Koleston Special Blondes/Mix trick

[sbbbjm]

i have a natural level 5 client with normal, straight texture. the desired level for her highlights is level 8. we all know if i used a level 8 in Koleston with 40v, you *might* get a level 7, but not a true, clean level 8.

now i know Koleston Special Blondes are only meant for level 7 and up, but i was wondering if i could mix:

30 grams of 12/89 + 1 gram of /66 + 1 gram of /88 + 2 parts 40v

my thought process was:

1.) i know i can get at least 3 guaranteed levels of lift with Special Blondes o.n this texture

2.) since the Special Blonde series is designed for clients aiming for a desired level 10, the dye load for tonality is probably much less bc you're working on such a light palette. the extra /88 and /66 would be added to counteract the underlying pigment existing at a level 8 (yellow-orange).

3.) when you are using such high volume/ammonia, you lose a bit of tone deposit.

i know there are other more conventional ways of doing it, but i'd really like to hear ideas pertaining to this method or any tweaks you might make.

 

[adamlea87]

i have a natural level 5 client with normal, straight texture. the desired level for her highlights is level 8. we all know if i used a level 8 in Koleston with 40v, you *might* get a level 7, but not a true, clean level 8.

now i know Koleston Special Blondes are only meant for level 7 and up, but i was wondering if i could mix:

30 grams of 12/89 + 1 gram of /66 + 1 gram of /88 + 2 parts 40v

my thought process was:

1.) i know i can get at least 3 guaranteed levels of lift with Special Blondes o.n this texture

2.) since the Special Blonde series is designed for clients aiming for a desired level 10, the dye load for tonality is probably much less bc you're working on such a light palette. the extra /88 and /66 would be added to counteract the underlying pigment existing at a level 8 (yellow-orange).

3.) when you are using such high volume/ammonia, you lose a bit of tone deposit.

i know there are other more conventional ways of doing it, but i'd really like to hear ideas pertaining to this method or any tweaks you might make.

I like your thinking...

If you wanted to use ammonia lift, you would need the ammonia content of a level 11 colour (desired shade = 8 x 2 = 16 - natural base 5 = 11). Since you can only go up to a level 10 with Koleston you could increase the developer strength to get an extra level of lift.

If wella use 30 vol for 2 levels of lift, then you would be using 40 vol with this method for the extra lift.

Then you would need to add the neutralising tones. To get the tonal deposit of a level 8 ash, you would need about three times the tone as a level 10 ash. You might want to make the tone even stronger, as like you said the developer will eat up some of that tone.

I don't use wella, so you would have to experiment with using the mix tones, but obviously since the level 10 is purely being used for the lift, you would be adding way more mix tone that you would usually add into a level 10. It guess it should be like a 10/898989!

I think using a level 12 highlift + 40 vol will create too much warmth. Like you said that much ammonia/developer won't deposit enough
tone, especially since it is a 1:2 mixture so the colour in the tube is literally diluted in half. That mixture would have a working volume of 26vol (60g x 40vol = 2400vol / total volume of mixture [90g] = 26.6 vol) opposed to 15 vol as in the other method if mixed 1:1 so you will get a much better deposit/neutralisation.

If you did choose to add your mixtones to the level 12 then I guess you could do down to using double 20 vol would give you a working volume of 13 vol so the deposit would be better deposit but you would probably have to double the amount of tone you add in again to make up for the amount of developer!

What do you think? Maybe you could experiment on some strand tests??

 

[sbbbjm]

adamlea87 - this is the exact type of creative, yet professional and intelligent input that i love. i'm just now reading your response, but i'm going to do some swatches on said client and see what happens!

 

[kimi1101]

Watch with your 0/88 and 0/66 - they are both very dense so may make your colour appear darker. How about 0/81 and 0/65 as they are less dense.

I must admit I don't understand a word of Adams post! Too complicated for me. Lol (my small tinsel brain)

 

[suse82]

Adamlea87.. I understand obviously what you are saying, but just wondering with the calculation: desired shade =8x2=16-natural base 5=11. I've never seen this done before. I'm intrigued. Why x2? I'd love to know the ins and outs of everything!!

 

[adamlea87]

Adamlea87.. I understand obviously what you are saying, but just wondering with the calculation: desired shade =8x2=16-natural base 5=11. I've never seen this done before. I'm intrigued. Why x2? I'd love to know the ins and outs of everything!!

I'd love to know the ins and outs of everything too =)

The 'math' formulation is: "desired level x 2 - natural level + 20 vol".

It works on the principle that each level will be equally calibrated in terms of ammonia content. For example a level system could look like this:

Level 10 = 2% Ammonia
Level 9 = 1.9 % Ammonia
Level 8 = 1.8% Ammonia
Level 7 = 1.7% Ammonia

So instead of reaching for a higher % of developer you would use a higher % of ammonia to increase the amount of lift.

I think this method is only generally taught by pure tone colour lines (logics, full spectrum deep), since it is easy to pick the level that you require for the lift, and then to add in the amount of tones that you want at the desired level to create the final colour.

If like myself you are using a pre-blended colour line such as Wella, L'Oreal etc. then it could become more complicated because the tones are already mixed in at the desired levels, so in that sense they are less customisable.

The other problem is that you don't know exactly how much ammonia is in the product that you are using, and obviously they are not formulated to be used this way so it could be somewhat unpredictable unless you experiment first
However I do know that many colourists use this method of formulating with different colour lines. One day I am going to get a digital pH meter and measure the pH of each colour level that I use. =)

 

[adamlea87]

adamlea87 - this is the exact type of creative, yet professional and intelligent input that i love. i'm just now reading your response, but i'm going to do some swatches on said client and see what happens!

Cool please take photos if you can! It will be interesting to see how well the formulas work (or don't work!) =D

 

[si_82]

I'm sorry I don't get this. By all means go ahead but it seams a bit ott! 2 parts 12% on a level 5 your gonna pull up too much warmth so the eight won't look like an 8. I use renbow italian it's a strong ash and it will lift 3 with 9% if your really worried Indola 9.11 with 9 is fantastic just don't ever use it as a toner god did I learn that the hard way on my own hair very blue hair haha bleach bathed out str8 away n was fine.

 

[snaz]

I'm a base 6. And have 12/81 30grams with 3 grams of /81, 12%. The roots r slightly darker so look at this area. I don't find this brassy. But 12/81 alone is. Brassy on myself. X

 

[snaz]

Leave it with me . It won't upload damn pic from phone AGAIN!