Hues That Girl? Hair Color Removal 101

Whoops, now what?

The minute you figure out your hair color is not what you want, or is a complete mistake . . . the very first thing you should do? Walk into your bathroom, find the crappiest shampoo you can. Shampoo your hair and leave the shampoo in the hair for a couple hours. What we are looking for when we need to correct the wrong hair color is to begin loosening the hair color molecules that are trapped in the hair strand. As silly and simple as it sounds, one of the most common and gentle methods of fading artificial hair color is the “shampoo”. It is the number one method that fades color from color to re-coloring. Therefore it only makes sense to use it. In hair color as in life, common sense can be your best friend.

The title of the procedure? the Shampoo Train. Why? Because it involves application after application of shampoo, while waiting for your color remover to arrive and for you to do the research needed to fix your hair color. One of the most alarming realizations I came to in listening to the women of America talk about the problems they have with getting the proper hair color ? Was not that they couldn’t afford to go to a competent hair colorist, it was that they could not “FIND ONE”! !! !! What a horrible thing to hear….Wow that was a wake-up call. You will find if you read this Blog from the beginning until now, that I had completely different ideas at the beginning. I had absolutely no intentions of teaching America how to formulate their own hair color, it is hard enough to teach certified Hair Stylists how to. When I found that to be the biggest problem I changed game plans … I truly wanted to “give-back” and I felt by teaching what I knew about hair color and hair health it would probably be the most appreciated advice I could give. That’s what happens when you fall ill ( you become reflective!)

As simple as shampooing sounds it is always what I have recommended to anyone stopping by, or calling me in a panic about their hair color. I prefer you order and use our SOMA Shampoo with for that process, but if speed & panic is in the equation - - use Prell! Using the most gentle manner to fade unwanted color out of the hair is always the best decision so grab the shampoo wet your hair and wash those strands like they did in the old days on a ‘wash board”… rubbing your 2 hands together with strands in between. I am dead serious this is the key to getting the hair color ready to be fully removed.

SHAMPOO TRAIN

• Wet hair
• Cheap lousy shampoo application
• Use plenty of shampoo
• Scrub hands together w/ strands in-between
• leave suds on hair, apply plastic treatment cap
• use heat from hair dryer/sun {helps color molecules loosen}
• leave suds on 45-60 min
• rinse & repeat
• up to 5 times daily

Now the modified version of the Shampoo Train for those of you that don’t want to bother ( always puzzles me) :

MINI-SHAMPOO TRAIN

• Wet hair
• Cheap lousy shampoo
• use plenty of shampoo
• Scrub hands with strands in between
• leave suds on hair while sleeping or 10 minutes
• rinse
• repeat daily

The Full shampoo Train is the best ……….with the mini-Train the next and obviously none… is not so good. I promise you, this step is the beginning of a safe and healthy home Hair Color Correction. This is what is used on celebs whom want the health of their hair kept in tact. As always, I am always watching out for the health of the hair. This is the single healthiest manner of removing artificial hair color ( of any type) from the hair.

The next step is using the color remover I recommend, BUT . . . the day you apply the color remover, you should be prepared to ‘re-color’…..about 50% end up with a decent color the other 50 will be some horrendous shade of Orange/Yellow. Depends on a million and 1 variables. So I recommend that you be prepared to re-color at time of Color Removal. In order to not make the same mistakes, this is when I hope you will take the time to read as many posts that I have written over the past 3 years that have to do with what you would like to do to your hair. Your options have been minimized but still remember - - YOU ARE LEARNING to take control of your own hair.

Many times I will get this question, “how can I take the blond “out” of my hair . . .( for whatever reason) ?? This takes a lot of explaining . . . and there are many times, like right now, when I simply cannot figure out exactly how to explain it…its a bizarre concept. Nor can I think of one other correlation so I can compare it to something familiar for you…………….It is a fairly UNIQUE concept. You cannot take blond “out” of hair. When you are beginning with darker hair and going towards BLOND, the way you get there is NOT by putting “blond” into the hair. It is by taking your own darker pigmented hair color OUT OF YOUR HAIR, that ‘creates’ the blond. We call it, “lifting”in the hair color world which basically equals “lightening”. When I say that 30 Volume Developer “lifts” hair 2-3 levels, it means: when a particular hair color mixed with 30 volume developer is applied to your hair it will “lift” (lighten) your hair 2-3 levels lighter than what it is. Therefore, if you have applied this color and to achieve the blond – the process need to take your existing color out of the hair strand….in order to lighten it. Then does it now make sense to you that blond is really “not” a color….what it is, is your own hair color – lifted out of the strand. Which I hope makes it clear to you why “DURP” is so damned important.

