Ask The Experts: All the Colours Explained August 24, 2018 14:28
Whether you're in the mood to try the latest trend or colouring your hair has become a permanent fixture in your hair journey, it's important to know the different types of hair colour and how they will interact with your locks.
Not all colour is created equal and each serves a different purpose. Knowing the different types of hair colour will allow you to feel confident in your new beauty look—whether you plan on keeping it or not!
HAIR COLOR TYPE #1: TEMPORARY OR SEMI-PERMANENT HAIR COLOUR
Shades of grey and pastels have been lighting up social media feeds recently. These on-trend colours make for a pretty picture, but not everyone is ready to keep such a bold look for the long term. This is where temporary hair colour comes into play. They coat the outside of the hair shaft and when you shampoo, the vibrant, new colour will wash out and the original shade of your hair will show again.
This allows the wearer to experience a new hair shade without the long-term commitment.
Intermixable and ever changing semi-permanent colour is fun for anyone looking fr regular change and who likes to have fun with their hair without compromising on condition
HAIR COLOR TYPE #2: DEMI-PERMANENT COLOLUR
If you're ready to take that temporary look a little further, demi-permanent hair colour will do just the trick. These dyes are generally not formulated with ammonia, so they are super conditioning and enhance softness and shine. The reflects are visible in the hair for around 10-12 washes (depending on what you are using at home). Demi-permanent colours can be a great option for grey hair blending as they softly deposit only
There are a myriad of benefits to using demi-permanent colour, including that they can help add gloss and shine to dull looking hair, they’re great to use when growing out permanent colour, and they can be used to create an massive variety of tones form browns through to the lightest blondes
Like temporary colour, if your hair is damaged it could retain demi-permanent colour less, meaning they may need more frequent refreshing
HAIR COLOR TYPE #3: PERMANENT HAIR COLOR
If you're looking to stick something out long term, permanent hair colour is probably the right option for you. This dye requires more complex chemical processing and should penetrate your hair more deeply. This means your colour can last for weeks without visible signs of fading.
Permanent hair colour can be used to help lighten, darken, or tone your hair, help provide high grey hair coverage, help prevent fading, and provide high coverage.
Despite its long-lasting benefits, permanent hair colour will eventually have to be reapplied due to new growth. Depending on your base colour and what you'd like to achieve, you may have to gradually colour your hair to achieve your desired look. While it would be great to go from dark to platinum blonde in one sitting, slow and steady usually wins the hair race.
HAIR COLOUR TYPE #4: HIGHLIGHTS
Not every look requires all-over colour, which is where highlights come into play. These are achieved by placing the colour on different segments of the hair to help promote depth, tone, and shade. The chunky-looking highlights of the past are long gone, and now a more dimensional, toned-down look has become a way to help refresh tired locks. Instead of being limited to one type of highlights, there are quite a few you can choose from. These include:
OMBRÉ
Ombré leaves a deeper more natural colour at the root and gradually fades into a lighter highlighted tone at the bottom of the hair.
SOMBRE
Consider Sombre the subtler, softer sister of Ombre. With this method, there’s a lower contrast between the hair at the roots and the hair at the ends, and the dark shade at the roots subtly gradates into the colour at the ends for a more seamless blend. Some enchanting versions of Sombre are Bronde Sombre, Caramel Sombre and Mocha Sombre—all beautiful blurs of brunette into blonde.
BALAYAGE
This highlighting technique involves painting on the highlights where they will pick up the light, and helps give tired-looking hair a youthful glow.
LOWLIGHTS
Instead of picking strands to lighten, this technique can introduce darker tones to the hair and is perfect for a winter update or to blend away grey hair
TEXTURED HIGHLIGHTS
This style will incorporate different shades to help create a multi-dimensional look. We can use as many colours as creativity dictates to create a multi-faceted effect
BABYLIGHTS
The Babylight or baby blonde highlighted look consists of tiny subtle highlights that resemble the sun-kissed highlights you’d get around your hairline as a child. They get their delicate appearance due to the very small amounts of dyed hair that are separated and placed in each foil.
Most highlights for hair are done with permanent colour or powered lightener (a.k.a bleach), but they are much easier to change out than a full-coverage result.
HAIR COLOR TYPE #5: POWEDER LIGHTENER (A.K.A BLEACH)
Used most commonly to create blonde highlights or for full head lightening results powder lightener is the most well used category in the salon
It is also the only product that will lighten through previously coloured hair…so it is our ‘go to’ when we want to offer change
If you have naturally dark brown or brunette hair and want a light result, there is a good chance you’ll need a powder lightener first before we can create the colour of your choice. While bleach is a great way to lighten and brighten your hair, be aware that bleaching can lead to damage and special care (including adding bond multiplication to the formula) are essential
