
I hear this quite often.
Here is the situation: Someone comes into the hair salon, who has dyed their hair at home - either dark brown or black. Seemed like a good idea at the time. They now have changed their mind; it is too dark - it looks too harsh - or maybe they just want to change it for the sake of change because they are bored. Should be easy - you do it the same way you did it before, right? Well...not really. Now you are in for some work. Why?
Well, let's start here: as a general rule in hair color and a standard saying in hairdresser talk goes: "color does not lift color." Easy for you to say, but what does it mean? Good question! Think of this visual: you have a black piece of construction paper and you want a light brown piece instead. So you take a light brown crayon and start coloring on the black construction paper. What do you see? Is it now light brown? No, you can hardly see the light brown crayon at all! The color of the black paper is too dark and dense to cause any light shift in color. Just because you are using a light brown crayon doesn't mean it is coloring and changing the black to light brown. It's the same way with hair color. It's pretty easy to make light hair darker, or put darker dimensional pieces in lighter hair. And, there is minimal damage with the hair coloring products you will use to do this. But lightening darker hair is much harder and more harsh on the hair. In order to lighten dark hair you will use a de-colorizer - in one form or another and this puts stress on the hair. Also, consistent results are never guaranteed and often not achieved.
When I run into this situation, I approach it from a "work in progress" stance. Meaning, to go from darker to lighter - this will be a work in progress and take time over a series of months and visits. I once took a client from dark black to a gorgeous light, sandy brown, but it took a little over a year! She was patient and consistent and by the time we were through, she had a beautiful head of hair again. Anything worth having...well...you know....
So - before you decide you want that awesome jet black hair with the purple tips...think long and hard. Count and consider the costs and decide if it's really the right thing for you and your lifestyle. Of course you know, that black is the harshest color against the skin - shows every imperfection and you will be wearing make up everyday and everywhere you go in order to not look like a corpse. lol! And - when you want to change it - you are in for either a very short haircut, an expensive salon adventure, or a home lightening nightmare and then an expensive salon adventure! Black hair color can look very cool, but it's not for everyone and it has its drawbacks. Decide wisely. :)
'Till next time.....
Here is the situation: Someone comes into the hair salon, who has dyed their hair at home - either dark brown or black. Seemed like a good idea at the time. They now have changed their mind; it is too dark - it looks too harsh - or maybe they just want to change it for the sake of change because they are bored. Should be easy - you do it the same way you did it before, right? Well...not really. Now you are in for some work. Why?
Well, let's start here: as a general rule in hair color and a standard saying in hairdresser talk goes: "color does not lift color." Easy for you to say, but what does it mean? Good question! Think of this visual: you have a black piece of construction paper and you want a light brown piece instead. So you take a light brown crayon and start coloring on the black construction paper. What do you see? Is it now light brown? No, you can hardly see the light brown crayon at all! The color of the black paper is too dark and dense to cause any light shift in color. Just because you are using a light brown crayon doesn't mean it is coloring and changing the black to light brown. It's the same way with hair color. It's pretty easy to make light hair darker, or put darker dimensional pieces in lighter hair. And, there is minimal damage with the hair coloring products you will use to do this. But lightening darker hair is much harder and more harsh on the hair. In order to lighten dark hair you will use a de-colorizer - in one form or another and this puts stress on the hair. Also, consistent results are never guaranteed and often not achieved.
When I run into this situation, I approach it from a "work in progress" stance. Meaning, to go from darker to lighter - this will be a work in progress and take time over a series of months and visits. I once took a client from dark black to a gorgeous light, sandy brown, but it took a little over a year! She was patient and consistent and by the time we were through, she had a beautiful head of hair again. Anything worth having...well...you know....
So - before you decide you want that awesome jet black hair with the purple tips...think long and hard. Count and consider the costs and decide if it's really the right thing for you and your lifestyle. Of course you know, that black is the harshest color against the skin - shows every imperfection and you will be wearing make up everyday and everywhere you go in order to not look like a corpse. lol! And - when you want to change it - you are in for either a very short haircut, an expensive salon adventure, or a home lightening nightmare and then an expensive salon adventure! Black hair color can look very cool, but it's not for everyone and it has its drawbacks. Decide wisely. :)
'Till next time.....