Semi Permanent hair colour is a class of colour all on it's own that needs to be discussed and explained, even to so called "professional colour technicians".
Since my exposure to the professional world of hairstyling, it absolutely baffles me how so few professionals understand the world of semi permanent hair colour. In the constantly repeated words of my teachers, you don't have to use it, but you have to understand it.
A true semi-permanent hair colour can be characterized by any hair colour that requires no catalyst, peroxide or like chemicals. It colours hair by depositing colour that sits under the cuticle but above the cortex of the hair. No lift can be achieved with any kind of true semi-permanent hair colour. These colours will also wash out of the hair, generally in 4-6 weeks, but may be more or less depending on the hair, application, brand, and care. Popular examples of semi-permanent hair colours include Manic Panic, Raw, Colour Jams, Directions, and Special Effects. If you're not sure if your hair colour is semi-permanent or not, check the directions, if it involves mixing it with any kind of developer, it is not semi permanent.
Semi-permanent hair colour is also not to be confused with demi-permanent or colour rinses. These colours involve mixing the colour with very low concentrations of peroxide to achieve better colour deposit, and longer lasting colour than true semi permanent, but less so than true permanent colour.
Semi permanent hair colour is best applied on clean towel dried hair. Check the directions first, but most brands are made to be applied on towel dried hair. That's not to say that you wont get any results if you use it on dry hair, but I find that if it is applied on dry hair, you end up using more colour than necessary and more bleeding, always, and splotchy colour, usually. Wet or dry, the hair should be clean, in contrast to using permanent colour or bleach. Because this type of colour contains no ammonia and uses no peroxide, the less "barriers" (dirt, oil, styling products) present on the hair, the better colour result you will achieve.
As far as the hair colour, these products are usually used to achieve "fantasy" hair colours (blue, green, pink, purple) so yes, you do have to bleach your hair first. There is no product that exists that will take your naturally dark brown hair to bright blue in one application, or without bleaching. Stop asking, you have to bleach your hair, the end.
That being said, the only exception would be extra pale blonde hair, but I'm talking, "Nordic blonde" hair, or hair that is almost white-blonde. But I would still recommend using a low strength bleach first to increase the porosity of the hair, because using semi-permanent colour on hair that is not lightened (no matter now naturally light) can result in the colour looking muddy.
How long the colour stays on, is up to the manufacturer, I never leave semi-permanent colour on less than half an hour if I have the time. Also, due to the fact that these colours contain no ammonia or lightening agents, you can literally leave them in all day with no adverse effects. The longer you leave it in, the more deposit, and in my experience, the longer it lasts in your hair. So if you find that you're colouring your blue hair for 15 minutes every 2 weeks, try leaving it in longer and the colour may stick to your hair better.
I would also like to clarify that semi permanent colour DOES NOT damage the hair at all. These products are made to basically be conditioner with tons of colour in them. Therefore, colouring your hair with them once a week (ex. me) doesn't damage the hair any more than washing your hair that often. People you encounter with very damaged hair that is bright colours is most likely from them abusing bleach to lighten their hair, and not from the actual colour itself.
Monday, April 7, 2014
Hair School: The Calm of the Storm
So the worst is over, I hope, of hair school, and now it's my time to share what hairstyling school has been like.
I'll be honest, with less than three months left of school, I'm just waiting for it to be over. In the case of my school, (and with a lot of hair schools) by this time, I'm expected to be able to take pretty much any client that comes my way, not to toot my on horn, but I'd say I'm up to take on about 90% of the clients that come in to my school.
The first two months of school were easy, Basic Cuts class, followed by Salon Cuts class, but really, by the time I left those classes, I still had no idea how to do a haircut. Pretty much all I learned in those classes was the technique behind cutting hair, how to hold your shears, how to hold the hair, etc. but that's not even half of cutting hair.
The next two made a basket case of us all, let alone that these two months my class was joined by some choice characters. Perms and basic sets. Perm class is as boring as it sound, practice wrapping and unwrapping a perm, and the chemistry behind perms and relaxers. I will say though, that with the hard work and dedication to practising that I put in to that class, I can wrap a perm with the best of them now. Basic Sets seemed to be the class with the most foreign of concepts to myself and the rest of the students, but honestly, when was the last time you or one of your friends hit up a salon to get a roller set or a head of skip waves? That's probably the class that my teachers lost me the most on, I could barely get myself out of bed in the morning if I knew that a roller set was what I would be facing that day.
