Blonde build up...

When someone receives highlights on a regular basis, they run the risk of having what's called "blonde build up"  What is blonde build up, you might ask??  Well, it's when you continually highlight your hair until it's mostly blonde and next to nothing for your natural color left peeking through all those highlights.  It happens, and it's easy to correct.  The trick is to formulate correctly!

Example:  Client came in yesterday for her highlights.  She had never sat in my chair before and was very concerned about the work I would be doing in her hair.  She had previously worked with Tina, a total of 3 times, and struggled with Tina to get across what she wanted, and how she wanted it done.  What she wants is to have "beachy blonde highlights" without being turned into a "bleached blonde".  What this means to me:  She wants pale blonde highlights, all over her head, but her natural color still dominating her color.

What happened the first time:  Kaleidocolors neutral & 10 volume in the back, same thing & 20 volume in the front.  She's naturally a level 7.  What this did for her is gave her slightly lighter color in her hair, almost a "breaking the base" color (I'll explain that one in a bit), which also means she couldn't see her highlights very well.  So, she came back to get them fixed, and Kaleidocolors neutral with 30 volume in the back, Kaliedocolors neutral & 40 volume in the front.  Which got her sort of where she wanted to go.

The (officially) 2nd time she came back (when they'd grown out), V-lights & 20 volume in the back, same & 40 volume in the front.  So, she's back to "beachy blonde".  That was in June.

Jump ahead to yesterday.  I go through and highlight her hair again, using the V-lights formulas.  What I noticed when she was done and dry is blonde buildup beginning to happen.  So, I recommended the next time she comes in (and wrote it down, too!) that a few, "randomly" placed low lights, in either her natural color, or a color between natural and the blonde, be put back in so she doesn't wind up looking like a bleached blonde.  And, she loved the idea as well as the job I had done for her yesterday.  PHEW!!

Now..."Breaking the base":  Sometimes, usually when you have someone with really dark hair that wants really pale highlights, it can work in their favor to "break the base" to give them a more flattering color, over all.  If you're not careful, and you don't break the base, you can take that dark haired person and make them look like they have a ton of grey hair with all those highlights!

What "breaking the base" does:  lighten the hair 1/2 to one full level lighter than the natural without bringing the warm tones through.  It comes in handy, but it has to be done right, or there's corrective color hell to pay.  If you've got virgin hair, using the correct level of hair color with 10 volume should do the job.  If not, a "soap cap" (lightener, developer & shampoo mixture) should also do the trick.  The hardest part is watching the product to make sure it doesn't take the color too far in the wrong direction!  Once the desired shade is reached, you can rinse it out, wash it up, dry it, then highlight over the top of it, and you'll get a beautiful color.