welll i have someones hair who i have been doing for a couple years now, she is a natural base of 6, used to get bleach foils but decided to go all dark and has been for like 18 month at least. .
it is always coloured with colour touch wit half 5/0 and half 6/75 in 4 %

now she wants to go lighter brown and have given her two options, one would be a bleach bath and then re colour, the other would be scattering a few bleach foils throughout her hair but avoiding the regrowth area, and lift the lenghts just enuff so that they will cover nicely but be lighter, and then wash n dry, and then using a lighter semi all over jus to add shine and unify and for the toning of the foils mabye a base 8 tint (not sure which 8 as im only theorising at this point right now) with 9% on the regrowth (with no build up) and the same 8 with 6% on the midlengths and ends of the bleached up foils. would the regrowth in the foils and the the lengths and ends match up. . . urgh i think i have confused myself. i know i shud know this but my confidence been knocked by that hell bitch with the colour correction from hell. . .
i think she is hoping for an over all look of a 6 leaning towards a 7 perhaps? but im trying to gett round it without doing a bleach bath so thought this way less hair is affected and she gets a nice overall lighter colour wit some lowlights chucked in for good measure.
HELP? am i right or over complicating this? x

Hi Scottydolly , don't worry I think you will get a good colour from this one with the mild bleach bath method ,
because even if it comes out like a good burnt orange
(which is usual )
she is only going to have a base seven tint put back on,
(I say tint because a semi may grab after a bleach bath )

so this will be fine just start your bleach bath at the darkest parts first ,
as usual do some test pieces to see what you can achieve first and all will be well ,

then in a few weeks I will bet she will be wanting highlights popped in again
once again as usual lol x just do the test pieces first

so u think just a full head bleach bath and then do a total tint all over? im right in sayin i dont bleach bath the regrowth right? and then i can just put a tint all over?

im thinkin the shade 7/17 would be a nice colour to finish with in kolestonx

Hi, I take it her hair is longish ?
I would start with a mild bleach at the darkest parts usually at the ends massage it in well ,
then when you see it has lightened up a shade

then take it up the mid parts working upwards massaging well as you go
then carry on and work it up towards the regrowth but not on the natural root regrowth area ,

keep a close eye and wait until it has reached the level you want ,
when washed and dry it should look something between an 8/73 and a 7/73 but it may be more orangey and a bit patchy here and there (which is usual )
as long it is quite an all over even level
but if it is still holding darker patches or has darker ends
then you need to go back in and lighten it a bit more with the bleach on the darker bits (this can be quite usual too)

Then wash it and dry it off and apply the level 7 tint to the roots only
for 10 mins then work down and well into the mid parts ,
but leaving the end parts of the hair till last ,
keep watching as the end bits can sometimes suck up the colour really quickly,
so stay with it lol x

shampoo off and style, and it should be lovely

Ps, I would take a few test cuttings first just to perfom the above bleach process and timings, and the tint process and timings
this way you can choose the best tint colour to use

7/17 this may be ok , but the ash in it could grab easily and go a bit dark looking on the ends
so again test it first hth

Ps, do warn your client that it may take a couple of visits ,
and that she will go orangey after lifting out the dark colour , but not to worry as its just the usual thing

coool, thats what i thought too, and the 7/17 prob would do that yeah, i was thinkin that mabye because the bleach bathed hair was gonna be warm they wud kinda balance eachother out? i just assumed that putting a warm brown on top pf this fired orange hair might just fire up and go over warm in comparisn to the roots? x

Hi scottydolly I suppose depends on how absorbent the ends are after the bleaching process and whats been on the hair previously ,
do you think there could be any old highlights ?

The ones I have done did suck up the colour really fast on the mid lenghts and ends and had a tendency to go a bit flatter and darker looking in colour extremely quickly if not watched over very carefully at this point,

I used a wella base 7/0 which turned out fine for me

but everyones hair is different
and her hair may be strong hair and not over pourous and may well need a bit of the warmth toned down if its throws out loads of firey orange

so I would test piece it first after you have bleached it
then you could try the 7/17 shade and a couple of other shades that you fancy too
then you can be sure and fully confident of which will be the best colour for her hair hth

how about any other geeks with any other ideas on this head of dark hair ? for our scottydolly

