Violet shade and tone it's role hair colouring

Back2myroots : A place to share thoughts and grow idea's. B2MR

As I post my blogs and decide on topic's or articles. I always take a look at what is being searched for to see if it's an issue I can write about .

                                One such topic is Violet in hair colour! Such a cool topic!
Required to create a cool natural looking bleached Blonde Required to control unwanted yellow undertones!

When one thinks about violet as a colour or tone . I ask my self are we thinking Violet tone in controlled reds.Those shades of cool red that one see's so much of these days.
Or are we thinking about. The role Violet plays in the hair colour process. Violet as shade or tone plays a much bigger part in hair colouring than one might think. But it's almost behind the scene in the colour process.

Firstly with our natural or N series or natural series Violet will always play a key role depending on the level you are working on and what your target colour is .

                       As always to understand this we have to either look at the colour wheel or a chart.

With the chart i have attached one can see very clearly where and at what level Violet comes into play
from the numbers system on the left hand side we can see it's plays a very big role in levels of hair form 8 to 10.
Maybe your asking what role does it play?  All hair colour is a balance of our primary colours . RED. YELLOW. BLUE. When blended together at any given level you will alway get a perfect natural shade  balance at that given level. A natural level 8 will not be to warm or gold or to ash!
Even when doing Hight lights or partially lifting sections, as in shot below once desired level has been reached toning with be required.

What changes this. When we lift hair with a chosen level of peroxide with lighten it .this lightening process will expose the natural pigment in the hair. At our level natural 8 as we lift it i will expose yellow Orange [see chart]  this warmth would be fine if you are trying for a warmer shade at level 8. If however you are trying to maintain a natural level 8 then the warmth exposed would have to be controlled.

Remember we discussed balance well if we have exposed that warmth in our level 8. Exposing yellow and orange pigment we need to balance that off.

Yellow/ Orange or  Yellow / Yellow /Red   or Y+Y+R = yellow Orange

To restore our Natural balance what do you think is required?  what is lacking in the above formulation?
What will re balance us back to our Red yellow Blue?

Blue/Violet  or Blue / blue red  or B+B+R =  Blue violet.

How does this work well if you look at the two formulations : The balancing required for out natural level would be as follows
Our first formulation is gold and warm it lacks any Blue . The balancing formulation replaces that Blue
but also balances out the the lacking Red pigment that is dominated by the yellow in the first part.

Final  Balanced Level 8 tone  Y+Y+B+B+R+R =  Yellow Blue Red at a natural level 8
It's all about balance.

Violet Control yellow!  not ASH ! Yellow and Ash make  GREEN !

When pre lifting hair with Bleach to any level of Yellow . A violet Tone will re balance  you are introducing an equal amount of Blue and Red mixed together to control and re balance the yellow exposed in the lifting process.

If you assess the degree you have lifted as being slightly orange yellow then you would have  use a slightly more blue tone !   See chart above.

Violet in permanent colour or N series is normally calibrated to be the right amount of pigment fro the level you are working at. But choice of Developer or Peroxide will always pay a role in this.

Violet as a toner or pre lightened hair would be used when a yellow or pale yellow level of lift has been reached.

This wheel may help you as you can see Violet sits opposite the yellow telling us that it's would be required to restore balance. Opposites re balance or neutralise the unwanted pigment exposed or created.

Formulation: Target colour = Lift. Deposit. Timing: always the equation to think about.
Ask your self  Do you want to utilise or neutralise the pigment you are going to expose.
Violet plays a key roll as a controller in the Blue cool reds and even in shades as Dark a 3 N see chart above.
In the toning of hair Violet plays a key role in controlling the yellow pigment exposed and giving a really nice shade of platinum Blonde. Always when toning stay with the toner as it develops to get the desired effect you are looking for . In some cases of toning if left on to long the pigment can over deposit.

Cool reds depicted by the V in above shot.  Fashion shade top row. Violet based high lift Blonde toner second in from the right second row.
I hope this answers some questions if not feel free to post questions . Mike B2MR

Bleaching and lifting.Toning

Welcome to BACK2MYROOTS B2MR.  Regular postings of fresh new topic's


Bleaching Lifting and Toning:
I post many topic's on various aspects of our industry. Hair colouring. The process. The techniques.The skill.The knowledge.
All of these skills come together to enable us to carry out many different processes and applications on our clients who trust us to be both skilled and professional.