DURP is Dominant-Underlying- Remaining-Pigment. When I explain that if you have “good DURP”, this is what I am referring to. The stages in which Levels of your hair color “leave” the hair strand can leave in a ‘good way’ or they can leave in a “bad way’. What does that depend on? The Lord up above!

Therefore if you were a level 7 and were headed towards a level 10B and ended up with some weird horrific level 9G…that would be what we are talking about. You did not apply a blond in order to achieve that 9-GOLD you applied a tint with a 30 volume developer that was working to subtract your own pigment from your hair strand and what happens is , it stops at some point. The color stops being “lifted” from the hair strand at a certain point, where that color stops is the blond you are left with. There fore it is NOT blond you have put “IN” to the strand, but. . . . Color (your very own pigment) that has been “lifted” out. When I refer to DURP . . . and why it is just so very very important . . . it is for this very reason that as Colorists, as Chemists, as Magicians we have no control over. The DURP you have and the blond you “become” are a total equation of God’s making!

As Colorists, and what I try very hard to teach you here . . . we try to work with your DURP and “counter” it or “enhance” it depending upon what your is. That is the making of a “manufactured blond” . . or a manufactured color of any color for that matter. I know it sounds confusing and is a bit hard to swallow, but just keep reading this post over and over . . . I promise you - - if you do, you will begin to understand the concept of hair coloring and hair coloring gone wrong.

When you have strong orange tones in your hair, those will be the ones that keep your hair from going to that pretty baby blond you want …so we try to use a “blue” based Blond to “counter” the orange pigments, in picking our blond. Using the new MAGMA Blondor bleach that actually bleaches and tones in one step actually tones the hair “blue” while it is lightening it. Just the fact that one entire product has put blue pigment in the mix, should show you how strong that (God-awful) orange pigment really is and why so many people end up with that horrific brassy- orange mess.

Now, once you have got the shampoo-train going on your hair to begin loosening the molecules, the next step should be to begin your research on the product VANISH.

More to come……………… this is Color Removal Month . . .

Killer Chemist

Shear Genius meets the Perfect Storm : Houston, We Have A Problem

Hair Color Correction …….. I-Color

Hair Color Correction: the # 1 subject people head to the Internet searching the category of HAIR for . Problem is, most of you have never heard of that term, it has not been used enough publicly so 90% of people don’t know what to “SEARCH” for. Another one of those subjects that are not taught to the client. Whether you went to Wal-Mart – bought a boxed color, slapped it on yourself or headed to an expensive Colorist who sent you home telling you “ how the lighting was off” and you would love it tomorrow…BOTH are in need of Color Correction. Slap that term in your Blackberry, everyone seems to need it at one point in their life.

Very rarely do I see the proper information about how and what to do in this situation therefore I want to concentrate on this subject and different angles of it over the next couple of Posts. Eventually I would like to answer all questions so we have one complete folder on the subject. Sound Oovy Groovy?

Lets start with the basics Causes

of Color Correction

Prevention: if possible will always be preferable to Correction. Some corrective work can be avoided some cannot.

Next, the emphasis needs to be put on the area that it should always be put in all aspects of hair color : Analysis & Communication. It is very difficult to correct something, if you are not even sure what the problem is. I am going to make up a sort of Corrective Hair Color Trouble Shooter, for there to be a sort of quick reference, so Killer Stranders will be able to figure out a direction to turn to in each particular case.

When people begin to start their own personal hair color horror-stories that sound like a longer version of War & Peace, they lose me after about the 5th sentence. Why? To be perfectly honest?

The only thing that matters in color Correction is: VID

VIRGIN: What is your Virgin level?

IS: What IS your hair color level/tone now?

DESIRED: What do you DESIRE your level/tone to look like ?

Yes, for finer tuning we should always use the rest of the Killer8 ( elasticity, condition,texture, gray ? etc…) But truthfully it can be accomplished perfectly fine with just answers to the VID 3…..as long as what???????????????????????????? Adem??? As long the 4th question is answered: have you applied Henna, or Sun-In or any color with metallic salts (like JUST-FOR-MEN boxed hair color – BIG BAD NO on that – never,never,NNNNNNEVER!)

