...2 jobs....2 missions : Lightening and permanent depositing, all permanent hair coloring products work about the same. The lift comes from the combination of the ammonia (or other catalyst) in the tube of color and the hydrogen peroxide in the developer that creates the lift.

Ammonia is a critical ingredient in permanent hair color and it must contain ammonia or an ingredient that does the exact same thing, or what we are trying to do with it, will not happen, and that is cosmetic chemistry ladies and gents. The problem comes from ammonia when too much ammonia is used, it can be damaging, at the same time...without ammonia -- deposit and lifting would not occur. Ammonia, or another product that is just like it - is essential.

"Ammonia" is picked on as the bad-guy in hair damage, which I can only deduct comes from its offensive 'odor' and again from its "name".

That is just not the case, almost every cosmetic chemist would agree with me I'm certain. Yes, unfortunately when breaks in some of the disulfide cross-links cause oxidative hair damage (damage from any permanent hair color), Stylists get the 'cause' mixed-up and think it comes from the ammonia, because that is what they smell as does the client....contrary to that misconception, the damage comes from the peroxide.

The problem being, in order to get that gorgeous beautiful "un-yellow" blond, you need all three components. As I have said before the best answer to this problem? . . . having a highly trained Stylist that knows the precise amount of the 3 ingredients ... not too much of one or too little of the other.. which takes years of experience.

When some say they don't want "ammonia" in their hair color, I scratch my head.... Its the exact same problem I find with the public and preservatives. People say they don't want preservatives in their products, but if they really understood the chemistry of it all, I am sure they would not say that. Preservatives keep your cosmetics, safe. Same with Ammonia in this respect, permanent hair color must have it - and it must be added in a precise amount. Manufacturers strive to put just enough and not too much ammonia in their hair color - I feel that is the key to which hair color works the best opposed to the slackers.

Alkaline substance: an ingredient hair color that has a pH greater than 7, causing the cuticle to open and permanent color to enter the cortex

Ammonia is an alkali; is SWELLS the hair shaft which helps with deposit/penetration. It is also a catalyst who's primary purpose is to facilitate the lightening by releasing oxygen -- supplied by the developer, to oxidize the (virgin) natural pigment. Ammonia, lastly creates the necessary alkalinity for the development of permanent color.

Permanent haircoloring is always alkaline in pH.

Alkaline substance is usually, but not always, ammonia. It causes the cuticle to swell, allowing for deposit of the color pigment molecules & promoting lightening action. You need ammonia to swell the hair shaft.

The refined color products available today use lower amounts of ammonia, making for little or no damage and less fading. They also enable the cuticle to close completely after the color process. The ammonia is not a free ammonia; its a derivative. You absolutely need it to open the cuticle. Most of the color products today have a very refined ammonia content that will readily wash from the hair with water, so the next time you hear 'ammonia' - I would suggest not making a "name" judgement {based purely on the name}. Its a much more complicated procedure than just the name.

The ammonia of a haircoloring product is not in the developer; it is in the tube with the dyes.

Lighter levels contain more ammonia than lower levels in order to provide more lightening capability. All Colorists know that distinctive WHIFF after opening a Level 12 Ash in the color room.

The higher the Level of color, the more LIFT and the less DEPOSIT. the Lower the Level, the less the lift and the Greater the deposit.

I'd like you all to be thinking about the following:

Most of you have seen Peroxide, or Developer, as I like to call it.

10 Volume, 20 Volume, 30 Volume & 40 Volume - are the 4 main 'boys'

6 Volume 17 Volume 25 Volume and on and on have been tacked on lately. The Volume of peroxide does not determine how strong it is, what the volume signifies is: "How Long It Will Lift" . Another point where I get frustrated is when people say to me they don't want to use 40 Volume, only 20. Well, its (virtually) the same liquid only one "lifts longer" than the other.
The higher the Volume the longer and more the Lift! So using 40 volume many times will help prevent the dreaded "yellows" or "brassiness" you see so much, again it is an art. Buy a doll's head with your hair color to practice on or I can sell you hair swatches of your own hair color to test with. Again make it a hobby, as soon as you get down, you will be doing your hair like the pros! Being sure to put in the proper amount of "practice time".

