Lighten UP!

by Hair's How

Salons everywhere experience the challenge of brunettes who day after day sit in their chairs and simply request, “I wanna be blond”. It is with. out a doubt one of the top requested services in the industry today. The transformation can be breath. taking, the work involved to perfect the finished product is not an easy task, though the salon pro. fessional who takes on the endeavor will always smile and say "and you will be".

Marilyn Monroe - Sex symbol of the 20th century - made the statement “Gentlemen prefer blonds” an axiom. Fair-haired ladies like Marilyn Monroe and Pamela Anderson will always be symbols of sexuality and success, that's why most women are still dreaming to become an attractive bright blond. The clients never guess the amount of experience it takes to change a brunette into a blond. Certainly each situation is individual, but here we give you important insights into some of the “How-tos” for creating the new blonde sex symbols.

The Beginning

The most important part of a Successful service is the Consultation, without that you should never start to choose your colors or even pick up a brush, the information you learn in the consultation will give you the understanding to help your client and yourself achieve the look she wants. Important questions should include:
1. What chemical services has she had in the past?
2. What products were used?
3. Was the experience positive or negative?
The client often doesn't remember, but at least they can help point you in the right direction.

Alternatives & Perspectives

There are many variables in what you should do, depending on the type of hair you're working on. Each of them includes the following two steps:
- Removal of the dark pigment
- Toning and or coloring the hair to the desired hue

The rules of Creating the Perfect Tone

How to achieve the desired blond hue on hair that has been previously toned.
If your client expresses that the condition of her hair is more important and she has avoided using strong chemicals in the past, but the tones in her hair are still darker, she knows she's become a victim of the total blond-mania and still desires to become a Platinum blond at any cost. The first thing you want to explain is that she will never get a true Platinum blond on her hair, if she has colored it into the chocolate-reddish hue area. The reason is that these hues have a large concentration of yellow and orange pigments that can only come out when using bleach. Without bleach the best result that can be achieved is a warm beige hue. The difficulties with toning tinted hair have a wide range of particularities. Molecules of the toning tint lay closer to the surface of the hair than the molecules of the permanent tint; because of this it's harder to remove the old pigment that remains deep in the hair. Not all brands of products use chemicals that can remove the pigments completely, and even these chemicals affect only molecules of the permanent tint and ignore the natural pigments. But despite everything, you must remove the pigment. This procedure is realized in two steps: Blondwashing and Bleaching. Blond-washing allows you to remove the maximum amount of pigment from the surface of the hair. To do this, you should mix 3 parts of bleaching powder, 3 parts of 6% oxidant, 1 part of shampoo and 4-5 parts of warm water. Spread this mixture onto damp hair, this should be done quickly to remove the color evenly. Lather the mixture for 2-3 minutes, paying close attention to the ends of the hair, where most of the artificial pigment is concentrated. After the wash and lather off, check the results, as you may have to repeat the procedure many times until the hair becomes golden.

Sometimes this procedure can be enough to get the hue that's suitable for toning, but more often that not you will have to continue the process and bleach the hair. This can achieve the lightest tone that's possible for your client. The essence of bleaching is the following: after a Blond-wash, the hair is washed with shampoo and a repairing mask is then applied for 4-5 minutes. Then dry the hair and apply the bleaching powder, mixed with 3-4% oxidant. The time of processing depends on the individual manufacturer's requirements and the tone that you want to achieve. When you get the color you want, the mixture is washed out with shampoo and a balm is applied to smooth the cuticle and to prepare the hair to be toned. Now it's ready to be toned! You can add to the toning mixture a pure tint to correct the color: violet to remove yellow hues, blue to remove orange and red to remove green tones. But remember, the quantity of the pure tint should be minimal so it won't change the color on the porous parts of the hair.

Homework

How to get blond tone on the hair that's colored with a non-professional tint.
Many women prefer coloring their hair at home rather then go to a salon. If your client used to color her hair at home in dark tones, and decided to go to the salon to change the color from dark to light, she has finally made the right decision. It's practically impossible to become blond at home without a highly trained specialist's help! Even a good colorist can't guarantee a perfect result: it's hard to work with such clients, because non-professional tint is really unpredictable! If a client has colored her own hair into dark hues for some years, the best for her is a hue that's 2-3 tone lighter than her own (chocolate, reddish-brown or caramel hue), so that any damage is kept to a minimum. To remove the artificial pigment you'll have to apply a stronger solution than previously.

First you should apply bleaching powder mixed with 6% oxidant to the midshaft continuing to the ends of the hair. Process for 20 minutes and apply to the roots. Let this solution remain on her hair for 15-20 minutes more, lathering the mixture each 5 minutes. Do not forget to check the color regularly as the result is very individual. When the necessary tone is achieved, wash the hair with shampoo and apply a conditioner. This process is based on the ability of the powder to remove pigment from the hair. You shouldn't apply a permanent professional tint now as even a small quantity of the artificial pigment can be left on the hair and can react with the professional color. You could lose control of the situation - the color may result darker than you want. The solution is to use colors that don't contain ammonium; they will give the hair more shine. The color of the tint should be 2-3 tones lighter than the desired color so as not to make the color too dark. If the non-professional tint was applied only once or twice, and the hair hasn't been colored before, you can achieve brown tones by using the Blond-wash to remove the previous color, but if you want to go to the much lighter tones - you will have to bleach the hair.

Professional Results Acheived

How to achieve the desired blond tone when the hair has been colored with a professional tint.
If your client colors her hair only at the salon and always listens to recommendations from her stylist, your in luck, this procedure is less difficult. Most professional brands have special products to remove artificial pigments. These products usually consist of two phases and are mixed in equal proportions to activate the product. These products “compress” the molecules of the artificial pigment and make it mobile. To remove the pigment, you should wash the hair with shampoo and then evaluate the result by taking a strand test. 6% oxidant is applied to one strand and is left on for 5 minutes. The strand should remain light, but if you haven't removed the pigment completely, it will mix with the oxidant and the strand will darken. So you will have to repeat the process of bleaching to change the result with a Blondwash. To get the desired hue you'll have to use a permanent tint, because toning tints can darken the hair. And even the permanent tint should be 2 tones lighter than the tone you would like to obtain and the concentration of the oxidant should be 6 or 9%. Time of processing - no more than 10 minutes.

Being Natural is not a vice

How to Achieve a beautiful blond tone on virgin dark hair.
Surprising, but it's a fact - natural dark brunettes more often than other women, dream to be blonde. If your black-haired client insists she has to be blond, explain to her, that it's useless to try to color her hair to the light tone in one step - the tint won't replace her natural pigment. The hair should be pre-lightened and then toned. Many brands advise that to achieve the bleaching you must use two steps, increasing the percent of the oxidant in the 2nd step. To prepare the bleaching mixture for the first step, mix bleaching powder and 6% oxidant in proportion 1:2. On the second step; increase the percentage of oxidant to 9%. (You can use 3% and 6% accordingly). First spread the mixture on the mid-shaft moving to the ends of the hair, process for 15-30 minutes then apply to the roots until the color becomes equal. Then wash the hair with shampoo and continue to the second step, repeat the same as the first one, but with the increased percentage of the oxidant. It's better to tone the hair that was bleached this way rather than use a permanent tint - the color can be “washed away” when using a permanent tint. We have not covered all the complex situations that can appear in your everyday transformation, but the challenges of each individual experience are special unto themselves. The most experienced colorist understands that every client is unique and the process varies.

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