Hair Color, Hair Color Consultations, 10,000 Heads and the KillerQ8

Back to the Basics, where I Belong

Hair color is a funny thing, it cannot be reduced entirely to a science, as there are so many parts that are given to objective analysis by a experienced individual. That’s why you cannot just order a book on the subject. Dozens of Colorists before me have thought about writing one, I can guarantee you, its a daunting task…because of the variables we all know exist. Many aspects of hair coloring defy an exact system . . . the level System as I have tried to teach here on Killer Strands is the only universal system that truly works, I know it lacks in many areas…but when you get used to it I promise you figuring out your own hair color will be a snap. Learning it takes time, now that I have watched thousands of people absorb it I can solidly report that it takes some reading, some research and some thinking and experimenting to begin to work it…I am proud to report many of you are successfully working the Level System and reporting in with beautiful hair coloring stories.

What I hope for, is more of you to take the plunge, invest in your own hair….in your own hair color, in the power it takes you to take control over your own hair, NO MORE DISASTERS… you only have to learn the variables on one head of hair…YOUR OWN ! A great colorist has to be able to calculate for every type of hair that exists – every head of hair that walks through that door, sits in that seat and looks longingly to me for a perfect color. I took that look very seriously, but the more I listen to war stories of hair color disasters, the more I’m finding there are just not a whole lot of qualified Colorists out there. So to figure just your own out, really does not take that long, nor is that hard. I really encourage you to begin the reading it takes on this Blog to find the answer to your perfect hair color….Remember, IT DOES NOT COME FROM A BOX.

If I were to line up 10 of you with the exact same level 6 (completely) virgin hair, and every one of you wanted the exact same result…. I would not use the exact same formula. I’m estimating there to be 4 to 7 different formula’s to reach that same color and THAT IS WHY the Box system doesn’t work. Remember, Boxed Hair Color is known as “job security” to Salons and Hair Stylists, they count on you showing up with your hair color botched, that kind of says it all. I’ve always wanted to know how many people walked into a Salon across the entire USA one day of the week, every week of the year. …I would love to know the true exact amount. I’ve often thought it is probably around 50,000 per day, that to me is incredibly sad. You see all the stylists around me used to act like hunters waiting for the kill, during the day…in Malibu, the owner & I were the only one’s with a jam-packed book. They would wait for “walk-ins” with botched box color . . . I never had to live that way. But still, it just isn’t fair to the public, I don’t think anyone has ever brought that topic up, I won’t stop bringing it up.

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Your natural base level is foremost among the key factors one wants to use in calculating your new hair color formula. Your best bet is to remove all old color (using VANISH only) if its blond or blorange, blass or blellow (my personal fav.) begin growing your hair out - - - N O W! There are methods of turning those 3 colors normal while growing your hair out, all involve “filling” the hair. In Hair Academy some of the Color Instructors that lived in the Academy world would say: there isn’t a color I can’t make a client. Which at first I took on their attitude….UNTIL >>>> I got to the “Salon” world and dealt with the public on a daily basis that is when I learned the Salon world was completely & totally different than the Academy world. In the Salon world I would become close to my clients, I cared about them, cared about their hair ……the future of their hair. In the Academy world you do one person’s hair and never see them again. You constantly are doing the hair color of people you will never see again – models you do once, spending all day on one person for a photo shoot….never to see them again… which is just not normal. If someone walks in, is Asian with Level 1(black) hair and wants to have a soft “mint green frame around the face” …. you do it & actually have a blast doing it. YES, I can make anyone – ANY COLOR -- I did that for one full year, but I quickly learned that is NOT how you introduce hair color nor take care of clients you care about.

3 tricks I learned that made my client list so strong?

• Always have their “next” or “future” hair color and most importantly their hairs health in mind (for them) .
• Listen to their requests for their new hair color choices, look at the photos they have chosen . . . .but never ever forget what the consequences of their choices will bring.
• I always felt it was my job, to talk them out of a hair disaster. It was a gamble I took at the beginning. Most all top Colorists I knew at the beginning would turn the clients hair whatever color they asked for. I care about “people” too much to

Now I live by the Rule:

NOT ALL HAIR CAN BE ALL COLORS

- - and that, is my own PERSONAL Rule.