From just our Google Group and the comments posted in there, it seems to be the single most common problem for Crib Colorists the 'too yellow' problem . Lightening is the most common form of hair color we have so far, and why would there be too many yellows or problems with yellow?
4 answers:

#1.) Not leaving the color on long enough (or needing a 2nd application)

#2.) Using too low volume peroxide

#3.) Using the wrong tool for the job....Using high lift blond tint when bleach (lightener) was needed.

#4.) Not using a light enough tint/color/dye



Hate to say this but I have always felt the manufacturers are off about 1 level....they're never quite as light as you want, very very rarely will it be 'too light', that is a very hard problem to have and a super easy problem to fix.

Keep this list of 4 solutions to "yellow" hair.



To try when this problem lands on your head.

More on permanent color coming.

LET THERE BE LIGHT -- Peroxide -- Friend or Foe for frickin' sake

Questions - Calculations & 'mo

Now that I have helped befriend our dear darling Peroxide, the inquisition continues. I went looking through my old notebook for the calculations on how to make different Volumes of peroxide for your Color Room out of 130 Volume .I forgot to mention even worse than my writing? My math. Boy, I rarely mention my main faults so early in the game but they are necessary here. I will give you what it says and you all can take it from there. Tho - I'd like a volunteer to field questions about the calculations - please sign up in the Comments section below. (my kids are just like me its a disease math-i-tis I think they call it).





In addition, I'd like to fill in with what else I can about Hydrogen Peroxide to help you all warm up even more to the little bugger. There are many chemicals just like this little one, which is a terrific project that needs to be rescued by the big MFG. companies, I get my hopes up that big companies like P & G (whom actually I would love to work for > altho only on the "Green" side) might have researchers scoping the net trying to figure out the future of Hair, Hair Health and Hair Color - at which point they Zero in on my Web site and their prayers are answered. They call and ask me to advise them, develop a Killer Line of both Hair Color that involves teaching the public, the LEVEL System and shampoos and styling products that are actually moisturizing and healthy for the hair. Its easy, its possible and it can be done at reasonable prices. I swear to you I am just not too sure why it is not done now. What is better than a completely happy customer with Killer hair color. The way it is now the only reason people use those damn boxed color kits is because they are afraid to calculate the hair color themselves. I don't believe "fear-driven" success is near as prosperous as "confidant & successful" driven success





Killerstrands@gmail.com





There was an instance I bet when I mentioned "chemicals" that blew that fear of "Word Phobia" through your bones, am I right? Be honest - people hear "chemicals" and think; bad - horrible - get them away from me thoughts, when in fact so much of what we need, we require and what we actually want are chemicals in our daily life. Of course there are "bad ones" and "good ones" and there are bad 'amounts' of them and good 'amounts' - that is the fine line that must be maneuvered





Chemicals are all around us, always, and always have been. We are made of chemicals, indeed chemicals R Us. The plants we eat are also full of chemicals. But how does the body deal with these chemicals and what do they do to us?





The chemical industry has been able to make the stunning revelation that everything is made of chemicals! Chemicals are in fact perfectly natural substances and we really need to do more research before throwing them out . Apparently thousands of the so-called 'natural' products of the earth are laced with nasty toxic substances, of which, of course, we were all unaware until this startling discovery was made known to human kind chemicals are not only man made and not all of the chemicals made by man are dangerous and not all of the chemicals found naturally are safe. Some people will say that there must be a difference between things made by chemists in laboratories and things found in nature? It is true, there are differences, natural chemicals are often more complex and chemists find some very difficult to make! For example DNA and proteins are extremely complex. But surely man made chemicals must be more poisonous? Not necessarily true. We won't go into the entire discussion here. I just needed to point out - what I stumbled upon when I began my dive into Cosmetic Chemistry. Being a Vegan and a natural food buff for my entire life (yep californians are weird!) it was a very unusual revelation to come to terms with. So just know I watch out for every single healthy avenue for hair - I truly do, I doubt you will ever encounter a hair stylist more in tune with the "natural" "organic" and "healthy" avenues than me, except for maybe those that don't believe in hair color at all. I also live under the umbrella of " life cannot be all that serious" - we must have some fun, because life is short - play hard.











Again: H2 O is Water: a chemical- bad? I think not. Necessary? Very. When the Developer begins working with your hair color it starts out with 2 atoms of hydrogen and 2 of oxygen as soon as it is combined with the hair color 1 of the oxygen molecules is given off and the product is down to what? H2 O! Water. And that is bad? See how things get out of whack? Peroxide is your friend, it really is.





