COLORING NATURAL HAIR..

Natural hairstyles dying your hair


when selecting your hair color for your hair is a big step especially if you are naturally curly, if you have decided to avoid chemicals and wear your hair natural choosing to bleach or dye your hairstyle color hair or not to color is a option for many especially if you want a safer way to color your hair. First you want to pick a color that will compliment your skin tone. If you choose the wrong color you may end up looking older, which is not good, and if you pick a color that has the wrong shades of green, reds or yellows it could make you look sickly instead of healthy


Where to get your hair color



The best place to go if you are considering coloring your hair is to a beauty salon, hairstylist are trained to know how to mix hair dye to fit the clients skin tone as well as to achieve the color that the client wants with minimum damage to the hair. If you choose to dye your hair at home you may find that you have picked a color that is too strong and may cause serious damage and breakage to your hair. Revlon, Clairol, Redken, Loreal are just a few of the many choices of hair color, that can prevent hair loss while dying at home


What condition is your hair in?



Take in consideration the condition of your hair, is it strong and healthy? It is one of the key things to measure, if your hair is brittle and dry it would not be best to color your hair because you may face hair loss. Also it is recommended not to go past 3 or 4 shades lighter or darker than your natural hair color
Making dark hair lighter



This poses a challenge for those of us who have brown black hair, it is the darkest of hair shades and usually if you choose to go lighter it will be more than 3 shades to get the look you are going for. Other issues include fading hair color, most people complain about how fast the hair color fades and if they are trying to cover gray hair, it is almost impossible to go longer than three weeks before the gray hair comes back.






Coloring hair at home



When you decide to color or dye your own hair it takes practice as well as patience, Clairol hair color is a popular brand that has color in many shades. Even if you are only trying to add highlights to your hair you can use semi permanent hair color or demi permanent which works well if you know you will need to refresh your color often.






Over the counter products come in a range of prices and quality, it is possible to find one product that will not damage your hair, you just have to read the ingredients and look for organic hair color or natural hair dye such as henna. If you are coloring curly hair you will have to use two boxes of color and you will need to start at the ends doing the hair close to the scalp last.






Hair color activates faster at the scalp that is why some people experience lighter shades at the scalp making their color for natural hair uneven. Vegetal bio colour is 100% herbal hair coloring this is good if you want to be free of harmful chemicals such as ammonia and peroxides. If you really want to save a few bucks you can make your own natural hair dye.


How to make natural hair dye



Natural hair dye is safe and non toxic to the environment, more people are socially conscious and are looking for hair color ideas and ways to use more natural products on their hair.


Henna natural hair color



First you will use henna powder it comes in a variety of shades from auburn to black, then you will add golden seal root, vinegar and hot water to turn it into a paste, this will help keep your desired color for up to 3 months with out damaging your hair but just conditioning it making it softer. Add safflower oil to your scalp after a co-wash and then add the natural herb hair coloring, leave it on your hair for up to 8 hours to achieve darker results. Wash out and rinse henna out of your hair then allow your hair to dry naturally, repeat until you reach the desired hair color that will flatter any haircut.




Adding highlights to your hair



When it comes to picking a color hue for highlights you will have a wider selection of colors to choose from, such as chestnut, cinnamon, beige brown, light brown, auburn, strawberry blonde, golden brown, light ash blonde, dark ash blonde, honey blonde, golden blonde, beige blonde. If you are starting out with a dark almost black natural color, you will have to bleach your hair first in the places that you want the lighter highlights, then you can use a semi or demi permanent color in the sections that have been bleached, because lighter hair shades will not take on dark hair color.




Bleaching dark hair



You will have to strip your hair color first and make it a pale yellowish color first. Every one hair has stages or phases of color already and it is just lifted up or out to achieve the look that we want. Deciding to be a home hair colorist requires that you learn these phases of hair coloring transition with dark brown black hair having a blue violet primary color, while medium light browns have a red, violet, orange primary color, whereas dark to light blondes have a orange, yellow primary color and light blondes has a pale yellow to white primary color, so you see there is a long list of color palettes one must go through before they can achieve a light hair color from a dark hair base.


CAUTION : I STRONGLY SUGGEST TO CONSULT WITH A PROFESSIONAL HAIRSTYLIST, BEFORE ATTEMPTING ANY USAGE OF HAIR BLEACH TO LIGHTEN OUR HAIR , REMEMBER THEY ARE PROFESSIONAL'S.