January was my blessed month. Barbering. For anyone that's ever asked me about school, I probably would have told you how I walked into the school wanting to be a colour technician, and seven months later, I'm looking into barber shops. Despite how much I hate the school, my teachers, my classmates, I would stomach it all if I could spend all day with clippers in my hand. Clippers are totally, totally different from cutting hair with shears, and is a whole technique on its own, a technique that I picked up quickly and loved. Basically, I'm saying that guys who wants a nice fade, line up.
We've just been downhill from there, two months of colour class in a row. Applying colour really is not something we need to practice as much as we do, but I guess any practice is good practice? I think I checked out after the first day, this is the class where I can confidently say, I've learned the least. Not that there isn't a lot to learn in colour class, but that I just had a great co-op placement before starting school where I learned all I needed to learn. The most valuable thing I've learned all month is how to put in foil highlights, which is surprisingly way easier to do than I thought.
Throughout the length of my program, I've managed to keep a 90% average on my theory tests, and better than decent attendance. That's not to say that these are easy things to do judging by my classmates, but it's been one of the things I'd urge everyone to not forget if they plan on attending a hairstyling school, keep your theory sharp and attendance up, especially if you're in an hours based program, and double especially if your school charges for over time hours.
Overall, hair school has definitely had more downs than ups, between the issues I've had with my school director, teachers, and classmates, I'm just waiting for it to be over. I hate the place, I hope it gets shut down as soon as I get my diploma. My way of explaining it is that I love what I'm learning, and I love hairstyling, but I hate the school with every fibre of my being.
I'll be honest, with less than three months left of school, I'm just waiting for it to be over. In the case of my school, (and with a lot of hair schools) by this time, I'm expected to be able to take pretty much any client that comes my way, not to toot my on horn, but I'd say I'm up to take on about 90% of the clients that come in to my school.
The first two months of school were easy, Basic Cuts class, followed by Salon Cuts class, but really, by the time I left those classes, I still had no idea how to do a haircut. Pretty much all I learned in those classes was the technique behind cutting hair, how to hold your shears, how to hold the hair, etc. but that's not even half of cutting hair.
The next two made a basket case of us all, let alone that these two months my class was joined by some choice characters. Perms and basic sets. Perm class is as boring as it sound, practice wrapping and unwrapping a perm, and the chemistry behind perms and relaxers. I will say though, that with the hard work and dedication to practising that I put in to that class, I can wrap a perm with the best of them now. Basic Sets seemed to be the class with the most foreign of concepts to myself and the rest of the students, but honestly, when was the last time you or one of your friends hit up a salon to get a roller set or a head of skip waves? That's probably the class that my teachers lost me the most on, I could barely get myself out of bed in the morning if I knew that a roller set was what I would be facing that day.
January was my blessed month. Barbering. For anyone that's ever asked me about school, I probably would have told you how I walked into the school wanting to be a colour technician, and seven months later, I'm looking into barber shops. Despite how much I hate the school, my teachers, my classmates, I would stomach it all if I could spend all day with clippers in my hand. Clippers are totally, totally different from cutting hair with shears, and is a whole technique on its own, a technique that I picked up quickly and loved. Basically, I'm saying that guys who wants a nice fade, line up.
We've just been downhill from there, two months of colour class in a row. Applying colour really is not something we need to practice as much as we do, but I guess any practice is good practice? I think I checked out after the first day, this is the class where I can confidently say, I've learned the least. Not that there isn't a lot to learn in colour class, but that I just had a great co-op placement before starting school where I learned all I needed to learn. The most valuable thing I've learned all month is how to put in foil highlights, which is surprisingly way easier to do than I thought.
Throughout the length of my program, I've managed to keep a 90% average on my theory tests, and better than decent attendance. That's not to say that these are easy things to do judging by my classmates, but it's been one of the things I'd urge everyone to not forget if they plan on attending a hairstyling school, keep your theory sharp and attendance up, especially if you're in an hours based program, and double especially if your school charges for over time hours.