Bleaching and toning hair is a subject I have covered in the past but it seem's to get researched for information constantly as stylist's and client's look for information on the subject
Full head bleaching or High lighting are a process that requires lifting or lightening the hair to a point of removing enough of the hair's natural pigment. To then create a natural looking shade of blonde. So how do we achieve this?
For a more in depth look at on scalp bleaching and lift follow link to previous posting below:

http://back2myroots.co.uk/2011/04/15/bleaching-hair-lifting-colour/

As always it starts with a consultation with you client or as a client with your stylist. This is key especially with bleaching. Past history. Condition. Goal. Expectation.
At this time it should be decided if the hair is in a condition that is ok for this process.
Be it just a root application or new look. If a root application then the key is not to over lap the product onto hair that has already been processed. If in any doubt  do a strand test.
other tests you can do to see if the hair can withstand bleaching.
1/ When wet does it stretch eventually breaking?
2/ Drop a strand test into a glass of water Healthy hair will float. over processed will sink. If this is the case. chances are it over processed and damaged. It will not hold colour much less toner.
Before proceeding a regime of conditioning will be required.Try to get the hair to float in that glass.

For more information see link to past blog topic's.

http://back2myroots.co.uk/2011/06/07/pre-lightening-bleaching-lift-condition/

The main reason for this topic is to address toning.  Having lifted the roots to blend be it with previous coloured full head or addressing high lights that are growing out.
We now have to look at the degree of lift and the shade that needs to be toned. At this point understanding the colour wheel is key as is using the correct formulation.
In so many cases the things that can go wrong with toning are. Bad choice of toner. Bad formulation.
Bleached  /decolourised. Lifted hair is by nature very porous and will take any application of toner readily and quickly so once applied stay with it as it works it's magic.
I class Toning as early stage colour correction it's an art.

What we are talking about here is. Lift and deposit:
For example. Lets use a natural level 6 this is classed as Dark blonde/mouse. It is a perfect level to work from to introduce natural looking Blonde shade and tone.
There  are many different types of pigment  available to us. From pre mixed tubes of concentrated pigment these might be. Ash . Violet. Amethyst depending on the tone you require.
Normally they will have a shampoo like base and are worked into the hair after the bleach has been washed or rinsed out and prior to conditioning.
Another option. Professional colour pigment tubes some have the ability to allow us to change their chemistry. They deposit pigment with any lift.  Understand your product how they work as well as having a clear goal. Read all instructions carefully.

As you can see with the above chart level six sits within the middle section of the chart. To get to a level of lift to be able to tone. We have to lift four shades into the area of pigment exposed around level 9.
This can be reached with a bleach de-colouriser or it may be possible with a high lift tint using 40 vol developer.
For the sake of this topic we are looking at. We are using an example of bleach being used.
Some may say level 6 to 9 is only three levels but that is misdirection for we have to lift through level 6 to get to level 9! In real terms we are looking at 4 levels max depending on the pigment base you want to work with. ie How much yellow you want to work with to create your shade and tone.

               For levels of lift the above chart will show levels and timing from said developers:

Once we have reached a target of lifted shade to a nice even base pale yellow would be desired for a nice blonde. Anything from a very light Orange hue to very pale yellow will give an acceptable level of lift and pigment for toning Blonde.

This chart above Shows.  Both undertone exposed through the lifting process and then the pigment required to tone to a natural shade at the level lifted to.
Note you will be working at levels 8 to 10 anything darker that this will be more like low lights caramel or burnt honey tones. Because you will still have an orange hue. Darker than level 8/7 and down. It should be noted that really shades darker than level 7 are not really classed as blonde.

This I think is where mistakes are made. Considering the level of lift choosing the desired pigment required to tone. To often Ash toner is reached for. When you can see from the chart Ash really will only work for pigments that are of an Orange hue. Ash pigment used as a toner on. Yellow will create a Green hue! Why? Well what does yellow and Blue make ! da Green
Think about our primary colours the secondary shades then think it's all about balance adding back what we have removed,But at the level we have exposed or are working in.
Guess what it's back to know understanding trusting the colour wheel and the law of colour.

A small very basic colour wheel but easy to understand Opposites neutralise so yellow requires Violet!

Nice healthy natural shades of blonde lifted and then tones for dimension.

Healthy good condition long blonde hair is possible. It takes time patients client and stylist working together.

Finally bleached and toned full head colour all is possible . Use the right products understand these products. choose the correct formulation and timing.Think the process through!
Thanks Mike B2MR