Hydrogen Peroxide is the OXIDIZER of permanent haircolor-ing, providing the Oxygen for

• lightening of natural pigment and for the


• development of artificial pigment.

Those 2 lines say it all, but those are 2 jam packed lines. Read them over a couple times as this will put your mind in the right frame to continue on.











The percentage of lift in any color is directly related to its ammonia content ( remember many stylists will quote "ammonia content" as a bad thing), in the Killerstrands world I: look for LIFT. Lift means lightening - plain and simple - if you don't want to lighten hair, do something else....most decent Colorists are looking to lighten hair...we want more ways to lighten hair....we want more conditioning ways of lightening hair. Don't people want to be blond?.... have blond ribbons, blond pirouettes, or blond under color blocks?? Lightening is the most common coloring technique in the biz... Every single time a new lightening product is developed it is greeted with a very warm reception by 10's of thousands of hair stylists so ammonia content is a very necessary product.





Blondes are very very popular, whether in 1 Color 'all-over-blond' or blond placed in very creative ribbons in a dynamic head of brown. If you can attain the lightening, then you can control it -- or tone it, is my theory. I want as much lift as they can give me, let "me" control the amount I use and where I use it. Maybe they don't because of all the mis-information going on around, but come on... that problem is easily solved. The biggest complaint category of hair color is

• "too brassy"


• "too orange"


• "too yellow"


• "too gold"

....have you all learned this one yet? What would be the reason for these 4 complaints?





Not enough lift - if you have those 4 problems then you have taken the bleach off TOO SOON





So having more lift, while remaining more conditioning & moisturizing has finally hit the manufacturers. There is a new "conditioning" Developer by Redken, they have teamed up with their new product Blond Icing. Like I said, more jazzy new lighteners the better - we love the new technology -- just like in any field. Bring in a new product that works 'higher' - 'faster' - 'longer' - of course we'll jump on it.





The developer has a few of the moisturizing alcohols - cetyl alcohol - stearyl alcohol and cetearyl alcohol which are lipid based moisturizers and marvelous for the structure of hair. I thought of that trick as soon as I discovered how these worked a couple years back, what takes these companies so long, when they are in the business of manufacturing hair color?





You know why?





Because its a whole slew of Lab Rats sitting in their Labs at Redken,Clairol, or Wella or what-ever-hair color manufacturers International that don't have the Technician <> to CLIENT connection. That's why there is a lag in the business, and I only discovered that when I went from the TECHNICIAN to the LAB RAT, a step that is rarely if EVER taken by anyone. When they take someone like a FREDERIC FEKAI ( which i refer to as the Technician/Stylist)....or a Jonathin Antin and ask them to put their name on a product.... they do not TEACH them HOW the products are made....which ingredients do 'what'....or ANY of that technical B/S I hate to say. I know, because I was there. If I hadn't gotten sick I would have never had the time nor inclination to study Chemistry for 3 years - because to truly understand which ingredients should be used and "why" is just not something that can be learned in a day or a week.





The 'way' that shampoos work, must be understood.........not simple





Remember me rambling on about SLS shampoos - I did for weeks on end...??? Remember? Sulfate-free shampoos....? ? ? ? Which by the way> every single company on the market has one in production. Well, the one and only reason I have the confidence to make that claim is because I do understand "how" the shampoo works ...how each surfactant works and "how" each ingredient works. I have watched and breathed SLS and seen the damage it can do to a strand of hair...but Technicians do not have that advantage. What they do have is a company telling them whats in each of the shampoos, etc, and hoepfully going on their advice. Its a wonderful library of information to have and I Love the fact that I was afforded the time to study all the chemicals and ingredients and know what they are and "why"!

...so I know what everything is now when I look at it...But> remember the FREDERIC Fekkai's of the world.... and their $250.00 Conditioner - are not worth it - THRIVEN will blow the socks off it - on 86% of the candidates.. So let's hope you are one of those chosen few where the stars meet the sky.





I am NOT putting them down for that fact...what I am trying to do is educate everyone so we all understand how the system works. The more we educate hopefully the more we can improve on the system in place. Any large company like that should have a board of advisors that use their products and are constantly giving them advice and direction as to where the company needs to go with new products - blows me away how UN-innovative the hair industry actually is.





