Watching and Learning

Watching: So, Evelyn had a corrective color client today. She had overdosed on dark red hair color and wanted it fixed. I pitched in to help apply the color balancer (lightener, developer & shampoo), since it has to be applied quickly and evenly. What's interesting to watch is how fast and messy Evelyn works. I'm not neat and tidy, not by a long shot. I was dribbling the stuff everywhere, too. However, I wasn't FORCING the product into her hair to make it work faster, as Evelyn was. How was she forcing it?? Well, first you section the hair off and start taking subsections, painting the solution on as you work your way up the head from the nape to the forehead. Once she was done with that (making sure to avoid the regrowth area), she started taking the strands in between her fingers and mushing it around, rubbing it in. Now, it did force the product to work faster. However, this girl has medium to fine textured hair, and since it's been color treated for a while, it's compromised enough that you shouldn't have to do that. But, she did it anyway. Once that was all developed, rinsed off, and dried, then she mixed the formula: 3/4 6N(natural) + 1/4 5CB(Cool brown), with the idea that it will neutralize all the warmth that is currently in her hair. Then, she grabbed the bottle of 20 volume. So, I asked my standard question: If you've already got plenty of lift from the underlying color, why do you want to encourage more lift?? This color line uses 5 volume to make it a demi color...why not do that??" So, she compromised and added the 5 volume and 20 volume together, making 12.5 volume. It still lifted, but not a whole lot. What can I tell about this in reference to Evelyn's knowledge of hair color?? She doesn't get what's permanent about permanent hair color. The clients hair came out a very pretty color. Was it neutral?? No, not really. At least not underneath those crappy fluorescent lights. It still looked pretty warm to me. I guess it's all in training your eye what to look for. Her ends look far more neutral than her mid shaft and regrowth did. We'll see what happens if she comes back. Learning: My continuing education came today!! WOO HOO!!! I got my text book, 6 dvd's and practice mannequin!! The dvd's (the one I watched, anyway) are mind numbingly tedious, even with some parts sped up. But, it does show the technique I need to learn to take the exam, so I'll put up with it. The textbook is tedious, because, well, it's a text book. But, once I get moving along in the book, it will get better...right now, I'm mostly reviewing things I already knew. I'll be setting up a binder to write down the important parts for me to remember. Stay tuned!!