What I have been up to is researching how to highlight my hair and do it correctly. I have learned that the first step is finding out if you are warm or cool toned (skin, hair,etc.). This will help you decide on a color to choose. If you are warm toned then you will want to get warm hair colors and if you are cool toned then you will get cool colors(example ash blonde) . The next step is to find out what level your hair is. Mine was level 7. Levels range from 1 (black) to 10(platinum). Once you know your level then you will know what your underlying pigment is. Why is this important, well let me give you my example. I told you that I was level 7 if you look at the image below you will see that level 7 underlying pigments are yellow/orange.
So How is this helpful? Once you know what your underlying pigments are then you know what color toner ( blue, violet, purple, green, etc.) you can use to tone down those pigments to get the color out. How do you figure this out, well go back to your younger years and remember the good old primary color and the color wheel( bet you never thought you would need this again).
Primary Colors (inner circle) - Red, Yellow, and Blue
Secondary Colors (middle ring) - Orange, Green, and Purple
Secondary colors are made by mixing 2 primary colors together:
- Red + Yellow = Orange
- Red + Blue = Purple
- Blue + Yellow = Green
Tertiary Colors (outer ring)
Created by mixing primary and secondary colors together:
- Yellow + Orange = Orange/Yellow
- Yellow + Green = Yellow/Green (lime green)
- Blue + Green = Blue/Green
- Blue + Purple = Blue/Violet
- Red + Purple = Red/Violet
- Red + Orange = Red/Orange
Why is the hair color wheel so important?...
1) All hair color is comprised of different ratios of the primary colors (red, yellow, blue).
2) It clearly illustrates which colors neutralize which...find the primary color you want to tone away and look directly across the chart to the opposite secondary color.
Now you know some basics to highlighting your hair. I did have some issues though. First, the foils kept slipping and it was hard to do my self. I may do the cap next time. Second, the lady at sally's beauty supply recommended 10 toner from wella ( I used wella products in my hair, another important point stick with the same brand for color, developer, and toner) which was blue-violet. I knew I should have gone with a purple since my hair is yellow/orange or maybe just a violet. She said the blue-violet would get the yellow and orange out of my hair. My hair was more yellow before I put the toner in. Well it ended up more orange after the toner, should have gone with my instincts. Any way that is why they make shimmering lights shampoo, by clairol. It drys your hair out but takes out yellow and orange colors. It did the job. Below are some pictures I took before I got my hair trimmed and the shimmering lights.
Over all, I am happy with the results. I will do it again in 6 weeks and probably do it 1 more color lighter with an ashy blonde instead of neutral blonde. I think it will work better and help keep the underlying pigments calmed down. I have done 2 washes with shimmering lights and have one more then it will look just like I stepped out of a salon.
