Dark brown hair to a silver/grey

[Jeaner]

Hi I am new to the group. I am a certified hairdresser but I graduated in 94. I did some hair, mostly cuts. I do not work in a salon, but my niece asked me to give her grey highlights. Her hair is a level 4, so I started by bleaching her hair with Joico Blonde Life with a 20v on the nape and a 30v on the rest. She seemed to have lift between an 8 and 9. I toned her hair with color sync sheer steel with a 10v and processed it for 25min. I then washed it and conditioned the hair. There is some grey but it is mostly still pale yellow. Any suggestions would be great. She then told me she wanted it a darker grey color. Is there something else I can use to get a better grey color? I really didn't want to bleach her again.

 

[Dee5]

You’ll need to tone on a level 8/9. A level 10 toner won’t have enough to tone to combat lev 8/9 undercoats

 

[Jeaner]

Thank you for your help.

 

[AcidPerm]

When trying to achieve grey, it’s a two step process.
You must lift it to ideally, a 9 first. Then tone out the yellow to completely neutralise it using a violet based toner.
Then apply your target grey.
If you miss the first toning step out, you’ll end up with a pastel version of your grey.

 

[twinset n curls]

When trying to achieve grey, it’s a two step process.
You must lift it to ideally, a 9 first. Then tone out the yellow to completely neutralise it using a violet based toner.
Then apply your target grey.
If you miss the first toning step out, you’ll end up with a pastel version of your grey.

When you've used the violet toner does the hair go violet colour? If so would the grey target colour be ok over this or is the aim of the toner to get a more white blonde? Thanks

 

[AcidPerm]

A toner neutralises the raw yellow colour.

 

[Jeaner]

So if I use Wella 7/89 with 1.9% would I get the grey? Or should I still tone with a violet base maybe add in a 9/16?

 

[AcidPerm]

Tone first to bring the hair back to a neutral very pale blonde, then choose the colour you want to use.

(If there’s a lot of blue tone in the tint and if the hair isn’t neutralised adequately, you could end up with a khaki greeny grey!)

Unfortunately, a lot of students are only given very basic training in colouring and think it’s a matter of choosing a colour from a chart and applying it. You need to remember that the swatches used for the blonde colours on a chart are prepared on level 10 already toned hair. Also that the tints contain different amounts of colour pigment on a sliding scale, so a level 7 tint will contain a higher density of colour pigment than a level 10 tint.

 

[Jeaner]

I really appreciate your help. Thank you so much.