Hair Coloring Advice

Hair color is technically just a combination of lights reflecting from your hair shaft. These combinations depend on the pigments used and the light they are seen in. There are various types of hair color, the permanent hair color permanently changes the way your hair shaft looks, and reflects light. It cannot be washed out, and the only way to reverse the process will be to go through another chemical process. So, go for a permanent hair color only if you want a long-term change.

It is not advisable to color hair that has been previously colored by metallic colors or even herbs like henna.

Which Hair Color to Choose

Coloring your hair should not be an inspired decision. What looks good on one skin tone may appear bad on another person. Always choose your color based on your skin tone. To tell whether you have a warm or cool skin, here is a test. Do you tan? Then you are a warm skin tone. On the other hand, do you burn before you tan? Then you are a cool tone. Warm skin tones, olive or wheat complexions will look good with a golden shade – bronzes or shades darker than the skin. Latinos, Asians and African Americans fall into this category. Night black is not a good idea with any skin tone, it just makes the skin look washed out. The other complexion tone is cool, which will look good with auburn and copper colors. Reds make almost all hair interesting but not all shades of red go with all complexions.

Another thing to remember is the undertones. The color that the hair is seen in is actually the light reflecting off the surface of your hair strand. There is always a shade of color lighter than the one you have applied, which will reflect off your hair and give it sheen. If that is agreeable with your skin tone, it works, or else you end up with an unwanted halo.

For gray coverage, a permanent color will be more suitable but then, if you are not ready for a permanent change, go for a semi permanent shade, one shade lighter than your color. This will hide the gray and make it appear highlighted.

It is a good idea to do a strand test on your hair before you decide on the shade you want. Of course, nowadays the easy to use self-application hair colors give you a sneak peek of the color you will eventually end up with. But then again, the hair color of the model on the pack will not really be identical to the color you as it will appear on your head. You have to also consider your base color, if it is dark then any color will not stand out too much.

If you are satisfied with a strand test, make sure you leave on the color after the natural application for the same time, to get the same color shade.

Application Advice

If you are an amateur and are getting into the hair color look for the first time, start with a semi-permanent color, not permanent. The advantage is that the semi-permanent colors tend to wash off after a few shampoos, so if you are not confident of the result, not much damage will be done. However, if the purpose of coloring your hair is gray coverage, semi permanent may not do the job entirely. In any case, it is a good idea to wait at least two days after a shampoo before you start coloring your hair. Even then, there should be deep conditioning done before coloring the hair.

After doing the strand test, carefully follow the manufacturer’s advice for the steps for applying the color, as well as mixing it. Remember, this is a highly potent chemical and wrong mixing or application can put your hair at risk. Divide your hair into 1/4th inch or ½ inch stands and proceed to color. The tips, the last one inch of your hair is more porous than the rest, especially if you have long hair. So start applying color from the scalp end of the hair, but be sure to dab it well till the last end, specially if it is semi-permanent color.

After the recommended time, wash off well, but never forget to use a conditioner, it works as a color fixer, even if it is not already called a color fixing conditioner.

Colored hair adds that Zing to any face. Experiment, but do not go overboard.