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 !

 

Have Annoying Tones in Your Hair? We Call Those: DURP !

We all have them

We all have annoying tones in our hair. 

I can ask any person what tone in their hair bothers them....or ''what tone would like like to eliminate" . . . and every single person will give me an answer. Some may think about it a minute or two...but everyone has a DURP.

The Term for those Tones ..........DURP - Dominant Underlying Remaining Pigment

For the majority of people I speak to that tone is : BRASS or Yellows !

Then : Golds

Then : Blorange

Then : Orange Tones. . . .Red Tones. . . .Green Tones. . . you get the idea - right? 

What is your DURP?

You need to know this in order to come up with your hair color formula.

When all of your orders go out , I can tell by what you have order that you are not taking your DURP into consideration. I really want you all to have the correct hair color formula when purchasing our color. So lets, study DURP a little today and see if I can help you

BLORANGE - DURP....can you  see it?

understand exactly how it plays into coming up with your hair color formula.

So.......to begin with.............Choose your DURP

Read each word so it makes a little more sense to you:

• DOMINANT............the strongest
• UNDERLYING.......beneath surface
• REMAINING..........what's left
• PIGMENT...............color

Dominant

Underlying

Remaining

Pigment..........................and that is whatever the annoying tone that your hair pulls

or which yucky TONE sticks out from your hair that annoys you

95% of people have one

BUT, some people's DURP is 80% annoying and hard to get rid of

approx, 20% of peoples' hair is about 20% annoying and super easy to get rid of

5% of peoples' hair has ZERO DURP..............and that is not very many.

so, the majority of you have an annoying DURP.............

Each one of you has a different degree of annoying qualities in your hair and you ALL HAVE A DIFFERENT WAY OF ELIMINATING THEM! ! !

 

So, you see . . . if you read each of those words . . .individually. . .. the meaning is just the same as "that underlying tone that pops out that drives you crazy ".

THAT is your DURP

Some people have 2 DURPS and those are always right next to each other....for example, if Brass is your DURP, then about 1/2 of the time .... some of you will also have Gold as your DURP.

But, again....there is always one main annoying color (DURP) every one of you have. So now that you have that in mind. The next step is to understand that Permanent hair color (which is what we are reviewing in this post) includes both subtraction(-) of natural pigment and DEPOSIT of artificial pigment in one chemical process. If you think about it ......... it truly is an amazing little process. I mean ..... to specifically only take out ... the hair color you were born with, and to then (in the EXACT same process) DEPOSIT the hair color you need. 

THAT is amazing.

As soon as hair color is applied to virgin hair, warmth will be released.... because in order to change the color, you must lighten it first, then (again) the new color is deposited INTO the hair.

When lightening hair the first color to leave is BLUE therefore leaving the red & yellow tones to be left and so predominate and annoying.

Now, remember....every persons hair strands are made of the same 3 colors.

RED

YELLOW &

BLUE

Different combinations of those 3 colors create Brown,blonde,black and Red hair ! I know that sounds crazy, but scientifically that is how it works. Which is why Red, Yellow & Blue are called PRIMARY colors. Without those 3 colors our hair would be colorless and it would look like we were from another planet.

The very hardest stage or Level to get past is Level 7 ! 

Ta-Da . . . which is why Brass is the most difficult DURP to get rid of. Its like the Berlin Wall . . . its just so hard to get rid of !!
For all of you who lighten your hair platinum, where does your hair get stuck first and for the longest? The brass/Blorange stage, right? So getting it past that is the Goal.... It is why half of America is walking around with BLORANGE hair.

People think that toners will solve the Blorange problem, when in fact you must - MUST - MUST , lighten the hair one more Level in order to get rid of gold/blorange Stage.

Use this ladder to distinguish between different colors . . . 

At each Step you would see the following colors emerge . . .

DURP is the amount of Natural Pigment remaining in the hair at your target level

Each one of you has a different degree of annoying qualities in your hair and now a days there is a solution to just about any issue any one of you have  - - - all the answers are in this Blog.