I took the hundreds of clients I had and pretended they were all my family. Would I straighten a girls hair who begged me for it, if I knew with the next appointment she came for… she would be in tears with her hair breaking off. NO Would I tint the platinum(Level 12) woman’s hair…. black (Level 1), because there was a dance or Halloween was coming up that she just had to have it for? NO Would I apply extensions to a woman's hair that was of medium or fine texture and was of medium to thin thickness? NO Could I have done any of these procedures? Of course. They all rake in a whole lot of $$$ as well. This is the stumbling block most stylists fall into, they worship the almighty dollar instead of the almighty hair strand. Big…………….no, HUGE mistake.

So for all of you that remain on the path to your Colorist, you must learn this for yourself, take the care of your hair into your own hands and stop any procedures from happening that do not protect your hair. Learn the Steps I have taught you through the pages and posts of this Blog. Go back to the beginning, read the entire Blog….It does not take that long and I get more compliments from that one suggestion than any other suggestion.

Join in on our Google Group http://groups.google.com/group/killerstrands ask questions, read the archives…. I hate to repeat myself. I look to the group for questions to write about in these POSTS. I hope to spend the next 2 months on Hair Color and Color questions the group brings to the surface will be the basis of my coming POSTS. You know when I had to wipe all my computers clean the only list that I lost that I truly miss is the one that I have collected since the beginning of the BLOG on “POSTS I HAVE YET TO WRITE”…I had about 40 titles on there and all these clever titles for them as well….I’m just so very sad about losing them. It took 3 years to put together that list. I have learned a lot from this experience, most things I didn’t know anything about, people keep trying to point out the good parts of it…which I appreciate, I truly do.

I'm looking for ideas to write about as "COLOR" is going to be my subject for the next 2 months...I'm going to really concentrate and get back to explaining and teaching hair color to you.

I am in the process of starting a small – intimate - additional group for KillerStrands.com customers exclusively - the advantage of purchasing your hair products here on KS is the advantage of getting assistance from myself and my trained assistants.

• 
  You will need to have an order number to enter/ post and read the group, and your questions will need to pertain to your purchased products....
• If you don't know exactly what color you need, purchase 2 tubes of the brand you want, some In-TENSIVE, Crib Colorist Kit ( gives you all tools you need to begin at a Killer price), a Sulfate-Free Shampoo …when you check out - there is our little "KILLER BOX" at check out - Write in that box:
  "JOINING GROUP - Hold Order 4 Help w/ Color Selection "
• Everyone joining the group, MUST join with the answers to the KILLER 8 which will be discussed in todays POST.
  Which ‘yes’ means I am forcing you to learn.
• I know that may sound mean, but it is truly not that hard, I have taught my little niece it ( she is only 17 and will be attending Vidal Sassoon Academy when she graduates high school!) - - if she can learn it - - - SO CAN YOU !
• I mean learn about your hair, so you never EVER have another hair disaster.
  

Every single day of every single month - - - all year long - - - I get an email from at least 2 and up to 10 people saying the exact same sentence, " I wish I would’ve found this BEFORE my hair got destroyed” … I am guessing my site is pretty high up there on Google’s ratings for Hair color disasters. So I thank Google for that…although I wish there was a way to for them to find me BEFORE the disaster happened. { I’m looking for miracles now, aren’t I ??}

This is what I started this group doing and to be honest my little mishap of November got me so rattled that I want to return back to the basics…..Teaching Hair Color to the Crib Colorists and Hair Health to the 10,000HEADS Regimen devotees.
...we are getting so many new members I want to concentrate on helping the people who decide to take the plunge and give professional products and KillerStrands brands/protocol a "go".
Don't panic anyone, I will still be helping out in here a few days a week - exactly as before.
I was also considering bring the Consultations back.....when I do though they are going to cost a lot more, unfortunately.
I'm so much busier now, but I get so many requests that it truly makes me feel bad.
You can look at it as one hair appointment, to save yourself a life-time of mistakes....if that is worth it to you, then maybe the price will make more sense.
As I have said many times, the answers to many of your questions are already here.....Free - in Posts I have written over the past (almost) 3 years! So if you just do a small amount of research { the Search system Google has on my BLOG works very very well } Nik is very good at learning how to "SEARCH" so is Amber, if you ask either one of them they may help you as well.