Overall, hair school has definitely had more downs than ups, between the issues I've had with my school director, teachers, and classmates, I'm just waiting for it to be over. I hate the place, I hope it gets shut down as soon as I get my diploma. My way of explaining it is that I love what I'm learning, and I love hairstyling, but I hate the school with every fibre of my being.
Monday, September 10, 2012
Grey Hair.
Wheee, so I finally exiled the blonde from my hair. It was a short lived, cutesy thing, but blonde really just isn't my colour.
To explain this simply, I used the exact same products I used to get it blonde, to make it grey, just in different ratios. The mixture I concocted was as follows:
15mL of Wella Color Charm Additive 050 Cooling Violet
15mL of Wella Color Charm Liquid Toner T14 Pale Ash Blonde
60mL of 20 vol. developer. (I used Ice Cream, a European brand, but it doesn't matter what brand you use.)
The amounts you use will vary for how much hair you have, this mixture makes a rather small batch, because for hair my length, I don't have much (it's all been shaved or broken off). The main point is 1 part 050, 1 part T14, and 4 parts developer.
You can use any level of developer, the darker your hair, the higher the developer you should use, but my hair is really fried, so even though I favour 30 and 40, I went with 20 this time. (Also I'm out of 30).
I bleached my hair prior, but I only did the dark bits (where my hair was stained green, and I'm "gently" trying to remove it) and my roots, if your hair is platinum or near-white, it'll work, but if your hair is coppery, ginger, red, orange, or brown in any way, THIS WILL NOT WORK. Your hair must be near white or platinum blonde.
I left it on for 45 minutes, no heat, then washed with shampoo and conditioner.
All products can easily be purchased at Sally Beauty Supply.
To explain this simply, I used the exact same products I used to get it blonde, to make it grey, just in different ratios. The mixture I concocted was as follows:
15mL of Wella Color Charm Additive 050 Cooling Violet
15mL of Wella Color Charm Liquid Toner T14 Pale Ash Blonde
60mL of 20 vol. developer. (I used Ice Cream, a European brand, but it doesn't matter what brand you use.)
The amounts you use will vary for how much hair you have, this mixture makes a rather small batch, because for hair my length, I don't have much (it's all been shaved or broken off). The main point is 1 part 050, 1 part T14, and 4 parts developer.
You can use any level of developer, the darker your hair, the higher the developer you should use, but my hair is really fried, so even though I favour 30 and 40, I went with 20 this time. (Also I'm out of 30).
I bleached my hair prior, but I only did the dark bits (where my hair was stained green, and I'm "gently" trying to remove it) and my roots, if your hair is platinum or near-white, it'll work, but if your hair is coppery, ginger, red, orange, or brown in any way, THIS WILL NOT WORK. Your hair must be near white or platinum blonde.
I left it on for 45 minutes, no heat, then washed with shampoo and conditioner.
All products can easily be purchased at Sally Beauty Supply.
Monday, September 3, 2012
Toning Products for Colour Maintenance
After dying my hair the last time, I noticed it's becoming increasingly difficult to keep my hair grey and prevent it from going blonde in the grey parts and brassy in the blonde parts.
It's no secret that I rarely wash my hair, I only shampoo it once a week, and when I do, I use Daddy-O shampoo by Lush, it is a purple shampoo that is made to tone brassy platinum or grey hair. Like a lot of purple shampoos, it is quite drying, so I follow it up with a really thick conditioner like Marc Anthony Be Ageless or Got2B Hottie conditioner.
During the week if my hair does get dirty (I've been working all week, so stuff happens), I was it with Lush Veganese conditioner, and then condition it with John Frieda Sheer Blonde Colour Renew Tone Restoring Conditioner (holy crap, that's a long name), you don't need to use conditioner after using Veganese, but I do anyway.
One thing I noticed about the John Frieda conditioner, was that the product is the exact same colour as Manic Panic Virgin Snow temporary toner.
When I get out of the shower, I use the Fanciful Temporary Hair Colour in Silver Lining, this adds some amazing grey highlights into your hair, provided it is light enough, your hair has to already be extremely light for it to make your hair grey, so it's not a miracle product.