So many of you ask me questions about DURP ( you don't call it that - but you DO ask....." How do I GET "THIS" annoying color OUT OF MY HAIR OR "that" ANNOYING color tone ?

So, how to get rid of the DURP that is showing? Now that you know its name lets talk about how you would create your formula, to color your hair and eliminate all of these annoying tones.
Its so much easier than you think

So, lets use the Color Wheel..............( we have them to use for reference if you'd like one.)

Now,

If it is Red..............what you do is..................put your finger on RED on the COLOR
WHEEL...........move it straight ACROSS the wheel, you are then on "GREEN"..........

So what you want in that case is a Green based BOOST & BURST color - most people use H.Ash Brown if you are a Brunette............, or check your Wella color chart.....
If you have brass in your hair and want a good formula to get rid of it.
Just add a Violet based color inot your formula.
A magnificent color in Koleston Perfect is the "MATT" line OR the line that ends in a "2". For example : 7/2 , 6/2, 8/2  . . . what is MATT? It is BLUE/VIOLET Base color.
Blue Violet cancels which colors? Yellow/Brass, & blorange.
So many of you miss that amazing Tonal line. Not one other company even covers a Blue based tonal line.

Which is why there is so much Blorange hair walking around  ! !

If the DURP is Brass, draw your finger across the color wheel to VIOLET......Violet toned hair color and Violet Toned TONERS all cancel out the annoying DURP that no one wants.   
I know it sounds weird, but when you get it right it is amazing.

If your DURP is Orange-yellow........FOLLOW YOUR FINGER ACROSS THE WHEEL............Then use a Violet-Blue Based BOOST & BURST.... (Violet-Pilot is wonderful ) ! ! Or a Violet/ Blue Based Hair color

In hair color all the colors and the color wheel are super useful

The idea is to get your hair color in the MIDDLE of the color wheel.

The idea is to get to the middle or the center of the wheel.

Its important to figure out if its Red....Orange ......Gold........OR  Yellow that bugs you .....it is ALWAYS mainly ONE color that is YOUR   D.U.R.P ......it

stands for:

Dominant

Underlying

Remaining

Pigment..........................and that is whatever the annoying tone that your hair pulls

or which yucky TONE sticks out from your hair that annoys you

95% of people have one

BUT, some people's DURP is 80% annoying and hard to get rid of

approx, 20% of peoples' hair is about 20% annoying and super easy to get rid of

5% of peoples' hair has ZERO DURP..............and that is not very many.

so, the majority of you have an annoying DURP.............

Each one of you has a different degree of annoying qualities in your hair and you ALL HAVE A DIFFERENT WAY OF ELIMINATING THEM! ! !

So many of you ask me questions about DURP ( you don't cal it that - but you DO ask....." How do i GET "THIS ANNOYING COLOR" OUT OF MY HAIR OR "that" ANNOYING COLOR?????????????

Now I provide you all with this free education so yoou won't have those problems.....If I am not explaining it correctly will you PLEA -- PLEASE and EASY-TO-READ BLOG - Education so you can read it yourself and if you did this you would learn to solve all of your problems!

The Start of the Crib Colorist Militia ! The Killer 18 Questions!

If you would like to joinGET ANSWERS TO THESE QUESTIONS REGARDE   - begin using our products and I will give you my formula to the answers you give ... to the following "Killer18 Questionnaire!"

The Killer 18 ...........Questions for hair color formula for me to use to analyze your hair and future formula Selection when you have previous hair color on, I need to know the answers to these questions in order to give you a better formula

    Texture ?
    Length of hair ?
    Ethnicity ?
    Is Hair VIRGIN?
    Hair Bleached ?
    Porosity ?
    Boxed Color?
    How many?
    Percentage of Gray?
    What Type of Color is on ...Box?
    Professional?  Straightener? Ever?
    D.U.R.P. - Dominant-Underlying-Remaining-Pigment ?
    Your opinion ...Resistant? or Not?
    Used HENNA/NATURAL claim' products that don't work??
    Virgin Color - Level & Tone ?
    Current Color - Level & Tone?
    Desired Color - Level & Tone ?

