The Hair Stylist Blog

Elisabeth Moss debuted a new 'do at the International Emmy Awards in NYC on Monday. She lightened her normally brunette bob to a blonder, shaggier style. [StyleList]

BEFORE

AFTER

THOUGHTS:

Elisabeth is a beautiful girl with an amazing skin tone that could pretty much wear anything. After seeing her with the dark and the light next to each other I think I prefer her as a brunette, but the blonde she pulls off well. Her skin tone is perfect for both of these shades and she is one of those stars that can pretty much wear it all.

FORMULA:

Taking a brunette to a blonde can be rather difficult on previously color treated hair, but if done properly can be easy and beautiful.

Step 1: Know your desired tone and lightness. Ideally working from a brown golden shade it would be best for your desired result to stay within the warm golden family, as seen on Elisabeth in this picture.

Step 2: Decide the amount of blonde that is desired in the overall look. This will help you to determine the intensity of the blonde shade and amount of highlights that are necessary.

Step 3: Using a lightener, pre-lighten the hair to a level lighter than the end result (this will vary depending on the tone and lightness) by using a foil technique to match the desired intensity of blonde. Ideally you will want to highlight in a random fashion with lots of baby fine highlights.

*My suggestion - pre-lighten with a cream based lightener (10 - 30 volume depending on the texture) to a level 8/9 yellow color (pale yellow is not needed) *** If the hair is chemical treated on the ends but not in the regrowth (zone 1) you may need to adjust the formula in this section to a lower developer.

Step 4: Glaze the hair with the desired level and tonality.

*My suggestion - Glaze the hair with a Demi based hair color (such as shades EQ) level 8 Gold. My formula with a pre-lightened level 8/9 yellow would be equal parts 9G & 7GB. **Note: this changes according to the desired tonality and result of the pre-lightened color. It is also important that the pre-lightened color is equally lifted to a balanced result, if there is an inconsistency to the pre-lightened color, there will be an inconsistency to the end result.

THE END!!!