I also use the (get ready for this, take a deep breath) John Frieda Sheer Blonde Colour Renew Tone Restoring Mousse to thicken my hair and also to tone out a little more blonde.
Overall, I use a lot of products, but most of them only replace non-toning products, with the exception of the temporary hair colour, that, plus the fact that I am a huge drama queen, means that this isn't too much for me to deal with.
Products Mentioned:
Lush Daddy-O shampoo (Lush stores) - $9.95-$29.95
Marc Anthony Be Ageless Conditioner (drugstores) - $9-$15
Lush Veganese Conditioner (Lush stores) - $9.95-$29.95
John Frieda Sheer Blonde Colour Renew Tone Restoring Conditioner (drugstores) - $9-$15
Manic Panic Virgin Snow (Sally Beauty) - $13
Fanciful Temporary Hair Colour Silver Lining (Sally Beauty/drugstores) - $7-$10
John Frieda Sheer Blonde Colour Renew Tone Restoring Mousse (drugstores) - $9-$15
It's no secret that I rarely wash my hair, I only shampoo it once a week, and when I do, I use Daddy-O shampoo by Lush, it is a purple shampoo that is made to tone brassy platinum or grey hair. Like a lot of purple shampoos, it is quite drying, so I follow it up with a really thick conditioner like Marc Anthony Be Ageless or Got2B Hottie conditioner.
During the week if my hair does get dirty (I've been working all week, so stuff happens), I was it with Lush Veganese conditioner, and then condition it with John Frieda Sheer Blonde Colour Renew Tone Restoring Conditioner (holy crap, that's a long name), you don't need to use conditioner after using Veganese, but I do anyway.
One thing I noticed about the John Frieda conditioner, was that the product is the exact same colour as Manic Panic Virgin Snow temporary toner.
When I get out of the shower, I use the Fanciful Temporary Hair Colour in Silver Lining, this adds some amazing grey highlights into your hair, provided it is light enough, your hair has to already be extremely light for it to make your hair grey, so it's not a miracle product.
I also use the (get ready for this, take a deep breath) John Frieda Sheer Blonde Colour Renew Tone Restoring Mousse to thicken my hair and also to tone out a little more blonde.
Overall, I use a lot of products, but most of them only replace non-toning products, with the exception of the temporary hair colour, that, plus the fact that I am a huge drama queen, means that this isn't too much for me to deal with.
Products Mentioned:
Lush Daddy-O shampoo (Lush stores) - $9.95-$29.95
Marc Anthony Be Ageless Conditioner (drugstores) - $9-$15
Lush Veganese Conditioner (Lush stores) - $9.95-$29.95
John Frieda Sheer Blonde Colour Renew Tone Restoring Conditioner (drugstores) - $9-$15
Manic Panic Virgin Snow (Sally Beauty) - $13
Fanciful Temporary Hair Colour Silver Lining (Sally Beauty/drugstores) - $7-$10
John Frieda Sheer Blonde Colour Renew Tone Restoring Mousse (drugstores) - $9-$15
Developer Debate, Bleach.
I wanted to help you to quell some of your fears about choosing the right developer for bleaching your hair. But first off, I wanted to tell you that it's really not that big of a deal, you will get similar results no matter what you use, it just may take more time.
Cream or Clear?
Developer comes in clear and cream forms. Clear is usually cheaper, and is basically just peroxide and water. Cream developer is similar, but it also contains conditioning ingredients, buffers, and glycerin. So cream developer is much better for bleaching hair, and makes everything a lot easier to use.
Developer, cream or clear, also comes in different strengths, or "volumes". 10, 20, 30, 40 volume. The volume describes what percentage of the developer is peroxide. 10 volume is 3% peroxide, 20 is 6%, 30 is 9% and 40 is 12%, some places do have 50 volume, which is 15%, but it is usually only available to real professionals.
I like to generally say that anyone can use 30 volume, it is a good standard that I always have a big bottle of around the house. If you're trying to go to "pale yellow" the colour to dye your hair any bright colour, 30 volume should be good if your hair is any shade of "brown" from a dark, chocolatey brown to a light brown, 30 volume should do the trick.
If your hair is quite light already, you may prefer to use 20 or 10, but to be quite honest, I've never used either with bleach.
