Musings by the Hairslave

Wow, as cliche´ as it may sound, when it rains it pours.  Such fabulous changes on the horizon!  

I was recently asked by my friend Cary to write the food review for her online magazine Davis Life Magazine, and I was asked to become a Sacramento area color educator for ISO color. Overwhelmed much? But very excited, too.

Tonight hubby Pete and I are dining with Cary and her husband John at Kathmandu Kitchen. I love Indian food, so this won’t be a big stretch. Is my writing up to the task? I guess we’ll find out.

The education position I get to transition into much more gently. I start as an assistant (read that as everyones bitch I’m sure) at the West Coast Spring Beauty Show, that’s a big deal round these parts. I’m sure I’ll be getting food, shampooing, drying, bottom rung stuff. But it’s bound to be a learning experience! From there I take classes and work with a mentor. More on that as it happens.

I’m hoping to have photos and blog posts from the show. But my contact at ISO warned me that he didn’t think I’d have time. Yikes! I hope I’m up to it.

At least tonight is about eating, I can handle that!

Chow (okay, little pun intended, very little)!

You actually can go back, but it takes some determination.  I’ve done it, but it took me days to really deal with it properly.  The angst, the sorrow, the frustration.  Wait!  You know I mean color right?!  

I touched on this briefly in an earlier post, but if you’ve made the mistake of tinting your hair black, either with what was supposed to be a “temporary” color (guess what, if you read the fine print you’ll see where it says that any color very much darker than your natural, will NOT come out), or because you thought that Kelly Osborn black would work for you, or maybe you have a client who has made that horrible mistake, this might help.

I had a client ask me to change her black (oops, the Halloween costume wasn’t really worth that kind of committment!) back to her medium neutral blonde shade (she didn’t want highlights to make matters worse).  I tried on day one, and after 5 hours of work got very frustrated with the muddy light brown we’d achieved.  I bought the same color she used, went home and attacked one of my doll heads.  After two days of work I came up with a sure fire formula.  Three more hours of work in the salon and she was very happy indeed.

As always, this is for a highly trained specialist.  A lay-person will only make matters worse!  Find yourself a stylist you trust and have them read this first if they’re willing.

This is the doll head after two days of color correction experimentation.

This procedure can be done over several days, but if you are careful you can do it in one.  Start early, and make sure you/your client understands the risk of any color correction procedure.  There is absolutely no guarantees with this type of procedure.

Start with one, two, or even three applications of a non-bleach based color remover  such as Rusk or Pravana color remover.  Lift as much of the black stain as you can following manufacture directions.  I have used Rusk and Pravana color removers with very good results.  After two or three applications you should get to a fairly nice medium to light blonde, depending on where the color started from before the application of black.  Don’t tone!  Any application of developer at this point will instantly darken the hair shaft!

At this point mix up a mixture of 5 volume and bleach, this should be very quickly applied scalp to ends.  Process until color is at the level desired.  If you are starting very near your chosen level, lift just slightly.  This process helps remove color molecules that may still be lodged in the hair shaft.  These color molecules can expand and darken (or muddy) the color when a toner is applied.  I have found this to be the most crucial step.  Don’t skip it, I guarantee you’ll be sorry!  Have I stressed this enough?

Next you can either add foils to boost to a cooler or lighter blonde, or you can tone with a neutral blonde semi- or demi-permanent color product to reach the perfect tone.  Avoid permanent or ashy products.  Always shoot for a shade lighter (remember, you can always go darker with following glazes).

This technique works particularly well taking black to a red tone, but it can work just as well for golden, and even neutral blonde.

Good luck!

Another one of those posts that may or may not be of interest to the general public.  I decided to take on the challenge of taking a very light blonde hair color to a knock-out red. This technique is completely mine, no tutorial from any other color specialist was used (although it was inspired by the teachings of the legendary Beth Minardi)!

I started with a doll head that I had cut into a modified mullet, believe it or not!  The cut is from the TIGI Glastonbury Glamour collection.  The color technique took about 3 hours to complete (including blow-out, but not cut), and consisted of three glazes of verying intensities of reds.  This is a very technical color and should not be attempted by someone without many years of color experience.  Once again, I warn any lay-people out there reading: it will cost you more to have this fixed, than to pay a color expert in the first place. I do not recommend attempting this with a supermarket/drug store color! Be warned!  

P.S. I’d love to find a live model who would go for this kind of change in photos!

Tutorial at end of post.  

Just for a reference point, this is the doll head used for a Fantasy Wedding concept, with origional color. The black bang extension was removable.