Now as I gather material and get back to writing about hair color and hair health….let me give you the KillerQ8. These 8 questions are as abbreviated as possible, to come up with your new hair color formula for your new KS Color. It includes everything possible, short of being able to feel the hair…the one and only missing variable in this system.

I can’t wait to hear some of you being able to figure out other member’s hair color formula’s as we use this system of mine in full force ad over and over again many of you will start to get it…You’ve already amazed me in your answers to many peoples questions. So in any questions from now on regarding you or your color and you wanting to change your color answer your questions with SHORT answers to these KILLERQ8

Just today I had one of our newbies answer the KillerQ8’s first question wrong.

the first question is this:

1. What is your VIRGIN hair color level & tone? Her answer was: Copper-Blond base with blond high-lights.

Now that is someone who is trying to beat the system, please get the answers right, its only 8 questions…. VIRGIN HAIR is hair that has not been touched by anyone. This doesn’t mean when you were 10 years old either, it means when you were full grown, mature and your age today…no has natural blond highlights ( z(except 10 year olds)….or if they do they are less than 1% and in 10,000 heads, I have never seen them. Anyway you get the picture now don’t you?

2.What is your PRESENT Hair Color level & Tone?

3. What is your DESIRED hair color Level & Tone?

4. What is your percentage of Gray? Is it Resistant? ( which means is it stubborn to hold hair color)

5.What is your DURP? Slight….to….Strong

VIP question….DOMINANT UNDERLYING REMAINING PIGMENT analyze what each one of those words mean – one-at-a-time ??? Then you can decipher the question…………What color do you or your Colorist fight, when tinting your hair? Blorange, Blass & Blellow are the common ones for clients trying to go blond.

6. What is your texture?

7. What is the Porosity? Along with the Condition ??, many times the two of them go hand in hand….be clear on both, please

8. What is length and thickness?

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So now you have the KillerQ8, the 8 questions we need in order to do a Consultation and or to speak about your hair color concerns in the GROUP….please, everyone figure out the answers to the 8 before bringing your question to the boards and to the GROUPS….Begin by putting the answers to the 8 on your questions.

Not in Group? Google:GOOGLE GROUPS / Killer Strands

Systems are good, but in hair coloring the level System does not capture it all, remember that. That System is good for a base, but a good analysis must also be considered in calculating your new color application….DURP, texture, previous artificial color, porosity, the hair color product you are using.

Join, shop the store . . . study the Color Charts they are the most wonderful tool for learning to color hair.

I look forward to writing more on color for the next 2 months….so get ready to learn.

Killer Chemist

Black Hair / Black Friday / Black Brush

Great Solution to FIA ( Flat Iron Addiction)

The holidays got in the way of 2 stories I have been wanting to share with you. It rarely happens that I will be excited about a new product for hair, but it happened twice in one week. I ended up trying both of those products on myself and loved both even more - - - even more rare.

In my never-ending quest to abolish use of the Flat Iron, I bought a new fangled brush thing-a-ma-gig from one of my Hair Reps. The photo of it looked like a killer concept, but I never expected it to work as well as it did. From the example of clients of all hair types whose rear-ends were in my chair, I have learned slowly but surely that the flat Iron is just not a great hair tool and it truthfully creates more problems than it fixes over time. I have nothing against any product that will make your hair look better (which is what I said when hair extensions first appeared for the public), but that product …no matter what it is…{I feel} …must not destroy the hair in the process. What I have noticed with the gradual over-use of flat irons is that while it does smooth the cuticle at the beginning of a clients ownership over time the continued use and over-use of these irons takes the hair into the “burned or frazzled” stage which causes even more frizz and is very difficult to recover from without cutting it off. I ask if they have been using a silicone serum and while silicone is the one and only product that truly protects hair from heat – it is by no means a total solution to the heat of two flat plates at 250 degrees smashed together on the hair strands….I hope I have not misled you on that one, to me its common sense.

