The Golden Rule of HAIR Color: Color Won’t Lift Color | hwh<3
I want to discuss a common misconception of hair coloring. I see people ask questions like “I put a blonde color over my brown and it’s still brown” and “How come every time I use the same color, my hair gets darker?” all the time. Well I will tell you exactly why in 4 words: color won’t lift color. Like, ever.
Let me explain to you why.
This is Clarice. She has naturally blonde hair and it has never been colored. She also has no lower body or arms.
Clarice decided one day that she wanted to color her hair dark brown.
She really liked her new look, as you can tell by her huge smile, and assuming she could walk, I’m sure she would have got a ton of compliments. However, she decided a week later that it was not her thing, and wanted her blonde hair back. She had one of her friends pick up some golden blonde hair color to match her natural color from Wal-Mart. Her friend, then, applied the color to Clarice’s hair and let it sit for 45 minutes, exactly like the directions told her to do.
So after washing out the color, this is what her hair looks like:
What went wrong?
Obviously, for this analogy I used markers, because most people understand how markers work. You can’t color something with a dark color and then put a lighter color on top of it, and expect it to be the lighter color. Basically all you are doing is packing more color molecules in the hair shaft with the already dark color molecules. The result is darker hair.
Okay, let me explain a little deeper how color works.
Your hair is made of three parts: the medulla and cortex which are the inner parts of the hair shaft, and the cuticle, which is the scale-like protective covering of hair. Melanin molecules or aka color pigments are located inside the cortex. The ammonia in hair color helps lift the cuticle, allowing for the color pigments to get inside the cortex. The color molecules are packed as much as possible into the cortex. In permanent colors, which are most commonly used, the color molecules are meant to stay in there basically forever, so they are really super packed in there.
So back to the example I used, with Clarice. When she first colored her hair brown, the hair color packed a ton of brown color molecules into her hair shaft. Then, during the week that she had her brown hair, when she washed her hair she probably lost a few molecules along the way. When they applied the blonde hair color to her hair, a few blonde color molecules packed into the spaces where the few brown molecules washed out. It didn’t really do anything to her hair. Color is not meant to lift color out of hair; it is meant to deposit pigment.
But I’m sure you are wondering to yourself right now, “Yeah, but how do people go from dark hair to blonde hair?” The answer is that they either had virgin hair or it was lightened first.
Virgin hair means hair that has never been colored. It could be that the person has never used color in their life, or that all of the previous color has grown out. In either case, the hair that you see has no color on it. Outgrowth is virgin hair. Color can lift virgin hair, but it will not be that dramatic. The reason for this is that you would mix a higher volume peroxide with the color and it will lift the hair slightly, but usually not more than a few levels. You could possibly use a higher developer when coloring previously colored hair but it probably won’t lift that much and it will not work predictably. That means, anything could happen.
Now the other option is to bleach your hair. I know that freaks a lot of people out, but bleaching your hair shouldn’t ruin it too bad if it is done correctly. If Clarice had bleached her hair to the level of blonde she wanted, and then applied the color she wanted to her hair, it would have worked a lot better. Using the marker analogy, pretend that I used nail polish remover (which, according to the interwebs, removes marker from paper) first, and then colored the blonde over that spot, it probably would have been more blonde.
The other option that Clarice could have used, would have been to strip the color out of her hair. The only thing that would do would remove the color molecules that have been packed in there, revealing her natural color. Depending on how dark it is, how many times it has been colored, etc., it could take multiple processes to remove all of the color.
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Have you ever tried this? I’d love to hear your feedback in the comments.
If you liked this article, I think you’ll like Types of HAIR Color
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Posted on September 14, 2012, in Colored HAIR, Interesting HAIR and tagged bleach, color, dye, hair, hair color, haircolor, hairdye, lift. Bookmark the permalink. 14 Comments.
CAN YOU PLEASE HELP ME i have bleached my hair twice now because no toners would do anything after the 1st time i had lots of dark and light yellow after 2nd bleach white and light yellow, used ion toner in lightest cool blonde didnt do ANYTHING except make my root area silvery white i dont want that at all. sally a 4 th time she recommended wella t18 that sample strande turned greyish white purple silver it was ugly at 3 min 5 min 8 min and 15 min i do not want white or silver or grey hair i want it ask blonde similar to sienna miller. i went 5th time 2 sally she recommended clairolprofessional neutrals permanent creme color in lightest neutral blonde i just tested it on a strand and it did absolutely NOTHING my cousin is a beautician and said to try to mix a gold toner w a neutral and the woman at sally said my hair is too white for that. i had a feeling a neutral wouldnt do anything please help me i cannot go in public for 7 weeks now! my hauir is neon white and yellow and it looks awful. i did try a box color on a strand and it worked perfect gave me the color on the box but i heard not to use those they r too damagin but i am getting sick of this now can you please help me?
Bleach is really tricky, especially if your hair has color on it. The reason your roots turned white is because it was virgin hair, and the yellow areas are where the color was. There is not a whole lot you can do to get the yellow out, besides toning it or coloring over it. You would definitely want a platinum based toner, since purple and yellow cancel each other out… but when the purple toner gets on the really white pieces of your hair, it will turn them purple. It usually is not permanent and will only last a little while.
