Hair Color Lesson Your Colorist Would Like You To Understand

It’s not magic, it’s science.

Many of us go to our colorist and ask for unrealistic work to be done. This leads to an unhappy client and frustrated colorist.

Scenario 1:  A  dark brunette comes into the salon and asks to become a creamy, beige, blonde (“because blondes have more fun”). This is one very dramatic change! Really dark hair becoming really blonde isn’t an easy process.

I will use the word “lightener” because it’s a nicer way of saying bleach. Bleaching your hair sounds almost crazy! Lightener and developer are mixed together, painted masterfully on hair to become shades lighter. The lightener breaks down hair’s pigment. The pigment goes through a scale of color to color until you reach the desired lighter shade. You could be left with an orange or yellow tone in your hair before you reach your blonde ambition. Your colorist will keep lifting the foil a highlight is wrapped in to check the status of your hair’s pigment change. When it reaches the right shade the colorist deactivates the lightener by washing it out. The color phase goes like:

Warning: Making such a drastic change will cause your hair to feel like hay! Leave a hair mask in your hair for a few hours once a week.

Scenario 2: A platinum blonde walks into a salon and asks to become a dark brunette (“because brunettes do it better”). This is also a big change. Compared to scenario one this is a lot less damaging. Instead of breaking down hair’s pigment, pigment is put back in the hair. You will see your hair red as an apple before it reaches brunette. Filling hair in with color also goes through the color scale:

Warning: Going back to blonde will be a big process! Must be very certain about this decision.