When people would come to me for the 10,000 Heads Regimen, which usually meant they had trashed their hair beyond recognition – and I put them on a strict “diet” of all the things that got them there – many times just taking away the Flat Iron, would solve 50% of their problems. That’s a LOT, especially when you consider that there are 14 Steps ( and over the years there has always been over 10) It finally got me thinking…what would happen if just the Flat Iron was subtracted from peoples regimen ? ? You see, I realize the Flat Iron is a fairly new tool to many of you . . . but I had one when I was in Hair Academy and that was 16 years ago…so my clients have ALWAYS had flat irons …I wasn’t doing hair when they didn’t exist.

My assistants would take names/photos of volunteers for a 90 day Flat Iron Challenge from my clients about 1/2 way thru. They would receive one free hair color if they participated, with a lot of college kids from Pepperdine…. I had many volunteers. Well, the results were mind boggling – none of us could believe the difference. What we figured out was, that the temperatures of the irons kept going up & up each year as the companies that made them would listen to customers requests. Of course, the customers loved the concept and loved the Irons ( At the time so did I) – but thought if they worked so well, why not make them go hotter and hotter. For the first 10 years all Flat Irons were black and were only 1 temperature – super Hot. In the last 6-7 they have gotten all tricky…leopard, zebra - print, multiple temps., ceramic plates, tourmaline, ionic - - BIONIC…I mean its gone ape-shit-crazy!

Around Halloween I spotted this funny looking brush… bought one – & its been sitting around here for month. Finally this past week my one client is having a helluva time with the condition of her hair lately… showed up and with the crown of her hair just trashed. She is a long time client – we’ve had her hair in terrific shape and in poor shape, just depends on her styling regimen, her Thriven, Gleam, Secret Supplement use ( she is off of that now – which is a big mistake) but after the color and cut is complete is the time when I finally can tell exactly where her hair stood, she was right…it was bad. Really bad, she was in the middle of “the change” and was complaining of her hair feeling like “old lady” hair. I agreed her hair had never felt like it did that day, and she had quit using the Flat Iron a long time ago. Unfortunately its just her age and it seems to happen to everyone once they reach their 50’s, just want you all to be prepared.

Well check out this little gem. Its a brilliant hair tool and the results were nothing short of spectacular and that is because of how brilliant the inventor of this is – its so simple but to me it completely solves many of the problems of the Flat Iron. The bristles are short and are very stiff so the tension on the hair can be pulled… it holds the hair very tightly so you are able to stretch the hair tightly while drying. Stretching is the perfect answer to drying kinky, curly or wavy hair.

There are vents to let the air from the blow dryer THROUGH the hair strands , so the heat has a place to escape from…

Denman Thermoceramic Straightening Brush provides a fast and simple way to straighten all types of medium to long hair during blow-drying.

Features and Benefits:

• Thermo-ceramic plates with vented design allow warm air to circulate more freely for fast blow-drying performance
• Adds condition and shine for a silky, lustrous finish
• Smoothes the cuticle, minimizing breakage and split ends
• Velvet-touch handle for added comfort during use
• Made with interlocking rows of pure natural boar bristle

Directions:

Wash hair with sulfate-free shampoo, towel dry. Use Ecoly detangler comb to gently smooth out any tangles. Set hairdryer to MEDIUM heat and start to blow-dry until hair is half-dry. Start from the nape of the neck and separate hair into sections. Clamp hair between bristles and gripping firmly, pull the bristles down the length of the hair section while directing warm air from the hairdryer. Repeat this process until all the hair sections have been straightened. Apply gloss serum or mist with shining spray for extra shine.

One of the most interesting results one gets from this brush is from twisting and turning it as well… the volume it creates, both at the root as well as through the lengths. I mean this little, very well priced brush, made this woman's hair look like it was 20 year old hair, I was just so impressed. The reason? the way it made it easy to ‘stretch’ it changed the coarseness of her hair as it will yours.

Its just the smartest, cutest and well priced little styling tool I have come across in a very long time. You must try one – click right on over to the Killer Strands Store http://killerstrands.myshopify.com/ and check it out, you may request a sample of the FLUFF with your order as well ( a small batch has been made)

Killer Chemist