    For the best help... PLEASE send me 3-4 photos of hair profile/back/roots/long distance
    in "NATURAL Light ! " 

 

Questions for Hair Color Killers,

 lets conquer solving our hair color formula's !

Send your answers ( no longer than 6-8 words per answer) writing a book does NOT help me, I promise . . . 

I only need the basics.,

KC 

My Hair Color is Not Working, I have Tried Many Stylists & Still I Am So Disappointed, Please, What Do I do?

This week has been so odd, I am telling you I have had this same exact question asked of me by many-many people - its so weird -- its this EXACT - word for word -- same QUESTION ! ! ! 
 To be honest I thought I have addressed this question many times, but this tells me I have not addressed it clearly enough. So, I am going to give you my exact answer to all OF YOU THAT SEEM TO BE IN THIS PREDICAMENT....because it pertains to soooooo many of you. This is what I have advised many before you and they all have been please with the suggestion.

Sassoon has a very brilliant and logical way of looking at hair color. They don't believe in highlights on top of highlights.......it is just a cheap and damaging way of coloring the hair. If you want to be blonde, that's fine, but lets do 1 color blonde and make it with Zero brass and do it in a healthy and beautiful way . 

They believe in Blonde like this :

or Platinum blonde - then you can play with the Crazy Colors and BOOST & BURST  Till your hearts content.  ! ! !






I am going to be dead honest here and tell you, that Stylists do the whole highlight thing because that way they can charge you their top price. I call ''Bullshit'' on that once and for all.

 Its lazy and its not thinking about you and your hair ...its thinking about them and their pocketbook. If they gave you color like I suggest......... you would become a devoted client and send all of your friends to them and then they wouldn't have to put "money" before "beauty & health & the CLIENT". Which is ridiculous. 

I want to Post a copy of a couple Letters that have bits and pieces from about 6 emails I have received with some version of the same question that you see in the Title of this Post, and then my answer to it :

Dear KC,
I have read bits and pieces of your Blog..... but I just cannot figure out what to do. Can you please try to help me or at least point me in the right direction.

I have always been a natural blonde.  As I am getting older, my base color has become darker, but it is still blonde (not brown).  I call it "mousy" probably what people refer to as "dirty blonde".  I am getting some gray, maybe 5% - 10%.    I highlight my hair.  I'd like to cover the gray, but that does not seem to work well with highlights. I want the color consistent.  I do not want blonde on top and dark underneath.

I have become so disappointed in my hair color.  Everyone wants to make the base or the low-lights very dark.  With the blond highlights, it makes my hair appear oily, even when it is clean and shiny.  I also get a striped or "muddy" look.  I feel like I have tiger stripes and there are weeks it even looks gray.

I want my hair color to look natural.  I don't want to have to deal with grow-out within weeks of service it doesn't seem like I should have to when my gray is not very much.  The mousy color drains my complexion.  My current highlights are very warm.  It looked great for about two weeks.  Now, it makes the mousy base look gray, even though it is not!  The gold highlights and the mousy base just don't work together.

What is the answer?  Should I skip highlights?  Should I try to get back to my natural color and just learn to live with it?  If so, how do I do it?  Is there a way to highlight that can brighten my hair color and help my complexion without the muddy look and the tiger stripes?

I am lucky enough not to have a lot of gray, but this hair color is still making me look and feel old!  I need some advice. If you have any stylist recommendations, I am ready for a change.

BTW, I have always gone to a high-end salon and an experienced stylist.  I have tried new stylists and have even PAID for a consultation first.  I have communicated what I want and why, but still end up with questionable results.   