PRINCIPLES OF COLOR CORRECTION

1) Hair that needs to be lightened if too dark

2) Hair that needs to be darkened if it is too light

3) Changing the unwanted existing artificial color tone to suit your desires

Again, this does not mean that all color correction has to be a long drawn-out affair: it could turn out to be a quick process, so assessing your hair correctly is very important.

The one lucky part you have of doing this to yourself, is you will know the truth. I cannot tell you how many people come in and sit in a Stylists chair and ‘fib’ about what happened, what was involved, or the most common: will say a Stylist screwed their hair up and truthfully it was by their own hands. 50% of Stylists will not be able to figure out the truth, but the rest of us have sit there biting our tongues.

In the case of heading to a Colorist: My best advice?

cut the crap and tell the truth.

For today I am going to give you a list of questions to ask yourself. So many of you get all hung up on this brand and that brand name throwing in Volumes and time’s - - when none of that matters, once the damage is done

It is……………….What It IS

Here is a list of important questions that I would truthfully, sit down on that pretty ass of yours and ask yourself . . . it will help you keep on the right track and focus on what I would if your ass was in my chair :

• How did you like your last color?
• Did you want to keep the same color?
• What Tones do you really dislike?
• In your head point by use of a photo as to what YOU thinks “Ash” means ….or “warmth”…so much is lost in 1 person’s translation of a single world than anothers. Use photos, If you are doing this exclusively yourself, get a second opinion on what someone views your idea of “Golds”. Your thoughts and ideas may need adjusting – be open to it
• Would you like a slightly lighter shade?
• Confirm your idea’s of the Level System – and your Stylists, they could be completely different. . . or yours and knowing full well and good that Wella’s European lines (Color Touch and Koleston Perfect are 1 full level darker than any other line )
• Do you want it darker?
• Remember, pinpointing the problem is 1/2 the battle
• What do you think about using a few lighter slices, ribbons, panels, or ropes ?
• What change are you seeking?
• Do You think subtle effects are more your style?
• There is always what I refer to as either : “sticker shock” or “Color Hangover“ ( my fav) which does not mean the price nor the inhalation of chemicals, it means the shock of having a different color hair, it will undoubtedly be a shock to any- and every-one when the change is more than 3 levels. 60% of the time – If I really believe in the color I will ask them to go home and sleep off their Color Hangover – 9 times out of 10 I never hear back from them till the next time they come rolling in happy as pie. Don’t initially panic….I know it can be hard….but remember, its only hair.
• What colors do you like wearing?
• How do you feel about your hair today?
• If your hair was perfect, what would it look like?
• Which Celeb’s hair is close to your hair type ( including most factors) ? Ask someone else if they agree
• Reality sometimes is a bit of a walk from Hopes and Dreams. As fun as Hopes and Dreams are . . .REALITY is your best friend when dealing with hair color.

Now remember the idea here is to assess the situation correctly in order for the Color Correction to go perfectly.

Remember one of my favorite lines:

Chemistry/Chemicals don’t make mistakes – People Do

Color Change is the reason I got into this gig at all in the beginning. When ever I did anything that had no artist expression to it, I felt cheated – I felt something missing…its weird how you have ZERO control over that.

A colorist is like a composer, I’ve always felt that nothing moves the human spirit more than music. I can hear a song that will truly stop me in my steps and I HAVE to find out who it is in order to get that feeling back in my soul that just occurred…its almost addictive when an awesome song rings through my ears. For example it hit me numerous times this week: it was JAY-Z and Mr Hudson’s version of FOREVER YOUNG – that he dedicated to Betty White on SNL

…. Just took my breath away……….Thank the Lord up above for I Tunes, just makes my day sometimes.

Once I began coloring heads of hair and looking at them as works of art.. I began getting that “deep-in-the-soul” feeling as well. Now color affects me a close second to music. Where is Jobs when you need him?

I-Phone……I-MAC…….I-PAD…..…. I-COLOR

The 2 share so many of the same terminology: A scale has 7 different notes, white light has 7 different colors. These 7 notes (chromatic colors) of the color spectrum give the composer (colorist) unlimited opportunities for creativity. Hue corresponds to the notes, value to the scale, and chroma to the pitch. Like notes come together to form a beautiful melody,all the elements of light and energy join to create the visual sensation, I know as color.