                                                                                                         ENJOY!!!

UNDERSTANDING LAWS OF HAIRCOLOR..

Most unwanted hair color disasters are due to the lack of understanding of the basic hair coloring "laws" of color and how they apply to hair color.







This article is not meant to be a thorough education in hair coloring, but a first step in helping home users of hair color to understand the basics.






 Follow along carefully and re-read any area that you are not sure about until you understand it thoroughly.






Warning: This information is presented for your own judgment of suitability and use at the user's risk.

First Rule Of Color - Hair Color Is Not Hair Paint



Color, as we perceive it, is actually the reflection of light off of the colored pigments in the hair shaft. This "reflection of light" is what we see as "color".














The shade of color is made up of the different combinations of reflections of light off of the colored pigments.






This is why hair color appears different under fluorescent lights than in natural sunlight whether it is color from nature or from a bottle.






Levels: What They Are And How They Impact Hair Color


Levels are the degree of "lightness or darkness" of a color that is "reflected or seen" by the eye. Hair color is assigned a Level 'number' from1 to 10 with 1 being black and 10 lightest blonde.






In other words, black reflects very little light and lightest blonde reflects the greatest amount of light. A level 10 blonde would be 'two steps lighter' than a level 8 blonde. This system of levels applies to all colors and almost all brands commonly found.







Different Types of Hair Color


There are several different types of hair color. Be sure to read this section carefully.






Permanent Haircolor


Permanent is just what it means. This makes a 'permanent' change in the pigment of the hair shaft. It does not wash out!






It will fade in time, but cannot be simply removed to "bring back" your natural color. All hair that has been colored in this way has the natural color pigments irreversibly chemically altered.






It can be removed, leaving the "altered" hair shaft pigments, which can be "corrective colored" back close to the original color.






This is a job which should be left to the Pros Only! It can be one visit or many visits to the salon to try to correct a bad color job, it is expensive and is hard on the hair to varying degrees.






Single Process Color


Single Process Color Is The Only Permanent Color That Should Be Attempted By The Amateur!Single process means that the color is lifted and deposited in one step.






Semi-Permanent


Semi-Permanent color is what it says it is, it can cover gray and go darker, but can not lighten. It lasts varying lengths of time depending on the product. Suitable for amateur colorists.






Warning: Double Process (bleaching and toning to the desired color) should never be attempted by a home hair colorist!. This is definitely a pro-only process.






Deposit Only Color


Deposit Only color can only "deposit" color into the hair, there are many varieties on the market for the home user. These are very "User Friendly'' and usually condition and color in one step.






The very popular color "glazes or translucent" colors are among the easiest to start with to enhance your color. Most use a very low 3% peroxide to activate them . Some are capable of lifting or lightening one level. Professionally, Redken SHADES EQ is my favorite, bar none!






Second Rule Of Color - Do Your Homework Before You Color


What does this mean? It means that you must be perfectly honest to yourself and about yourself and the factors that enter into hair coloring. If you are very dark haired (Level 1) and want to be a level 10 platinum blonde, forget home hair coloring!






Note: To read about hair color levels and pigments check out: Haircolor Basics: Hair Pigment Categories. This article explains hair color levels as well as hiar pigment categories.






I know that there are many lightening kits on the market that will lighten hair at home and there are beauty supply stores that will sell professional products to the public, but if you try this at home you are taking a big gamble.






While it can be and is done every day by people, some get the results that they wanted and some get horrible results.






If you don't believe me, just go to any beauty supply that is open to the public and stand around the hair color section for a while and listen to the customer's comments.






Or go to any mall or public place and just sit for a few minutes and take a silent count of how many botched color jobs you see!






My heart goes out to these people because most people who color their hair are trying to improve their appearance not detract from it! There is nothing that will lower your self esteem of yourself worse than having a bad hair day whether it is a bad cut, color or perm that lasts for months.






Step #1: Select The Designed Color That You Want


First you must select the desired color that you want to be, say an medium warm blonde level 8.






Now that you have determined where you want to be color wise, you have to find out where you are now. By "now" I mean first the 'level' (there's that level word again) and the tone of your hair, whether it has reddish or blonde undertones considered "warm" colors or ashen "cool" undertones.






Lets say that you are a light ash brown level 6. Being a level 6 "ash" light brown means that you have an "absence of 'warm' undertones" in your hair now; but; you want to both "lighten and warm up"' the color to the desired level of an 8 warm blonde color.