I spend too much money on my hair to not be looking good!  I welcome your advice and suggestions.
 
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _  _

To everyone with this problem or if you feel any of these many different feelings going on in this letter....
PLEASE PLEASE..............I ask you to take control of your hair back to yourself. You have given control of your hair over to other people and that is not how it should work. Its your hair and you are spending money asking other people to color it FOR YOU!!! 
NOT FOR THEM
Which is what they are doing . They are choosing the selection on the menu of color services that has the highest price tag. Look at the list in the Salon if you don't believe me. Look at their web site. 
They are not listening to you. 
If you went to a restaurant and ordered a Salad and they gave you Filet Mignon Steak, would you keep it? Wouldn't you put up a fuss and get what you ordered>? Well, to me, that is exactly what is happening here. They chose the most expensive choice on the menu to give and charge you for, but that isn't what you wanted to begin with. You wanted a pretty- healthy- lower priced Salad and you got and ate & paid for a Filet Mignon Steak. You would never put up with that at a restaurant and I'm sure you are all paying way more for your hair than a salad and a steak is. 
TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR HAIR BACK.
I'm serious, first you must start thinking about how these Stylists or the Boxed Color or the color you bought at Sallys all destroyed your hair....in the first place. THAT is a horrible - horrible Act. Most of you treasure your hair unlike any other body part you have......WE LOVE OUR HAIR and when our hair is cut & colored perfectly --- THAT CAN CHANGE OUR ATTITUDE, OUR HAPPINESS and our ENTIRE WEEK, if it is done how we like it.
To me...........
THAT is a very P-O-W-E-R-F-U-L item
don't you agree?
 It should be treasured and cherished and cared for in the manner to which it deserves. 

So, you must take control back of your hair and get it out of their hands. I ask you to please take a weekend and read my Blog - cover to cover. You will understand so much more if you do this. 5000 people every day do, so I think you should to!  I always get Thank you's when people finish doing that one thing.
Secondly, you must change the ideas in your head of words you used to hear like highlights and chunks and lowlights.... NO ONE does those anymore...........so get rid of that idea.
 In 2008 I wrote a Post entitled
HIGHLIGHTS ARE HISTORY 
2 years later guess who copied me??  ( see below)

 Vogue magazine !
below ( Google can find anything for you now-a-days) The funny part is ''Google'' the term "highlights are history"....Killerstrands pops up in about 10 cases !!!

I wrote it way back then because I was trying to teach the Sassoon way of coming up with hair color choices for women and men. It really is brilliant, I've never seen a head of hair come out of Sassoon that wasn't an absolute WORK OF ART. Sassoon educated Stylists are all over this world. I would say 95-98% of all Sassoon graduated Stylists are the absolute best in the business.....so I wanted to teach all of my readers their concepts....

 
So here we are in 2015 and people are still getting highlights.
Its just something we don't do anymore so you have to quit.
If you can't find someone to do your hair  the way you want - you can now learn here. Its really not that hard. All the information and demo's are here on this 9 year old Blog to Help you............. that is why I wrote this....to HELP PEOPLE get their hair straightened out. I live in L.A. I though everyone had access to great hair color....Not until I began this Blog and received so many emails from people looking for help did I decide to "open up my Vault of Knowledge " and teach everything to all of you. A lot of it is in the Blog, which is why I want you all to read it!

If you don't want to do one of the blondes above then ....
My #1 and favorite suggestion is for you to go back to a Beautiful and (my favorite color in the world) Level 6 Ash/Neutral Brown...........

Nothing is more beautiful......
So many of you have Level 6 Brown.....
I"m telling you either of the blondes above or this color
Although this is My #1 suggestion for all of you........ to go back to a level 6 Brown

 Yes, this one has a few blonde ombre ribbons, which if you want to lighten a little bit in the summer time this is what you can do then cover them up in the winter...

Its easy to do to oneself or you can find a stylist to do those in your area.....