I wish i was as experienced with colour as both you are..i cannot comment but i allways read what you both say and have learnt alot.
if 7/17 would grab becasue of the bleach bath...would you use maybe 7/38 (is pearl slightly less ashen)???..is that less ash but would it still neutralise the warmth left by the bleach bath or am i on the wrong track...
just coming to terms with koleston as used to clynol

Hi Joanne ,I reckon we ask scottydolly to do all these test peices lol x
the poor woman will have loads of lovely test bits taken from her hair lol x
and scottydolly can report back to tell us the best shade to use
he will be dreaming of doing test peices for a week ,

the way I look at this is before scottydolly put the darker colour on her hair , she was a natural level 6
so when he takes the dark colour back out again with the bleach
the orangey firey bits are mostly thrown off from when you hit her natural colour , so she will need this to remain inside her hair when she has it toned back to a base 7

did that make any sense I think I am rambling now lol x ?

eg.... if you take a blonde back to dark , you need to do it really red /orange first

I know scottydollys colour isnt going to be as harsh but I reckon the basic principal is similar ,
also there may be some highlights left over in the ends and ash may grab

so I still say test pieces lolx , for any of the firey orangey parts

i do get you minky lol.i think .. ...bleach bath....(base 6 tint wants to be 7)...then recolour.. cause you are going to base 7...you have to pre pig with copper/gold....so then you need a tint that is not going to show the warmth ????? but becasue you have done a bleach bath the ash/blue you would use to neutralise the warmth/orangey tone may grab on the ends ???? is that right??? ...of course test pieces but like to get the theory bit understood in me head

right new plan, which as we speak i am actually test piecing right now. . . i am going to do foils and lots of them, (because she is putting her foot down and doesnt want a full head bleach bath) and has shown me a picture which looks like a base 5-6 with subtle (barely noticeable) highlighty bits, so my new plan is, i am going to finely foil lots of hair and lift it just enough to be able to recolour and it be subtly noticeable. .
once this is done and washed and dried i intend to put a lighter colour alll over, so in theory it shud colour the newly lifted foiled pieces a lighter than the old darker colour, yet because it the same colour going all over, it will be a harmonised look? i have done this before when someone had dark hair with build up but wanted some subtle underpanels, however with this i did a wella crystal gloss and it was really pretty. . .

im jus hoping these test pieces look ok. . . eek xx

Hi, lolx this is getting so muddled and I can't stop giggling now

I think it's the way I describe it ,
I know what I want to say and it sort of looks ok to me! but ....when I read it back I then see how I may have confused people

so ..... lol x

to start she is a natural base 6 but scottydolly uses a 5/0 and 6/75 on her hair in colour touch which stains the hair a bit more than tint
hence the bleach bath being needed ,

once the darker shades are gently lifted out of the mid lengths and ends
she should be left with some orange / gold tones in her hair
so you wouldn't need to pre pig as she is only going to a base 7
and these gold /orange tones would have already been present in her natural hair and are good to have there,

but sometimes if you use an ash it can suddenly get grab on the ends
and go quite dark as sometimes it's very spongey and absorbent ,

but just say it went a tad lighter than you expected and you lost quite bit of the gold/orangey tone
then I would probably just use a warmer base seven ,
I still dont think I would pre pig

I think you know what is coming next
I would do test pieces first though lol x

the only time I may pre pig is when I am taking a blonde back to dark
but mostly I try to add the gold/red tones in with the tint

OHHH and the 7/17 been ditched, she wasnt struck, she is still wanting a warm colour. . . lol just rinsing my test pieces now so that i can apply the new colour im thinkin of using.. . here goes. . x

TEST PIECES DONE. . . amazingly i have two suitable colours, for if she wants both high and low lights. . .

i pre bleached two sperate pieces, one to a dark orange, and i also kept an eye on one of them to a colour that has come up a caramel without any toning at all, and is actually nice when dried. . . .

the other one which was dark orange, i appled colour touch 4% with 2 thirds 7/73 and 1 third 7/73 and applied to the lightest area first and left for 5 mins, then applied to midlenths for another 10 and then to the ends for the last 5 mins and it has come up lookingquite like 7/75 on the wella koleston perfect shade chart (online version) i think it went like that because of the left over warmth from the prelightened hair. . im off to show them the colours, will re inform laters xc

how about using h/l with a sprinkle of bleach alt with bleach/alt with a deeper colour . the hi lift wont lift much past a warm 7/8 and the whole thing should blend in .