Doing The Math For Haircoloring


Don't panic when I say reddish or blonde undertones. Remember, I said that the color you "see" is a combination of colors reflecting off of the hair. Now you must do the math part of the 'homework'.






You must use a swatch book or ring to compare your hair color as it is now to match levels and tones in natural light if at all possible. Not what you perceive, or think, or what your Aunt Flo called your color when you were a kid!!






Now that you know where you are now and where you are going, let's look at the following example of how to get there!






Desired color-Warm Blonde Level = Level 8


Target color level X 2 = 16






Natural color-Light Ash Brown = Level 6


subtract this from target color level of 16 16-6=10






This gives you the number of levels to lift (= 2) and the level of color to use (=10).






Note: If the total number for the level of color is 13 or larger, pre-lightening is required to achieve the desired color. You need to go off to a professional for double process coloring.






How Hair Is Lightened


Since it has been established that the 'new' color is a combination of your old color level and tone (referred to as our 'base' color) and the new color that is deposited into the hair, you must take into account what happens when you lighten or lift the base color to another level and deposit the new pigments into the hair shaft.






When hair is lightened it goes through several stages of lightening from the darkest to the lightest from a base of blue in the case of natural black to pale blonde with the palest of yellow as its base color.






This lightening process fractures the color pigment creating undertones that are unwanted.






Note: For general information on professional lightening products not to be used by home hair colorists check out: Haircolor Basics: Hair Lighteners and Hair Color Encylopedia - the page that has everything you want to know about hair color - professional, consumer or both.






To correct this, the opposite color is added to the formula to "cancel" out the unwanted tones or other secondary colors are added in varying amounts to add special effects or customize the color to an individual's desire.






Remember the color prism you were shown in grade school? It fractured light into distinct visible colors you could see. This is what you are doing with hair color except you are adding or subtracting colors to "correct or change from one color to another and change the undertones".






Warning: Orange Hair






When hair is lightened it produces warm or red and yellow undertones. When red and yellow are mixed they produce orange. Where have you seen orange hair? Remember the scary trip to the mall or grocery store check out line? Now you know!






Referring to the 'color wheel' you know that you want to cancel out some of the red/orange undertones to prevent the dreaded orange headed affliction of the mall, but yet leave enough to keep the warm tones.






Since your natural color has a 'cool' base it will not turn as red/orange when lightened as a ' warm color' of the same level would.






This is because that as the hair lightens on a ' warm' color it adds to the reds and yellows that are already present. When lightening the same level of 'cool' hair, it adds the 'missing' reds and yellows to warm up the end resulting color. This can only be checked by doing a strand test!.






Always Do A Strand Test


A strand test is the only reliable way to "preview" the new color. At this time adjustments can be made to the hair color formula to either add or subtract colors to enhance or cancel different undertones in the test strands.






Do not be afraid of doing more than one test strand before doing overall color and always do it on uncolored hair.






The length of time that the color mixture is left on can also be varied to change results. Always thoroughly dry the test strand to check for proper color and breakage/damage.






Warning: Do not attempt to color hair that has had henna or metallic dyes used on it.






Tips Before Coloring


Before coloring it is best to practice parting off thin parts of hair 1/4 to 1/2 inch in width depending on the density of the hair. Apply conditioner to your hair a few days before doing the actual coloring to get the hang of handling a hair color applicator bottle.






In the case of thick long hair, get a friend to help. A clarifying treatment to remove buildup in the hair should always be done before coloring. Always follow the manufacturer's instructions.






On long hair, the ends are always more porous than the rest. Apply color to the mid lengths from about 1 inch from the scalp and then the ends.






Follow this procedure because the scalp will process faster due to the heat of the body and the insulating effect of long hair on the scalp. Here there is no help like experience.






Even just doing the test strands or working on your friends will teach an amateur colorist a lot.....if you will be observant and patient.






Very thick, long hair, may have to be colored in sections, rinsed and the uncolored hair dried to allow color to be applied to the rest.






Be sure not to re-color already colored hair and observe timing exactly.






Study The Color Wheel!


I don't expect the amateur colorists to soak all of this up in one session. However, you should read this article carefully and use it as a guide to understanding the relationship between cool and warm colors.














You can also use this article as a guide to learn how to determine color levels in the products you use as well as tonal families to use to accent or suppress unwanted tones.






Happy Coloring!