A Hair Color Challenge – SOLVED!
April 28th, 2010 | Published in Technical Tips | 1 Comment
All of us are presented with challenging color situations that require us to think on our feet and have confidence that the color we are using can do the job.
I recently found myself in a situation just like this. You see my wife had sent me a friend of hers that she thought would be a potentially good hair color model. I had asked if she had any color in her hair. I was told that she didn’t, and that it would be a simple highlighting procedure. You know where this is going… When she arrived I discovered she had about 2 inches of natural level five regrowth followed by a 3 inch band of level 6 copper/gold color that was created by a home hair color application. The last seven inches was old level four color that had been done in a salon. She felt like the old level four color was too dark (the level 6 copper was the result of her trying to lighten her color up) and she wanted some subtle highlights to brighten things up for the summer. She had pale blue eyes and the copper she had created was not flattering, however she saw lighter and brighter, her ultimate goal, so she didn’t mind it.
I wanted to solve this color challenge without turning this into a several hour or multiple appointment epic. I hope the solutions that I chose will serve as useful inspirations for your own color challenges.
wet stretch test” and determined that her hair was protein deficient. I then applied Power Build Treatment and processed under gentle heat for 10 minutes. I then let it cool for 5, rinsed and rough dried her hair.
I had three different zones of color (her natural color, the home color, and the old salon color) that I wanted to blend together, while minimizing the copper that she had created with the home color. I decided to highlight and lowlight at the same time. I chose Naturlite Powder with 20 volume cream activator for the highlights. I love Naturlite because in most cases it will not leave you stuck, wishing “if only it would lift just a little more…”. I chose a formula of 3 parts of 5N and 1 part of DXAH (level 4 green/blue) with 10 volume cream for the lowlights. The Neutral series has a soft blue/violet base which combined with the green/blue base of the DXAH would be effective minimizing the warmth that she had created with her home color and imbuing her hair with cool brunette tones that accented her pale blue eyes.
I began by sectioning her hair using a horseshoe parting (centered over her side part) from the front to the roll in the back of her head. I parted the sides panels from the back of the ear forward. I began by placing several foils (underneath the horseshoe) in a bricklay pattern in the back. I wanted to completely eliminate the copper back here so the hair that was not going in the foils was treated with the lowlight formula from scalp to ends.
When I reached the horseshoe parting I worked across the top from front to back. In the foils I alternated slices and weaves using the Naturlite. With the hair that was not in the foils I alternated between applying the lowlight formula from scalp to ends and turning my color brush vertically and balyaging lowlights from scalp to the old level four color. In this way I used the copper color (that the client had created with home color) to add further dimension to my final result. As I reached the front of the horseshoe, I balyaged the lowlights in between each foil, leaving additional brightness in the front.
I repeated this process on both of the side sections. As was the case when I reached the front of the horseshoe, as I reached the top of the side sections, I balyaged the lowlights in between the highlights.
I processed under gentle, moist heat until I had reached a level 8 1/2 gold (around 25 minutes). I removed the foils, rinsed thoroughly and shampooed twice. I now towel blotted and applied my favorite post highlighting treatment, Revamp protein spray and processed for seven minutes at the shampoo bowl after which I rinsed thoroughly and towel dried.
When we lighten hair we are doing damage to the protein structure of the hair, Revamp contains an award winning wheat micro-protein that helps repair this damage. I use the term “micro-protein” because to be effective, proteins have to have a small enough molecular size to reach the innermost portions of the hair strand. Revamp contains such a protein making it an ideal post lightening treatment. The small molecular size allows the protein in Revamp to penetrate into the hair strand without heat. Fortifying the protein structure of the hair after lightening improves the strength of the hair and improves its ability to hold on to subsequent color, which in this case was the toning formula that I was getting ready to apply.
For the toner I mixed 1 oz. of 8CA, 1 oz. of 6TO, 1/2 oz. of Silver concentrate (level 8 violet), and 1/4 oz. of Grey concentrate (level 6 1/2 green blue) with 10 volume and processed for ten minutes at the shampoo bowl.
The 6TO and the 8CA (as well as the 4MO) are full spectrum colors. They are made with bases of blue, gold, copper, grey, and violet. This gives them the ability to produce rich and balanced results. I chose to make this formula cooler with inclusion of the Silver and Grey concentrate because I was applying it to a warm base on a client with pale blue eyes who desired a more muted, soft result. It produced a lovely, soft, and balanced level 8 beige blonde.
Organic Color Systems gives all of us the tools to optimally prepare any head of hair for a color service, deal with a variety of color challenges, and deliver shiny, realistic looking results that will keep clients coming back again and again. I hope the challenges and solutions in this example provide you with fresh inspiration for your own color creations.
June 25th, 2010 at 4:58 pm (#)
Hi I live in NZ and have just switch over to organic colors in the above section u mentioned that u used Dxah color were u referring to the AH range of color.
Thanks Theresa