This is the final color (none of these photos has been color edited, by the way, the color is actually quite a bit bolder in person).

This shows some of the depth of the color.

The cut is a combo of a disconnected a-line (or graduated) bob, with a somewhat mullet-ish back section.

A nice shot of the face framing layers of the cut. This cut could be done with a much more or less emphasized back section.

Blazing Red Tutorial

I started with a level 9, very light golden blonde. This technique will work equally well on a level 7 or 8 gold, red, or ash tone. I would even be willing to try it on a platinum level blonde (though I would first prep the hair to make sure any toner or gloss was gone).

All color formulas are using L’oreal Richesse no-lift demi-permanent color with Richesse 9 volume developer, mixed 2 parts developer and 1 part color.  I use the term part instead of giving ounces because different amounts will be needed depending on length and thickness of hair.  For this application I used 40 ounces of color to 80 ounces of developer for all three formulations.

formula 1
3p 7.34
1p .40
Richesse 9 volume developer

Formula 1 was applied scalp to ends and processed 20 minutes with steam heat. I prefer a steamer because I don’t have to use a bag. This makes spot checking and hairline cleanup easier, and the steamer mimics the moist heat of the scalp, which I feel contributes a very even color process.

Shampoo and dry under hood dryer.

formula 2
3p 4.56
1p 3
Richesse 9 volume developer

Formula 2 was applied at scalp and taken randomly through 1/2-1 inch out. When the entire head is applied with this technique I went back and took color through ends at NAPE, and then used a baliage technique over the rest of the head taking very chunky weave sections through ends. This was again processed 20 minutes with a steamer, shampooed and dried.

formula 3
1p 5.6
1p 6.64
Richesse 9 volume developer

Formula 3 was then applied scalp to ends and processed for 20 minutes with the steamer. The hair was then styled using Rusk Smoothing Lotion, flat ironed, and sprayed with Kenra Spray Gloss.  The final formula can be altered depending on the depth and intensity of the color desired.

Hope you enjoyed (maybe) learning something today!

Sharon and I took an 8 hour color and cut class in Stockton today. Hairstylists are the most amazing people. We were running about an hour behind at lunch, so we ordered pizza in, and worked right on through! No one was going to interrupt a good learning curve!

We worked on some foil placement that wasn’t exceptionally groundbreaking, and I practiced a cut we do to death! I still didn’t do it as well as I wish I could! Notice the multiple use of exclamation points! We had fun is what I’m trying to get at. It may not sound like doing the same old thing would be that much fun, but it’s always interesting to get someone else’s interpretation, even if it is the same old thing, and it was a different product line than I’ve used before. So there is that.

In my industry we are lucky to be able to study with talented professionals who are very passionate about they’re business. I was even approached today about becoming an educator with this company.  I’m seriously considering it. (update: I am applying for an educator position with a very well known company.  I realized I was nervous about it.  In my current world view I think anything I’m frightened to do I should do!)  The thing about education is, I would probably learn more than any of my students!

And as one of my favorite characters says, “I learned something today.” It wasn’t what I expected to learn, however. When is it ever?  I learned that I like to feel that I’ve learned something every single day! It doesn’t really matter what I’ve learned.

The ahha moment was when I realized what I was doing wrong with my haircut, by the way. I realized that when I learned what I was doing wrong with the cut, and how to do it correctly, I felt the day was complete. I felt that I had grown just that much.

What we learn on any given day may not always be work-related of course. We learn things we’re capable of, or things our spouse or children are capable of. We learn an amazing amount in any given day, certainly, but for me there always seems to be that one that I didn’t think I would get. I’m a perfectionist, and I’m rarely happy with my finished work (it’s something I’m working on), but even with the worst failures I learn what not to do next time, and that keeps me going.

I did a photo shoot the other day. I had a beautiful, and very game model, Jennifer. We did a lot of very nice work (to follow). I wasn’t blown away. Most of the photos are very nice, but not the wow I had hoped for. I’m going to ask her to come back and help me with a full collection I have in mind. Maybe next time we can realize our potential. But the shoot wasn’t a waste at all! I learned what I need for the next one. I got a lot of inspiration, and I know what track I want to head down now.

I learned something. That’s what counts!

the Hairslave

Wow!  I wrote this post yesterday, but when I was working on the photos today getting them ready to post, I changed my mind.  I really like some of them!  You judge…

Jenn, was a fabulous model.

The interlocking layers lend glamour to a simple pulled back hairstyle. The high fashion color add a sophisticated polish.

A jazzed up digital image. It may be on canvas one day, who knows?

This is the shot that changed my mind. This is not that average at all!

and I learned something else today!