Anyways, in your case I would probably do the box color. I shouldn’t ever say that because I’m a hair stylist and we usually don’t support that, but if it turned your hair the color that you want, then I think it will be fine. Examine your test strand and see how damaged you think it is compared to the rest of your hair. Color, itself, is not super damaging to your hair; bleach is what does the most damage. The real issue behind box colors is that sometimes they use weird stuff in it, like metallic dyes or henna, which could pose a problem later down the road, but I would say in most cases, you should be safe. I really hope this helps and your hair turns out okay! Good luck!
Thank you soo much. I cant believe workers at sally are SOOO dumb when it comes to this. I am lookign at my test strands from last night the girl at sally said it would work i asked her 3 times to make sure and it did NOT do a dang thing to my color. So yeah i think box color it is. the purple based toners i think will all turn my hair white or silver and i dont want that. im going to return the toner today and ask ONE last time if they have any clue otherwise im going back to box color.
this is the color i really want but in 20 years NOBODY could get it to this color. lol http://www.exposay.com/sienna-miller-madame-butterfly—-metropolitan-opera-season-opens-with-a-star-studded-red-carpet/p/4856/28/
Yeah that is a really pretty color! It definitely has some ash undertones, imo. I’m not sure really what your color looks like now, but if there is a lot of yellow, it will take a process. If there was a lot of darker color in your hair, it will take a long time to bleach it to the white color that you want, and by that point, it would be pretty damaged. I would just take it in small steps. Maybe when you get it light enough, have someone weave in some ashy blonde (not too ashy though, because it might turn blue or grey) but maybe like a natural mixed with some ash, like they told you. They only difference is, I would wait until the yellow is out of your hair before you do that.
i have read you shouldnt bleach til its completely white or color or toner wont do any good its already prettywhite i have pics but dont think i can put them on here
Yeah that’s the problem. The more damaged hair gets, the more porous like a sponge it gets. When hair is super super white and damaged, it will soak up the pigments of the toner, making your hair whatever the base color of the toner is. The other thing is that super damaged hair won’t hold on to color either, so even if you do tone it, and it turns out perfect, it won’t last too long. For that reason, I would take it in steps, so you can get it lighter and get the yellow out, without completely frying it. I’ve bleached my hair from black to white a few times, but I had to rock an orange/yellow fried stage, and one time I completely fried half of my hair off. I would definitely not go that route, since it was so damaging. When you touch up your roots every month or so, just run the bleach through the rest of your hair for the last 10-15 minutes to lighten it a little bit. In between colors, I would do a lot of deep conditioning. I used to just put deep conditioner in my hair whenever I was at home, or sometimes sleep with it in. I think if, once it’s at the desired level and healthy, if you had an ashy color (not toner) mixed with a neutral color to cut it down a little bit, weaved in, it would turn out like Sienna’s. You’d just have to make sure its really healthy and not so porous first.
my hair is in pretty good condition now
My natural hair color is blonde. I dyed it to brown 3 years ago. I wanted it back to blonde so i bleached it 3 years ago. I eventually dyed it brown again, &.its been brown for awhile. My only problem is that the middle to end of my hair has a greenish tint to it. I love my hair brown, I’ll never go blonde again, but how can i stop the greenish tint at the bottom?
Tone with red.
I have naturally blonde hair. My natural color is a level 7, and after sun exposure a level 8. Does anyone know if blonde dye can lighten natural blonde to about a level 10? And if the sun continues to lighten hair even after it is dyed blonde?
I’ve bleached my natural hair to platinum blonde before, but I don’t want to use bleach again because it’s harder to grow out waist length(if even possible). Also, because I was diagnosed with a thyroid problem, which has caused my hair to thin out and be more fragile. So yeah, I don’t want to weaken my hair too much more by using bleach.
Anyway, is it possible to lift natural color two shades with dye?
Yes. You can definitely lift natural color with dye. However, if your hair has any color on it, it will not work. The sun should continue to lighten your hair. Hope it helps !
Hi!
I’m just after some advice hah!
I have very short hair (pixie cut), and it’s been red for a little while now, but before that it was blonde. Yesterday I used JoBaz colour removal to remove the red in hopes of slowly returning back blonde. It worked wonderfully! No trace of red, just a slight golden tinge to my hair. I thought to counteract that, I’d just put a light ash blonde over the top and BOOM my old blonde back.
But after washing out the ash dye. My hair was slightly pink? A kind-of-blonde-kind-of-pink type thing. I’m thinking damn:/ I wish I had have just toned it after the JoBaz.
Regardless. It’s now ash blonde with a pink tinge. I am wondering, will putting a golden blonde or medium blonde over the pink rid me of it. Or should I just leave it alone and see if the pink fades out?
Thank you for any help:)
I would probably leave it alone for a little bit and see if it fades…I’m not sure what would cause the pink undertones unless the color was defective or somehow had pink as a base color (ash is typically a blue base). I think golden would be a bad idea so maybe try going with a neutral if it doesn’t fade! Hope this helps!