Permanent Coloring
Permanent color is amazing stuff. So much research has gone into making it safe and gentle and effortless! Things you may not know, though, can make the difference between a fabulous luscious color and a drab horrible wreck. Keep some of the following tips and information in the back of your mind before choosing which color to use and whether to do it yourself or not!
Store-bought hair colors: they have been formulated to be gentle and easy to use. No brainers! And they can be great products if used correctly. You start running into problems, however, when you buy and use these products without the understanding of how they work. When the instructions say to only put the color on the regrowth for a touch-up application, they really mean only on the regrowth. And if you call the company and ask if you can use a different color the next time, odds are they will tell you to stick with the same color. Why? Because there is a lot of chemistry and color logic that goes into hair color and they honestly don’t have the time to explain the process to you. That’s where your professional hairdresser comes in handy!
If you’ve bought a hair color and it turned your hair a funny color, DON’T try to fix it at home! This leads to even more damage and a worse color than you had before. Instead of spending all that time and money trying to fix it yourself, take it to a pro and have a color correction done. It may seem like a lot of money up front, but in the end it will save you a lot more! Balancing out color, toning out the unwanted shades of orange and red and gold or even ash, is an art form and a science. We go to school for sometimes thousands of hours, then take extra training classes to really get to know how the process works.
Another reason your color may not come out right is the condition of your hair. If your hair is overly damaged or processed, the color will react differently than if your hair was healthy and never touched by color or other chemical treatments, “virgin hair.” Your hair’s porosity and texture, the condition of the hair shaft, and your own hygiene habits, contribute to the success or failure of your hair color. Trusting a professional takes all the guesswork out of it for you.
If your hair seems brassy and dry but you condition it regularly, try using a clarifying or stripping shampoo. This will help remove all the hard mineral deposits on your hair shaft to let the conditioners in to do their job. It will also help even out the porosity in your hair before you color it.
My advice? Trust the permanent colors to the professional stylists. Yes, you can get a fantastic color out of a box on the first try and your hair will feel amazing. But if you don’t know what you’re doing, the next time around you may not be so lucky.
Other Hair Cut, Color & Styling Glossary Terms:
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