What a color I did today!!

One of my regular clients, Kathleen, has been toying with going darker for quite a while.  She's actually been dying her hair a light golden blonde for quite some time.  But, because she's a level 6, the blonde she was using wasn't quite the color she was looking for.  She wanted a paler golden blonde (maybe a 9 or 10) and what she got was a darker golden blonde (because she's a level 6 to start with and the hair color just doesn't have the ability to go where she wanted it to go).  She was willing to trust me to take her where she wanted to go,  just making sure I had it clear she didn't want to go too dark.

So, she's a natural level 6, fine hair, a smattering of grey (less than 25%).  The formula for her regrowth is this:  Socolor 7W + 7M + 7N + 15 volume.  W is warm, M is mocha (which is mostly brown with a titch of coppery pink) and N is natural dark blonde.  I used 15 volume (10 + 20 divided by 2) so that the color spent more time depositing than lifting.  The color for her ends is this:  Color Sync 10WN + 7MM + 8N + Color Sync developer.  WN:  warm natural.  MM: Mocha mocha, N: natural.  When using Color Sync, it's best to keep in mind that it's an opaque color, so you need to keep it on the lighter side of things to keep it looking natural.  Otherwise, it can look like shoe polish on your hair.  (dark, dense, one color)

How I applied the color is this:  Mixed up the permanent color first, applied to her regrowth, feathering it down a bit towards the lighter color.  (she had a good inch of regrowth, which means if I'd brought the color all the way down to the line of demarcation, there would be a distinctive bright band throughout her hair)  Then, I mixed up the demi permanent color, and started applying it in the back, first, because natural hair color is always darker in the back than on the top or in the front.  Once I got to the occipital (curve of the head), I used foils to isolate the pieces that were to remain blonde, using conditioner as the product, rather than trying to lighten her hair even more, thusly damaging the heck out of her hair...really, she got a deep conditioning treatment while her color was processing!!  And then, in between the foils, as I'm working towards the front of the head, I'm painting the demi permanent color on the hair, feathering it up into the permanent color, so it all blends.  She sat like that for 30 minutes (mostly because I took a hair cut in between).  While I wasn't a bit nervous about how the color was working, Kathleen was.  And, she didn't like what she looked like with the foils in her hair.

I rinsed her color out, and was pleasantly surprised at the results, even when it was wet!!  Took her back to my chair, cut her hair, and watched Kathleen's face light right up as she watched her hair dry and reveal the color.  I styled it, and she LOVED it!!  It looks natural, it looks as she wanted it to, it was even lighten than she thought it was going to be....I love it when that happens!!!