Why Is It That So Many People Want Blonde Hair, & What Happens When You Do?

From the Mouths of A Colorist . . . .

The single most important concept to understand to be able to Color Hair successfully is Color Theory.

1% of people have Red Hair and 1% have Blonde - Everyone else has Brown and Black is the number 1 Color.
So that is why, I feel, everyone tries to head to blonde and now Red is making a roaring comeback - because they don't have it!

Not one Stylist thinks this and not one Instructor or School teaches this. Which I m guessing: explains why there are many unqualified hair Colorists in the USA. My plan is to teach Color Theory more thoroughly here on the Killer Strands Blog, than it has ever been taught before - - - anywhere. That way you will now have the tools you need – the education at hand, to color your hair successfully. No excuses. If you don’t grasp it at first…remember – repetition breeds education. Just keep repeating it.

The 3 primaries, when mixed in unequal amounts, make brown. If there is more yellow than red or blue, the brown will be light, even beige. If there is more red than the other 2 primaries, the brown will be warm, and if there is more blue than yellow or red, the brown will be dark and cooler looking.

Complementary colors turn a brown of some shade of either when mixed. When complementary colors are mixed, they create the presence of the 3 primaries in uneven amounts.
for example:
when yellow mixes with blue + red which equals violet --- violet – we achieve a shade of brown . . . .the stronger shade will dominate the formula.

All virgin hair is a shade of brown; it contains all 3 primaries. Whether the hair is dark brown with black being the darkest (the bluest brown, Levels 1-4), auburn (the most warm brown, levels 5 –7), or blonde, ( the most yellow or lightest brown. levels 8-10), the color is an uneven combination of the 3 primary colors.
Equal amounts of yellow + red + blue = black, gray, or platinum . . . depending on the level.

Extensive Lab tests have actually broken down melanin molecules and in all types of virgin hair, regardless of race, color or texture, unequal amounts of yellow, red and blue are found in each – which of course turns brown.
If you want, or you can simply trust me, you can test this theory very simply… just head down to your local Michaels or Toys R Us purchase some PLAY DOH and with that, hold your own experiments. Mixing the various colors. Mix a little Red and Yellow Play Doh together which will eventually turn out as orange… add a little blue - - yep you get one shade of brown. In addition - - try all the other variations so you can check out all of these experiments demonstrate that primaries when mixed in uneven amounts equal brown.

BALANCED Color comes when all 3 primaries are present.
I would say one of the biggest and most prolific problems within the hair color world comes from ‘lightening’ and the uneven balance that is just the inevitable result from the imbalance of the 3 colors as color is taken out. It is learning how to deal with this, which will make you a decent and qualified Colorist.

Very blond hair is brown hair with a dominance of yellow
Red Hair is Brown hair with a dominant of Red
Black Hair is the Bluest Brown
A simple example of the composition of hair color molecules

Try to remember when you are lightening hair color, you are not really dealing with Brown, you are dealing with DURP (dominant underlying remaining pigment)………….which is reds….oranges….golds…(brass!!) and yellows.

When you go to lighten hair as you head towards Blonde
The first pigment to leave the hair is blue.
If you begin with the blackest most coarse hair and apply bleach to it, the change will occur immediately…blue will again leave the hair quickest and head to the red zone ( also one of the most difficult to leave)….

I still feel that level 7(orange) is the most difficult level to get past ( thus the problems with brassy colors that plague our country – some people worry about politics – me - - I worry about brassy hair and how to rid the country of it !! We all have our priorities ! )

For those of you truly interested in learning color theory I would encourage you to purchase a pack or two of the human hair swatches you will find at this link in our Killer Strands online Store
Do some testing with bleach, we have both 1 oz & 3 oz. containers of Blondor bleach that you can use to do some experimenting. It will truly begin opening your eyes to how hair color truly - - - basically - - - works….which then benefits you as you work on your own hair color. I promise light bulbs will begin to clink on all over your work, all over your thought bubbles in thinking about your next color project, whether on yourself, your kids, your girlfriend or your dog.