Help with colour

[Reidebot]

My mother called me and asked if I can make her hair silver as she is sick of tinting her hair and wants to go back natural. Her natural hair would be about a level 8. Her mid lengths are a 6 (borderline 7) and her ends a 9. Now I was thinking I should be able to get away with 20 vol lightener (I was considering doing 30 vol, aiming for a shade lighter and having her regrowth a little darker to give a nice shadow effect) but I'm wanting advice on the toner. I was considering drying her hair after lightening and colouring with KP 8/ or 9/ (depending on how light we go) with 0.88 but thought I'd get a second opinion. I mean I'm still learning after all.

I've previously put 5.1 in her hair but that was about 8 months ago. It's quite faded and there isn't much colour build up so I think it's should lift easily enough. She tends to reflect gold though.

 

[cassies97]

I dont think i follow?

Has she got any white hair?

 

[Reidebot]

I dont think i follow?

Has she got any white hair?

she has grey hair. There is white in it. She calls it "The racing stripe".

But I want to remove her colour and let her go gracefully grey. I'm also dong a massive cut. I am going to try and convince her to have a long bob as it will suit her nicely and let me cut off what she needs me too.

 

[cassies97]

she has grey hair. There is white in it. She calls it "The racing stripe".

But I want to remove her colour and let her go gracefully grey. I'm also dong a massive cut. I am going to try and convince her to have a long bob as it will suit her nicely and let me cut off what she needs me too.

How much white has she got?

No matter what you do shes always going to have a funny root unless you were to pick out each white hair and colour the root white everytime. But thats not really practical.

 

[Reidebot]

How much white has she got?

No matter what you do shes always going to have a funny root unless you were to pick out each white hair and colour the root white everytime. But thats not really practical.

I'm not sure. She wanted me to do it tomorrow (I live on the other side of the state) but I think I should see it in person. I think it's mostly a case of her wanting it to blend a bit nicer and quit hair dye.
edit: I might try and get an image so you can see.

 

[surf girl]

Are you doing your mums hair at the salon or at home, I already know your not qualified yet and clearley you lack knowledge of "grey" hair and how to deal with it, maybe you ought to read your text books before you attempt this

 

[Reidebot]

Well I have read my books. And my mum is pretty good. If I mess up a little she is happy with that. I was told by my boss to practice cutting, blow drying and colouring at home as we don't have time in salon. He just wants to see pictures.

Also yes I am still learning but how can I learn if I dont practice? I am qualified next year.

 

[Reidebot]

Also we arent colourong the natural hair. We are removing the tinted colour and dying her grey so she can grow out her hair with ease.

 

[surf girl]

Lets hear what you've learnt about grey hair so far then... Tell us anything you know & we can start from there

 

[surf girl]

Also we arent colourong the natural hair. We are removing the tinted colour and dying her grey so she can grow out her hair with ease.

Lol we were typing at the same time then

 

[surf girl]

Also we arent colourong the natural hair. We are removing the tinted colour and dying her grey so she can grow out her hair with ease.

What percentage of white does she have? Do you know how to tell?

 

[Reidebot]

What percentage of white does she have? Do you know how to tell?

My text book says it's the amount of white lines between the black lines in a barcode. jk.

I honestly don't know for sure what I am doing and the only reason I am considering it is because it's my mother. I get counteracting underlining pigment and even telling levels and all that but when it comes to colouring white hair or identifying how much white is actually "white hair" I'm in unknown territory. I tried to explain that to her but she said "It's okay if you make a mistake."

 

[surf girl]

Aww nice one mum lol, well when your looking at percentage of white you have to look at it as a whole, so for example this pic is showing 70% white, so 70% of the hair is white and 30% is the natural colour. You then look at the colour of the non white hair to decide what level/tone it is. A lot of people just see white hair is all over the head so they must be 100% grey but that's not the case, 100% would be litterally white all over with no natural left at all. Does that help a little?

 

[domz85]

If it's the fuss of regrowth id be more inclined to foil then just match her hair to her grey/silver.... you will definately benefit from seeing it first.

Sent from my GT-P5210 using SalonGeek mobile app

 

[Reidebot]

Aww nice one mum lol, well when your looking at percentage of white you have to look at it as a whole, so for example this pic is showing 70% white, so 70% of the hair is white and 30% is the natural colour. You then look at the colour of the non white hair to decide what level/tone it is. A lot of people just see white hair is all over the head so they must be 100% grey but that's not the case, 100% would be litterally white all over with no natural left at all. Does that help a little?

Thanks for the picture. So what you're saying is that it's not really colourless unless it has the appearance to white? And that the white hair would be what I would need to look into first? Looking at that picture I believe from memory that my mother would be in between 25-50% closer to 50% assuming that white hair would also effect how light/dark the hair appears. Also from what you're saying it sounds like you want me to "ignore" (or so to speak) the white in order to know what level I'm working with. Correct? I just want to make sure I understand fully. Do underlying pigments come to play in regards to the natural hair still? Or is pigment (lack of pigment) more to do with the amount of eumelanin and phaeomelanin present in regards to the tone?

Sorry to bombard with questions but you seem knowledgeable enough.

 

[AcidPerm]

Linkles, I strongly urge you to ask your tutor or manager for more training on this. You can't possibly learn your colour theory from a hairdressing forum. You mention qualifying next year but presumably you will be examined on all aspects of colour theory and techniques in order for this to happen?

Covering grey has nothing to do with underlying pigment so you need to get your textbooks out, read through them and then ask your tutor to go through it with you.

I think this forum is ideal for fellow hairdressers to ask for ideas and offer formula and product recommendations but it cannot be used as an alternative to basic training. When you are in the middle of doing your mums hair, Kahuna will not be stood at the side of you metaphorically holding your hand. That's your manager or tutors role!