This industry should be setting the trends not lagging on them.The way the industry is now, Hair Color products are antiquated - archaic almost, I've had ideas for them for years that I do not understand why they have not made or attempted to make. Hair color is a tremendously booming business - 2 $ billion a year is a very conservative estimate and the more tools the better for every Colorist: whether it be a Crib Colorist or Pro.





Why not put more tools in the hands of Home Hair Colorists? What's the big secret? There is plenty of hair color that needs to go around... why is there not a level of Pro Hair Color available for the women at home that don't live in LA or NY that desire the quality of hair seen on every magazine cover? There is plenty for the Salon Colorist, which is not available to CRIB COLORISTS - why not? There is so much room for growth - expansion and this subject needs to be talked about and discussed openly so that the women of America are able to achieve decent hair color in their own homes. For the many women that cannot afford or do not live near the high dollar hair salons...they are stuck using hair color products that are a much lower quality than the hair color if they go to Cosmetology School. Do you realize that there are lines of hair color that I may get in trouble for selling to the public - which I cannot figure out "why"?? Anyone care to address this subject with and for me...





How can it be against the law to sell 'certain' hair color?





To certain people?





Then all the hair color in Sally's need to be against the law to sell to the American people....which "brand" is OK? and which one isn't? more importantly - WHY???





Who sets those standards? There aren't any sort of laws.....or rules....or ???? Why can I not sell hair color that I have legally bought, to another person that would like to buy it ?? Because that person has not gone to Cosmetology School, what book is that a law in? That is the most bizarre restriction - ever . I looked in Sally's and the exact same thing is printed on a box of hair color in Sally's that is printed on a box of hair color from a professional company. BOTH of those companies are owned by the same larger company.....that larger company?





P & G. Proctor and Gamble. CLAIROL & WELLA

BOTH OWNED ULTIMATELY - - BY P & G





I'm not done reviewing : ammonia and peroxide so please put that subject in the "hold" category. I ran a whole new demo for Readers to show you what bleach with ammonia and bleach without ammonia did to Level 4 hair.....so stand by.

Blonde Icing Blitz - Off-The-Scalp-Bleach Test

New Professional Blonde Icing (Bleach) Test


Silver Jar - Ammonia w/ bleach Gold Jar -- No Ammonia
Goal: Observe strength of Bleach with & without Ammonia on Level 4 hair strips


1) Apply bleach to Level 4 strips in foil and set timers



















Test one strip with MAGMA Colored Bleach by WELLA : Bleach & Tone in 1 step

Best part? -- it works -

Limitations? Color selection

Koleston Perfect 55RV - Ego

Very difficult to see - I know - the darker the hair the less you see in photos - in person it looked great.
Same color as above notice 55 RVR - RUBY...only in demi permanent. I actually was surprized at how great this color took. For Demi-permanent it was pretty darn close to sister swatch



This test strip was one I really hoped you would be able to see better, a lot of readers have asked about lightening "Level 2 thru Level 5 hair".
This is Level 4 with 12 ASH + 40V = a very nice and warm - Level 7 Hair.




Here are the bleach swatches . . . Check out the Level 4 > lightened 60 minutes

swaches . . . . .




The rest of the swatches.
no toner has been used --
this was a childs hair,
I always believe a childs hair is when your hair will be the best...

What is very apparent here is this . . .

there seems to be absolutely no difference in the bleach "with" ammonia or the Bleach "without" ammonia
?? What does that tell me?? It tells me that "ammonia" is just the "word" of the moment....all the color that is labeled "without ammonia".....
Why?
What does everyone know about ammonia?
what I know - makes me want it -
When I want to lighten hair I want ammonia
so I can get the hair to the proper Level it needs to be, otherwise it will only get to the "orange-gold-yellow" stage, which is what happens when you don't use professional color.

Do you know that is the one big difference in the hair color that you can purchase at Sally's versus the professional color I make available to you ?
the ammonia content.
When you mix professional color the "light" colors pack a punch, when the product is poured into the bowl then the developer is added - the aroma is semi powerful...personally I love it. Some don't - its like that paint smell I guess.
I know something good is going to happen - so I enjoy it...
the sign of a true Hair Colorist!