E-Z Hair-Coloring

Preface

This book introduces new salon professionals and also home hair colorists to basics in haircoloring. I originally wrote the first version of this book many years ago and have now revised it. Many things are still as true today as they were then. Other things have improved immensely. Some of the subjects we will be covering are

The Level System of Hair Color which enables them to better understand formulation and application techniques.

Techniques for corrective haircoloring,

The use of permanent hair color and application methods are offered

Remaining tonal contribution and how it effects the final result

How to read a color box

Quick tricks and so much more

I’d say the two of the most valuable and useful tools in this book are the Level Table and the Volume level table. I created these in order to make formulation a lot easier.

I hope you come away with a greater understanding of hair coloring and an appreciation for all that it entails.

Chapter 1

Where Am I?

Coloring hair is similar to planning a trip. It is helpful to have a good map, a vehicle and of course, a destination. The first thing you need, however, is a starting point. You have to know exactly where you are on the map before you can calculate the best way to get where you want to go. So, the first thing I would like you to become familiar with, is your own hair.

Find a room with as natural a light as possible; preferably with white walls. Do not use fluorescent or direct sunlight. Diffused light from a curtained window and regular light bulbs will suffice. Make sure your hair is clean and dry.

Look at your hair. What color would you call it? Does it have a natural highlight, or is it matte? Feel your hair. Is it fine, coarse, soft or brittle? How light or how dark is your hair? Is there something in particular that you really like about your hair? Is there something you would change? If you have grey, calculate the percentage. Does your hair tend to be oily or dry? I would like you to write down these observations, plus any others that may come to mind about your hair into the Questionnaire at the end of this chapter. If your hair has been previously colored, or otherwise chemically treated, make a note of that, also.

The Level

Hair coloring would be easy, if everyone had white hair with the same texture and the same degree of health and elasticity. We could just choose a product by the picture on the box of what we would like to be and voile that’s what we would be. Unfortunately, as many have found out, it does not work that way. Your natural hair color, texture and previous chemical treatments, contribute a good deal to the coloring process. You can’t just pick a destination without knowing where you are. You’ll get lost. 

Now I would like you to focus on one question only. How dark or how light is your hair? Seems like a simple question, but saying you’re a blond or brunette does not give me enough information. If you are a blonde, how light a blonde are you? Are you really closer to light brown, or are you almost white? To produce predictable results there must be a precise system for measuring depth and tone of a shade. Very often, mistakes in choosing the correct color are due to an inaccurate evaluation of the present natural hair color. 

You may think your hair color is light brown (level 5) because it has no warm highlights and appears flat. In fact, you may really be a level 6, 7, or even 8, which would put you in the blonde category. If you have been lightening your hair for a long time, you may think your hair is much darker than it really is, because the regrowth seems so dark compared to the lightened hair. It is very important to pin point the depth of the natural hair shade in order to correctly choose the appropriate hair coloring product. Fortunately, there is a guide to help us. It is called the level system.

I am going to begin with the premise that all shades of hair color are really various depths of brown, blonde being the lightest brown and black the darkest. Let us call this the "chromatic system theory".

Hair coloring products are created first by the level of the shade and second by the tone. Every hair coloring manufacturer uses a scale to calculate the depth of the hair color shades in their line. The scale is numeric and originated in Europe. The use of a numeric system is a big improvement over just naming a color. The use of numbers allows us to precisely assign the correct amount of depth. 

ACHROMATIC LEVEL (no tone)

1      2    3  4   5    6   7   8  9  10

Chromatic Level

1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10

Black-Brown

Darkest Brown

Dark Brown

Medium Brown

Light