Hair Colorist Wednesday: Do Not Fear Green

Hot tip for the day!

Are your beautiful golden locks starting to turn red?

Has the tone lost it's vibrancy and starting to look like a flat auburn as opposed to a beautiful golden brown?

Don't Panic! We have a solution!!!

But first.......

Lets talk about why this has happened.

Your hair or guests hair has faded into this color, due to the exposure to the true or natural pigment.

What happens when we color our hair with a permanent dye is our hair's natural pigment is being lifted or lightened, very similar to what a bleach or lightener will do, just with a little more control. During that same process, the artificial pigment will begin to deposit or color over the now lightened hair.

A level 5-6, border line 7, which 99% of the time will be the level of the color that fades to that auburn/reddish color, will begin to shine through the artificial pigment due to fading. What you are actually seeing is a combination of natural (red/red orange/orange) and artificial pigments (golds and browns) blending together and visibly giving the appearance of auburn.

SO WHAT TO DO??

Step 1: Prevent! Use shampoos and conditioners that help to reduce and stop color fading. My choice? PureOlogy - truly you can not beat it!

Step 2 - When refreshing the ends, do not fear your green based dyes. Green is a natural balancer for red. So when formulating utilize your greens in offsetting red. You may not necessarily want to use just a green in your formula, especially when looking for a golden result. Remember we want to keep warmth and neutralize red, in other words maximize yellow and reduce red.

So enough of the blah blah blah.... on with the formula! My formula of choice.

On a level 5 this is the formula I would apply to the ends of my color. Using a Demi based color - in my case Redken Shades EQ

For a One & Half Ounce Formula

1 oz 5G (Gold) & 1/2 oz 6GN (Green/Yellow Base)

ENJOY!

Comments/Questions?