Almost like fingerprints: No 2 heads of HAIR are alike. . . and That my dear friends is why there are not 55 books on how to color hair for the public or anyone for that manner.

Anyone that knows a lot about it, knows what a risk it is planting ONE SOLID formulation for a level 7Ash head of hair to end up a level 12 platinum.

I sure as Hell would never give 1 answer to that question.

What would I say?

…….. STRAND TEST

killer chemist

Box Hair Color Disaster = Recovery Plan

Easier Than It Sounds - Promise!

I’ve never totaled up the variety and amount of Boxed Hair Color blunders I’ve heard of….it would send me into cardiac arrest…so I just stay away from that fact, its a never-ending supply, just ask one of the many in our amazing Google Group. You will hear nightmares from so many poor unsuspecting souls, it breaks my heart to hear the stories, it really does. I know every single one of those stories could have been avoided, had I personally done their hair. I experienced a Hair color surprise yesterday in an otherwise gloomy (read:challenging) week. I popped open a new Jug of MAGMA for a longtime Level 5 client of mine. I realize I don’t spend as much time on ‘dark hair’ techniques as I do their lighter counterparts. I will be trying to rectify that flaw in the coming months, come on all you ‘dark hairs’ – speak up – I will answer most requests as far as topics to write about.

MAGMA SWATCH CHART of COLORS:

39…………………Gold Cendre Light

89+……………….Pearl Cendre Dark

07……………….. Natural Blond

This woman (lets call her Mrs. M) is one of the many that has lost her job as part of the economy problems our country has been experiencing. So it appears Mrs.M has taken to touching up her gray roots with some damn boxed hair color that I guess she thought I wouldn’t notice.!?!?!?

[ Which is why I always tell people: NOT to forget the “back” of their hair, it’s not the hair YOU see, but it is the hair everyone else see’s! Same with boxed color, you think people don’t notice – I promise you – they DO! ]

This apparently is a common practice with many people I have come to find out…. now that I deal with soooooooo many through the Trinity of Killer Strands websites. They will have their hair professionally colored 3 times a year so it is gone through thoroughly on the back - - a place very difficult to do yourself. Then on the “off” months they touch up just the crown section of the hair, depending on the hair style and length of hair. Now, to be perfectly frank the idea is not a bad one…but if you are going to be doing the base (roots) in-between, my Lordie boys and girls…use the proper product and color.

Now the way to tackle this may not be textbook, but as I have said before, there is a reason there is NO textbook on hair color. TOO MANY VARIABLES. Now with this kind of issue I have 2 problems at hand, she has 90% gray hair and that can be quite a stark difference with virtually white roots and dark brown lengths. Even though they call Level 5 (light Brown) . . . I have never quite known what they are looking at when they say that. Maybe its me, as I have a very hard time telling the difference in the colors/levels below the Level 5. They all appear to me as “dark” and “super dark”! ! j/k . . .although you have to admit the differences are not nearly as apparent as its lighter counterparts. So we must cover the gray roots and get rid of the black “banding” I call it, created from the Boxed Color. There are black stripe-like effects on her hair. Which comes from Boxed Hair Color, I have noticed most that use boxed color have banding and I’m too sure why. I’ve never seen it used, to be perfectly honest, therefore am not too sure how the banding is created. What I do know is that it is everywhere, next time you are standing in a line…check-out all the people, see if you can
“Find-the-Banding”…the newest game from HASBRO….again – j/k!

To fix both problems at once, is how I would handle this… maybe you only want to fix one at a time, totally understandable. Depends on your dexterity, right?

First I would pull the color I always use for her base and that is Renbow –

Colorissimo …… 5N

+ RenColor ………. 06 Velvet Brown

………………..…. + 20 Volume

Beginning in the front sections. . . apply Formula to front sections -- covering right up to the line of demarcation but not going past, that is one reason for banding…although when overlapping with Professional hair color that problem doesn’t happen. That is why I know its Boxed hair color by ‘sight’. Besides the “shine” Box Hair Color takes out of the hair strand is mind boggling to me…I don’t know what they put in there that accomplishes that ? ? But, it really needs to be taken out.

So with the color on the base, I decided to try a different trick to break up the banding and broke out the MAGMA. I have been hearing a lot of scuttlebutt on how good it is lately. You all know what MAGMA is right?

