Colors
The range of hair colors on the market is huge. From black to light brown, medium blond to light blond everything is represented by the different manufacturers. Surely you have ever thought of dyeing your hair. But what should you decide for? For the inexpensive retail product from the drugstore? For the professional hairdressing product?
Basically, when changing your hair color we can always recommend to go to your hairdresser since change in color tones are complex. Especially if you want to change the color of chemically treated hair. The pre-treated hair can have a completely different color and the result may not be so easy to salvage. If you are unsure about the possible result based on your initial color and hair texture and what suits your type, we can recommend a simple tint. A direct tint does not damage yout hair and simply washes out after about 5-7 washes.
However, you should choose a hair color no more than 2 shades darker or lighter to achieve a natural finish. Also with bleachings absolute caution is required. Incorrect application or assessment of the initial hair color may result in shades of yellow, reddish or greenish tint. But what is actually a color and how is it composed?
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What do colors consist of?
A color always consists of the color depth and the color direction.
The color depth indicates the degree of brightness, the color direction the nuance. Each manufacturer has its own colors, so unfortunately there is no standard.
A 6/3 may be a different color for Wella than a 6.3 for L'Oréal. However, the first digit (6 in this example) indicates the color depth (brightness). The number after the comma or slash (3 in this example) indicates the direction of the color, such as dark blond gold. It is important, when selecting the shades, to correctly estimate the initial hair color. The majority estimates its current hair color on average 2 shades darker than it actually is the case.
The graphic on the right shows the seamless transition of the color depth from white to black and the main colors red, orange, yellow, green, blue and violet in the color direction. As a result, shades can be defined and named in concrete terms.
The color depth of shades
The big and well-known companies such as Wella, L'Oréal and Goldwell work with almost identical color depths:
black, dark brown, middle brown, light brown, dark blond, middle blond, light blond, light blond, white blond (light blond), white (extra light blonde)
However, these color depths are different in the retail product from the drugstore and not comparable.
Wella, for example, uses the following terms for color depths:
2 / black
3 / dark brown
4 / medium brown
5 / light brown
6 / dark blond
7 / middle blond
8 / blond
9 / blond
10 / light blond
11 / extra light blonde
The color direction for shades
The second part of the shades consists of the color direction or also called shading.
This means whether the color has more of a reddish, yellowish or bluish cast. Depending on how your initial hair color is (reddish, warm, cool ...) you can counteract with the appropriate color direction. So if you choose a dark brown color depth, the nuance could be the mahogany color direction. Then the dark brown hair shimmers slightly reddish. Or you choose a yellow tint, then your hair shimmers golden.
This systematic assignment of color tones in color depth and color direction is called color coordinate system. This color tones can be named and classified. Most shades are named with numbers, but every manufacturer uses a different number for similar shades.
The color direction is named at Wella as follows:
/ 1 ash (green)
/ 2 matt (blue grey)
/ 3 gold (yellow)
/ 4 copper (orange)
/ 5 mahogany (blue red)
/ 6 purple
/ 7 brown
/ 8 blue
Most manufacturers often offer two nuances. So 6/34 stands at Wella for a dark blond gold-red. The first digit behind the slash is the stronger nuance, in this case this would be the nuance gold.
The developer - also called Oxidant
If you have selected the right shade, you will need developer to mix the hair color. The developer is mixed in a certain ratio with the color. The mixing ratio is dependent on the initial hair color, the aim of the coloring and the texture of your hair structure. Most developers are available in the strengths 3%, 6%, 9% and 12%. The higher the developer strength, the more hair is penetrated. Although the higher-percentage developers promise a deep penetration, but are correspondingly very stressful for hair. The pores of hair are opened so that the color tones / pigments can deposit in it. Especially with pretreated, fine or damaged hair is here very special care.
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You've probably noticed that changing hair color is a very sensitive process and a lot can go wrong. Finding the right color shades can thus quickly turn into a difficult task, since chemical processes and color theory are very complex and have to be observed and evaluated as accurately as possible for an optimal result. We recommend a hairdresser visit. For our Hamburg customers, we can recommend our own hairdressers HAAR-SCHARF in Hamburg Poppenbüttel and Hamburg Barmbek.
