Calculating A Hair Color Formula - KC's Infamous KILLER 18 Questions !

Hair Color FORMULATING....
with previous hair color on  ! 

Many books & many Colorists, think there are only 4 or 6 or even 7 Questions to answer in order to get their color Selection. Well, I say, NOT in today's world  !  

Therefore, I put together the NEW Killer 18 Questionnaire. Answer this honestly & completely =  your magical answer will appear.

The tricks of the trade in Hair coloring ? ? ? 
There are no tricks....it's all science/chemistry/art & experience. There is no guesswork if you learn THE LEVEL SYSTEM. It comes down to a combination of ART & Science. You need education in both to be successful and or a master of your own Crib Coloring adventures.

People want me to give them a one word answer for their hair color selection, I would LOVE to be able to do that. But, what I have found out in the years on this Blog? Most of you love hair coloring (I completely understand), and have many layers of color on your hair by the time you find me. That is unfortunate,  as it is the first red-flag in hair color analysis. It changes all the simple Rules, that were designed not too long ago by hair color manufacturers. 


 Killer 18 Questions by KC
for hair color FORMULA Selection when you have previous hair color on

1. Texture & length ?
2. Length of hair ?
3. Ethnicity ?
4. Has hair Been Bleached ?
5. Porosity ?
6. Boxed Color? How many?
7. Percentage of Gray?
8. What Type of Color is on ...Box? Professional?
9.  Straightener? Ever?
10. D.U.R.P. - Dominant-Underlying-Remaining-Pigment ?
11. Your opinion ...Resistant? or Not?
12. Virgin Color - Level & Tone ?
13. Current Color - Level & Tone?
14. Desired Color - Level & Tone? 
15. Damage? Extent of, all over or sections
16. Your age ( ball park only ) '
17. Your lifestyle
18.  What is your favorite SHOE ?

If you need my help, I need the answers to those questions..... start working on them!

I've said this numerous times, but I hope for it to make sense in the "big" picture.
When you have previously colored hair it makes it very difficult to create any new color you desire. The fact that I have told you that the LEVEL SYSTEM is a chart of rules and numbers that one may use to come up with your new perfect formula, only pertains to those with VIRGIN hair. Now THAT my Dear, now-a-days is as rare as a Unicorn. Those rules and system work excellent on someone with virgin hair, but that just isn't that helpful any longer, not when grandma - Grandpa and the DOG !! have their hair colored already!

Just 30-40 years ago, people would go to the Salon with Virgin hair (never colored) ask for a new color...or (mostly) ask to get their gray covered...and they were done. Today, so many of you are lured by the advertising on TV, magazines & right here on the web. Your favorite stars have been paid an obscene amount of money to put on a (virgin!) wig that has been colored by that companies brand of color and smile and lie to you with no regrets or guilt at all. Most of you write and tell me that you grabbed a box of color at the grocery store/drugstore/ or weekly trip to Targeeee(t). Really, since when does the place you purchase the food you feed your children, sell boxes of color that any 11-13-15 year old can purchase and begin the long, downhill, arduous road to damaged hair? This all leads to the problems that end up here at Killerstrands and for which I spend hours trying to figure out ways for you to repair your hair & predict your next hair color choice! Whewwww !!

Many of you respond to me about VANISH...the hair color REMOVER we carry...."how come no one has heard of this product?" I am asked... "why don't more Stylists use it??". There is a saying that goes something like this: "however goes California...there follows the rest of the country"..its from a history book I was reading. 

There was a smile that hit my face when I read that....and I know it to be true.  I mean why? What makes us different out here, and especially in Los Angeles....there must be an answer for that. But that is my only reason on the Vanish question.

Many books & many Colorists, think there are only 4 or 6 or even 7 Questions to answer in order to get the color Selection. I say, NOT in today's world  !  Therefore, I am going to put together the NEW Killer 18 Questions ...I will list them today & and in the next couple weeks will write a post on some, there are already 1-4 posts on each topic currently just put the title of the post you want to read in the SEARCH Bar and it will take you to all info pertaining to that subject. GOOGLE runs my BLOG and search engine so it works really well ! so they are updated with as new information as there is in the world of color. I will strive for the following:

•  Simple as possible 
• Clarity for the layman
• Pictures to help

Laters !

 

The Color of Honey

The Science of the "Law of Color" and How To Color The Hair

Stylists have trouble learning the ''Law of Color'' Concepts. So, I never want you to be hard on yourself. They spend a full year deeply concentrating on these concepts and many times end up with a complete blank stare on their face when finished, so please don't think you should get it right away either ! I am going to be going in order for easier learning the next short while and will let you know when I have stopped.

In my descriptions of how hair color works, some hair color will be tagged (+ color) and it will only add color .... say a Level 3 or level 4 color.....those colors are (+ color) only colors. There are colors that are "lifting color" or will actually bring existing color out of the hair, so those colors will be called (-color)...then there are colors that are (+ & - COLOR).   When you apply color to the hair, you are adding (+ color) color...............so color + color = MORE color, so the hair has more pigment.

 If the color used is addition only, the hair will often but not always be darker. Deposit (+ only) tints are often used as "TONERS" which is described as:changing the tonal value of the hair without changing the lightness or darkness of the actual color of the hair. This is the least complicated method of tinting the hair. Any time the hair is lightened, no matter how little, you are subtracting pigment or (- COLOR). When subtracting color from the hair, one sees a imbalance of natural pigments, as you are altering nature. 

Single-process hair color uses both (-)subtraction to remove pigment &(+)addition to + add artificial pigment 

Now remember when we just studied the primaries. Primary hair colors are Red - Yellow  & Blue.

Remember when the 3 primaries are mixed in exact equal amounts....what color do we get? 
We get black/gray. 
Uneven amounts of the primaries = brown (shades of). That is why knowing the color wheel is important, because every person's hair is derived from the color brown. Black is just a dark-dark brown......and blonde is simply a super super light brown. All colors of hair are derived from the main color 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 two primaries, the brown will be warm brown. And if there is more blue than yellow or red, the brown will be dark and cooler looking.

All virgin hair is a shade of brown: it contains all 3 primaries...which is why understanding the LAW of COLOR is so important to the end result in hair coloring 
                        DURP 
                        Dominant Underlying Remaining Pigment

So as you begin to lighten color at any level (you are not actually dealing with brown, you are dealing with the DURP - which is usually red,orange, gold, or yellow. 

Every single one of you complains about the "warmth"  when you begin to lighten the hair. BLUE is the first color to leave the hair in the lightening process, which leaves Red & Yellow to the eye....100% complete warmth and unappealing to the eye. Although I suspect if things were different and the warmth left the hair first, then to the human eye "warmth" would be the appealing tonal category. That just rings true to the "we always want, what we cannot have ... verbiage . Don't you think?


** Balanced hair coloring comes when all 3 primaries are present. When hair undergoes lightening (pigment is subtracted), even slightly, there will be an imbalance of the primaries.

** Color companies always have separate tonal series, with a GOLD, RED, BLUE/VIOLET, GREEN, Natural.