If your hair looks black or really dark brown, save yourself a lot of time and go with 40 volume.
My hair is really dark, it is black, thick and coarse, so bleaching it is a pain in the ass. To get my hair "pale yellow" enough to dye it pink, I bleached my hair twice with 40 volume. To get my hair as light as it is now, it's been bleached about somewhere between 4 to 7 times, with mostly 40 and occasionally 30 volume.
Depending on how you bleach your hair, depends on how much you're going to have to do it. Freshly bleached hair doesn't bleach as much as dirty, stale hair, so waiting a few days in between bleachings may give you better results.
I would highly recommend that you keep different developers around, especially if you typically need to use 40 volume. I always have a big ass bottle (946mL) of 30 and 40, and a small one shot bottle (120mL) of 20 volume. You may find one day when your hair still needs to be bleached, but 40 would produce too much lightening, and 30 will be better.
THE CONFUSING PART.
You can achieve the same end result with 20 volume that you can with 40 volume but you would have to use 20 volume more times that 40 volume.
Some people think that it is better for your hair to bleach many times (waiting time in between) with a lower developer than to use a stronger developer once.
Some people think that it is better for your hair to bleach many times (waiting time in between) with a lower developer than to use a stronger developer once.
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Review: Lush Veganese Conditioner
I'm going to start this review off by saying I know that this product sports a luxury price tag that is out of most people's budgets. I just work more than I should so I can afford it.
The conditioner is available at any Lush store, as well as from the Lush cosmetics website, in three different sizes.
100 mL for $9.95
250 mL for $19.95
500 mL for $29.95
The main ingredients in Veganese are lavender, sea weed, citrus, and rosemary. This is a completely vegan conditioner (hence the name).
The main purpose of this conditioner is to be an ultra lightweight conditioner for people with fine hair to give them lots of volume.
If you've read any of my posts or ever seen a picture of me, you can probably guess that "lightweight" does not mean a conditioner that would be particularly helpful to me. I have thick, coarse, bleached out hair that is damaged beyond return. And this conditioner is actually one of my favourite hair products. Especially in the "Shampoo, Conditioner, Hair Mask" department.
By now, you've probably hear of Wen, Hair One or the L'oreal Cleansing conditioners. They are becoming quite trendy for healthy hair methods.
Cleansing conditioners are sort of the healthier, newer version of 2 in 1 shampoo and conditioners, but these are more conditioner than shampoo, and that's actually why I love this conditioner.
Veganese as a post-shampoo conditioner really only works if your hair does not need any conditioner, just something to smooth it out when you're done, and in that case, why drop the cash on a conditioner at all? But for someone like me, using the Veganese conditioner actually takes the place of both my shampoo and my conditioner, so I'm only buying one product, which makes the price tag a little easier to swallow.
To use it as a cleansing conditioner, simply get into the shower, wet your hair, and apply the conditioner, but instead of smoothing it on like a regular conditioner, lather it up like a shampoo, and then leave it in while you do your other shower-type stuff, rinse it out before you get out of the shower, and you're good to go.
As a cleansing conditioner, I found that this leaves my hair incredibly clean. but also well conditioned, seeing as I didn't strip it with a shampoo before using it. The fact that it also has my favourite scent (citrus) doesn't hurt either.
The conditioner is available at any Lush store, as well as from the Lush cosmetics website, in three different sizes.
100 mL for $9.95
250 mL for $19.95
500 mL for $29.95
The main ingredients in Veganese are lavender, sea weed, citrus, and rosemary. This is a completely vegan conditioner (hence the name).
The main purpose of this conditioner is to be an ultra lightweight conditioner for people with fine hair to give them lots of volume.
If you've read any of my posts or ever seen a picture of me, you can probably guess that "lightweight" does not mean a conditioner that would be particularly helpful to me. I have thick, coarse, bleached out hair that is damaged beyond return. And this conditioner is actually one of my favourite hair products. Especially in the "Shampoo, Conditioner, Hair Mask" department.
By now, you've probably hear of Wen, Hair One or the L'oreal Cleansing conditioners. They are becoming quite trendy for healthy hair methods.
Cleansing conditioners are sort of the healthier, newer version of 2 in 1 shampoo and conditioners, but these are more conditioner than shampoo, and that's actually why I love this conditioner.
