January 11, 2015

Color Theory (Sounds Boring, I kno) 100% Necessary To Become Successful Crib Colorist

60% - 80% of You Come To Killerstrands In An Attempt At Fixing A Botched Hair Coloring Experience

Therefore I feel its necessary for me to teach you the tools to correct those disasters, otherwise, why be here? ! So as much as it sounds boring, Color Theory and understanding : the basics of it, is simply mandatory. It gives you the tools to be able to understand how to fix any mess on your own. What a wonderful tool for this new hobby of home hair coloring and becoming a Crib Colorist.

Primary colors are Blue, Red & Yellow and are the basic colors that make up every hair color out there (except, of course, silver/white) and that is in the order of their size of the molecule (or atomic weight - now, don't leave because I said 'atomic'....wait, hear me out)...Understanding the order and size of the primary colors shows you what happens during the lightening process when going from Level 1(black) to Level 12 (Platinum). So many of us go lighter, that is the way of the world for some reason.


When lightening, Blue is the only 'cool' primary color. Most people lean towards wanting more of a 'cool' tone to hair. I mean warm means Brass, Blorange, Gold, Reds. No one wants the first 3 that's for sure and the only way you want red, is if your goal is red hair! When Blue is added to any primary, secondary or tertiary color is is dominant. The new color will be cool....again....good. Its molecular weight (or pigment size) is the largest and BECAUSE of this, it is closest to the cuticle. Why is this bad? Because being the largest pigment means when you begin to lighten hair (even a little bit) it will be the color that is closest to the cuticle and that damn sure means it will leave FIRST! If it leaves first, there goes that 'cool' hue that we all need so much to give our hair that 'cool' tint we talked about earlier. When the hair is oxidized by the ammonia in hair color the hair expands almost immediately, the blue molecule escapes and poof no more 'cool'.


Next is Red, it is also difficult to remove and lastly the yellow which is buried deep down in the hair strand.....the most difficult of all to remove and why so many of you get stuck at Blorange (blorange is the mix of red & yellow: so you see why you get stuck there?) Gold & Brass. The yellow molecule is buried so damn deep, it pretty much always takes bleach to be powerful enough to get it out of that hair strand. See????????

When all 3 colors are in hair in equal proportions you achieve a completely NEUTRAL Blonde or Brown. You know how we all wonder why we can't have like hair like Jennifer Anniston? That is hair that has equal proportions of red, blue & yellow molecules in her hair, there are VERY FEW people that happen to be this lucky. How do I know? I colored over 15,000 heads of hair (yep, my assistants kept track). Do you know how rarely I would have someone in the chair that was a breeze to lighten?  Not even once a month. That is rare.

Secondary colors are made when you mix 2 primary colors. You mix red & Blue you make Violet. That is a secondary color. If you add the opposite of any secondary color to a hair color you are mixing you will neutralize it. For example:

If you have a bigger yellow molecule and brass has become your problem.............look across that color wheel . What color is opposite of yellow (brass) on the color wheel ? Violet...........right? ! Add Violet and you will help cancel out yellow as it is directly across from it on the color wheel. That is why you see so many violet colored shampoos including our own (BOOST & BURST - Violet Pilot). 

Now, I am hoping from that you will be able to understand and pick-out any color you need to neutralize an annoying one you have in your hair color. So brass is yellow, across from yellow is Violet.

Blorange which I refer to a lot, because it is indeed a very common problem. We have calculated that Blorange is both Yellow & Orange cast that would be in your hair ....what colors would you use to counteract Blorange? Blue & Violet (check out the wheel). 

Understanding these basic theories is mandatory if you want to take control over correcting your hair color or planning your hair color and having positive results.
3 comments on "Color Theory (Sounds Boring, I kno) 100% Necessary To Become Successful Crib Colorist"
  1. WHY is it so difficult to dye hair grey? I don't want to cover my silver strands, I want all of my brown hair be a cool, grey and ashy with no warm tones. But it seems impossible! If I go to a salon the dye it black, when I experiment at home it gets brassy whatever products I use. I need expert advice!
    /Pia in Stockholm, Sweden

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is a perfect example of not understanding "Color Theory". I realize its a tough theory to grasp and the only help I can recommend in trying to understand it......is....to read and re-read all my posts on Color Theory. If the theory of Color is not understood, hair color will be very difficult to master.
    You can hit and miss and hope you get the right color (but that trashes & damages hair)
    But, there is no need to find your proper formula guessing.
    It is a science and an art and there is a system called the Level System that if used, gives you the exact answer.

    When you say ''dye hair gray''.
    It would help if you are more clear.
    Is your goal "silver" - the new silver that is on the runways, etc.. or are you trying to go back to the gray hair you have underneath. There is no such thing as a gray-brown hair per se.
    Unless you mean an Ash brown?
    Brown with no brass? or nor warmth?
    That would be Ash not gray.
    I know you have fantastic Salons in your country, so have competent stylists in Stockholm is not the problem. I can't quite understand what you are referring to, which is one of the biggest problems when not getting the color you desire.

    My suggestion is .........either go through the Internet (our PINTEREST page) or get a couple magazines: choose 3-4 photos of hair color you 'don't like & wouldn't want' and then choose 6-7 photos of hair color you want and desire.
    Take those into a Colorist, that comes highly recommended to you.
    If you want my help, this is an issue I help people with through the Group we have
    http://groupspaces.com/KillerstrandsHairClinic/

    GL
    KC

    ReplyDelete
  3. I think what she is referring here is lowlights that would look ash. As we know this process is better to be achieved going to a salon. Because their pigmented hair gets brassy and now they want it more ash to look better with the gray. Some beauty salons call it grey reduction

    ReplyDelete

All comments are moderated. Please do not include: references to personal information, or any profane, inflammatory or copyrighted comments. We would appreciate it if we all stick to the subject of HAIR . Have a wonderful day.

a

a