It is a new-ish product from WELLA ( 6-7 years old). Its a Bleach and tone product in “one”. When it came out I was super excited about it, but it wasn’t as suited toward my clientele as I would have liked. Its a product developed mainly for Hispanic/Ethnic hair with 10 Colors & really only 2 tonal categories ….. REDS & BLOND’s. There were 2 Blonds and 2 Reds I’ve liked and used…but I hear somewhere along the line it got re-formulated…Which can be a wonderful thing, or it could be a bad thing, I never feel any of these companies use “COLORISTS” enough for feedback and product development….but anyway …back to the problem at hand.

Another new development with MAGMA I had heard was that it was now formulated to be used with “lower” developers when necessary. When I first used it, they were very strict and stern in teaching the product education courses –instructing us to ONLY USE WITH 30 or 40 VOLUME. As you can see by the above chart, it now can be used all the way down to the lowest developer they make….6 Volume! So am thrilled about that…especially in light of the results I had with Mrs. M

So with the base on, I used 13 foils in the “VEIL parting” … here is a little illustration of that… When you are in the best Hair Academy in the world they do a lot of steps and projects which at the time seem totally ridiculous. This is one of the head sheets we used in hair academy, when you wanted to explain a technique you wanted to try or that you saw & wanted to change or duplicate – we were taught to explain/teach/illustrate using these HEAD sheets. At first I really thought the whole idea was foolish, now look who’s foolish . . . here I am 17 years later – using them on a daily basis – . . . . I have used them ever since !

The way the MAGMA colors are handled is way different than I’ve ever seen…but the product also is unlike any product I’ve seen as well. 2 of the Colors have “+” Plus versions of the same color.

So that # 39 is Gold Cendre Light and then # 39 + is Gold Cendre Dark

#39………..is for use on LEVEL 6 & 7 Hair

#39+ ……. for use on Levels 2-5 Hair

I mean its pretty self-explanatory…but am always told by our trusty members, “teach us as if we were Aliens from another planet”!

See the Levels on the far left they recommend using each color on? . . you want to follow those recommendations when choosing your color.

Now to solve Mrs. M’s problem with the black banding short of having to apply a whole VANISH Kit (color remover), which was avoided and results were spectacular.

I used 89+ mixed with 1.5X – 40Volume Developer. Applied in 13 random foil SLICES in the Veil parting as stated above. A thin slice of hair is taken within each parting, place the foil down (moving quickly) brush on the mixture of 89+ being sure to brush down hard where the bands are. When necessary within the foils take (gloved) fingers coat with product and rub into the banding to really get the product into the hair….{remember this is called COLOR CORRECTION ! !} fold foil together, flip up and proceed to next .

The recommended time for MAGMA is 20-30 minutes with controlled heat…again - - I simply do NOT recommend this. I do NOT recommend speeding up processing time by using heat with peroxide. The power that is generated in the processing will have a deteriorating effect on the hair structure.

On the other hand beware of under-processing with very low volume hydrogen peroxide out of fear of a lightening product such as MAGMA - - there is no cause for fear, Wella is the KING of HAIR COLOR, when used correctly there is no better all-around hair color company. Always make sure the room you apply the Hair color in is at least 70 degrees, warmer is better…NO CHILLS.

You know what the best thrill about MAGMA was this time? They have made the #89’s Lavender based….(the Magma POWDER is the color of the base now) there is no better color for a brunette to be based in as lavender, and now the MAGMA works the way I wished it worked 8 years ago when it first came out. I have never seen a product wipe out brass as this one did. I was OVER-THE-MOON with how much and how terrific it works. What we look for is a soft lavender/rose based color as the foils are removed, and sure enough every single foil was that rosey color. I didn’t even need to rinse it out to know. . . . I had the most gorgeous color she will have ever seen, on her.

Once those foils were taken off, you must then complete the process as normal, only using MAGMA’S Neutralizer…that MUST be used after rinsing the color products out of your hair. Leaving the Neutralizer on the hair for a minimum of 15 minutes….Rinse and BOOM you are done…

The change in this product is just so rare, more rare than you even know, but I wanted you to know about it. I have since used it on a few paint drips on my hair, a few slices here or there….I LOVE IT, absolutely love it. The point of the story really was how to bounce back after a Boxed Hair Color blunder. For those of you with Black “BANDING" - -or any color ‘banding’ which develops from Boxed hair color overlapping – there multiple methods of getting rid of it. This is one - - watch for future POSTS with various other ideas & TRICKS.

Killer Chemist