Aren't they beautiful....they are all California models, so yes they are beautiful but I wanted to show you the color of their hair and to show you that so many of you have this color underneath....


Think about it..........consider it........

Its a beautiful alternative I promise

But for ABSOLUTELY positive ................never eat a steak when you ordered a Salad again! ! ! ! !

Stick up for yourself, do not go to someone who won't listen to you.... I have taught you how to find a good stylist within the Blog....
I don't want to review every single Post here....which is why I ask you to please--- READ THE WHOLE BLOG, it will help you gain back control of your own hair ! ! 

Whether you do it yourself or you find a decent and well trained Stylists who will listen to what you want.

I promise that through this Blog I have taught many people who were terrified of coloring their own hair and when done they have all said, " Well, that wasn't that hard". 

So There you have it.

KC

Hair Color Formulating: How To Decide Total Hair Color Needed - Per Application?

Sound Simple? I Don't Feel It Is, Lets See What You Think, After You Read This . . .

There is a simple part of the hair color formula that I did not realize was difficult to understand. Sometimes its the simplest things that I miss, so just keep asking questions, guys and girls. I love to be asked questions.   Many times it's regarding something I assume people know.  I feel all teachers think like that...(or they should).  For those of you leaving 'Comments' on here (and there are a LOT of you), please know that if its a good question that would benefit others also,  I will turn it into a 'Post'  (eventually), so ask what you want to know, and I will cover it.

What you need to know to figure out the amount of color to mix , all depends on the amount of hair you have. So that one thing I can never tell you. Say someone - man or woman has kind of the typical- short cut hair. We call it a "Crop" in the Biz, you know like this example of Pink:

 or this example of this actor:

Both have a crop.
Each one of them needs a completely different " amount" of color to use in the end ...once its all mixed up. In the Salon, the color is the most expensive part of the entire Salon world - so we treat it with care. We measure carefully, we always use Color Tube keys  .to get every last bit of color out of the tube. That is a completely normal occurrence in a well run Salon. To outfit a (small) Salon with just 1 line of hair color in all the colors cost thousands, so it is smart to re-cap the tubes the minute you are done, & save all old tubes of color .

What each of you need to do is to figure out how much color you will need to complete your hair color. Then you work backwards from there in knowing how much to mix. Once you have colored your hair this way you will know how much you need from then on.  Pink will need 1 full ounce less hair color than Robert does (in the above photos) even though they have the same length hair. 

There are so many variables when you are coloring the hair the very first time and especially when I teach this professional manner of coloring the hair (AT HOME!) \. You must also get used to the brand of color you are using.  "X.Factor" hair color uses a ratio of 1 part color to 1.5 ounces of developer. So with that brand you will have more color when it is mixed up than with "Wella Koleston Perfect", which is 1 part color to 1 part developer.

Experience has shown colorists that the less developer one uses, the richer the end color you have, so I always look for hair color with the ratio of 1:1.  That is the big advantage of "Wella Koleston Perfect".............. and that is why "Illumina" works so well. So.......that all needs to be taken into account that first time, men. Don't get all freaked out.  I don't want to scare you away from becoming Crib Colorists.

 So if Pink needs a total of 1 & 1/2 ounces of color how much does Robert need?
About double that- -  he has a LOT of hair even though its the same length (and I can tell its very porous), so I would say he would need a total of 3 ounces - even though its the same length.

Make sense?
I finally posted a photo of my hair  :  

 I know I need a total of 10oz. of color to do my base every 6- 8 weeks. After you color your hair the first 1-2 times you will come up with the amount of ounces you need if you don't know now.
As a professional colorist, one must calculate the color needed for every single head of hair needed all day long. It is quite the chore. My number is unusually high because my hair is bra-strap length, super porous & dense because of my use of the Secret Supplement, Thriven, and the rest of the 10,000 Heads.


Feel free to leave your comments.  I try to get to this every day, but don't always make it!!
However..... I love getting good questions.