Veganese as a post-shampoo conditioner really only works if your hair does not need any conditioner, just something to smooth it out when you're done, and in that case, why drop the cash on a conditioner at all? But for someone like me, using the Veganese conditioner actually takes the place of both my shampoo and my conditioner, so I'm only buying one product, which makes the price tag a little easier to swallow.
To use it as a cleansing conditioner, simply get into the shower, wet your hair, and apply the conditioner, but instead of smoothing it on like a regular conditioner, lather it up like a shampoo, and then leave it in while you do your other shower-type stuff, rinse it out before you get out of the shower, and you're good to go.
As a cleansing conditioner, I found that this leaves my hair incredibly clean. but also well conditioned, seeing as I didn't strip it with a shampoo before using it. The fact that it also has my favourite scent (citrus) doesn't hurt either.
Friday, August 24, 2012
How to: Grey-Blonde Hair
So, I finally got my hair to a colour that I really really like. The lavender was something I got to by accident and just decided to live with. But this colour is staying!
It's kind of a mix of grey and blonde, my god father called it "grlonde", but I just think it looks awesome.
The first thing you'll need to do, is bleach the bejeezes out of your hair until it is pretty much white. I know what you're thinking, "I'm Asian, my hair doesn't go white!" oh yes darling, it does! You just need to bleach it, a lot. It'll probably fry if you've bleached it before (go all crispy and crazy coarse) but if you're careful it'll all go swell.
I only used two products to get my hair my perfect colour, and I was so happy! (Well, three, if you include developer.)
I used the Wella Colour Charm Liquid permanent toner in T14 Palest Ash blonde or Silver Lady. As opposed to the more popular T18 Lightest Ash Blonde or White Lady. With the 050 Cooling Violet additive.
So once my hair was bleached to hell and back, I mixed a whole bottle of the T17 with 30 volume creme developer (2:1 ratio, developer to colour) then I added in three capfuls of the 050 and mixed. This gave me way more than I needed, but if your hair is the same length as mine, you should probably still use this amount. (Bear in mind that I have a lot of hair shaved off the sides and the nape, and that my hair is cut into a mullet, so the longer hair is super thin.)
I left that in my hair for about an hour, to my pleasure, the dye developed into a dark grey colour, rather than the purple that the T18 gave me. I rinsed my hair and did all my normal stuff, I didn't really get to see the true result until this morning (my hair takes forever and a half to dry) and I absolutely love it. :)
The products I used:
Wella Colour Charm T14 - $6.79
Wella Colour Charm 050 - $6.79
Salon Care Developer, 30 Volume (price varies on size, but I used less than 100mL)
Not a huge price tag, seeing as I always have developer at home, and the bottle of 050 additive will last at least two more treatments.
It's kind of a mix of grey and blonde, my god father called it "grlonde", but I just think it looks awesome.
I only used two products to get my hair my perfect colour, and I was so happy! (Well, three, if you include developer.)
I used the Wella Colour Charm Liquid permanent toner in T14 Palest Ash blonde or Silver Lady. As opposed to the more popular T18 Lightest Ash Blonde or White Lady. With the 050 Cooling Violet additive.
So once my hair was bleached to hell and back, I mixed a whole bottle of the T17 with 30 volume creme developer (2:1 ratio, developer to colour) then I added in three capfuls of the 050 and mixed. This gave me way more than I needed, but if your hair is the same length as mine, you should probably still use this amount. (Bear in mind that I have a lot of hair shaved off the sides and the nape, and that my hair is cut into a mullet, so the longer hair is super thin.)
I left that in my hair for about an hour, to my pleasure, the dye developed into a dark grey colour, rather than the purple that the T18 gave me. I rinsed my hair and did all my normal stuff, I didn't really get to see the true result until this morning (my hair takes forever and a half to dry) and I absolutely love it. :)
The products I used:
Wella Colour Charm T14 - $6.79
Wella Colour Charm 050 - $6.79
Salon Care Developer, 30 Volume (price varies on size, but I used less than 100mL)
Not a huge price tag, seeing as I always have developer at home, and the bottle of 050 additive will last at least two more treatments.
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