Hair Color Chemistry

There are some specific and very important rules when it comes to coloring your hair. There is a basic chemistry to hair color not just slapping it on over the color you have. There are some critical points to keep in mind. Knowing your start point, knowing where you're going and what to expect from the process is the best way to ensure you will have the most satisfying results.

VIRGIN HAIR- is the most simple to work with.  Virgin hair has no artificial color present and has natural underlying pigments which means the natural color of the hair. Once the underlying pigments are identified it is simple to formulate a color to either enhance or cancel them out. You will achieve a much cleaner result.

PREVIOUSLY COLORED HAIR- is a bit more difficult to achieve desired results. It is very much doable if you let the pro's do it! First you must identify the underlying pigment in the regrowth (new hair or roots), then you will determine the existing pigment of the artificially colored hair. Depending on the desired color in the end you have to determine what pigments need to be used in the new color to create an even color from root to end.

First you want to identify your natural hair color level. There is an international scale used to determine the level of your hair. Levels start at 1 being the darkest black and 10 being the lightest blonde. Match just the new growth, or the roots, to the swatch below and find what closest resembles your natural color. Not necessarily the "tone" but the level of lightness or darkness. Tones could be warm(red), cool(ash), or neutral.

Below the natural levels you will find the underlying pigments you see in your natural hair color.

You need to also understand the color wheel: this shows how all colors are created from the three primary colors.

 PRIMARY COLORS (Inner Circle)         SECONDARY COLORS (Middle Circle)                                                                                                

   RED,                                                            RED + YELLOW = ORANGE

YELLOW,                                                      YELLOW + BLUE = GREEN

& BLUE                                                          BLUE + RED = VIOLET

                 
                          TERTIARY COLORS (Outer Circle)
                           YELLOW + ORANGE = YELLOW/ORANGE
                           YELLOW + GREEN + YELLOW/GREEN (LIME GREEN)
                           BLUE + GREEN = BLUE/GREEN
                           BLUE + VIOLET + BLUE/VIOLET
                           RED + VIOLET = RED/VIOLET
                           RED + ORANGE= RED/ORANGE


This color wheel is important because all hair color is made up of various amounts of the primary colors. It demonstrates which colors neutralize which. Find the primary color you want toned away and look directly across the chart from it to see what underlying pigments are needed in your artificial color.
 Each coloring process has it's own set of variables. I'd always, always recommend leaving this job to a professional!
   In coloring you can always take your to a darker color when it is light. If your hair is already dark and you want it light, depending on the level of lightness, this could be a multi step process and is more damaging to your precious hair. It was analyzed to me like this: you want a white shirt black, you put the dye on it and voila it's black. Say you want your black shirt red well you put that red dye on a black shirt, the shirt is still black. Same thing with your hair color. You can't just put a lighter color on your darker artificially colored hair. Color does not remove color. You have to remove that color with lightener(bleach) and go back over it with your toner that has the neutralizers in it.