Basic Hair Color
How Natural Haircolor is Determined
Did you know that your natural haircolor is completely unique? Your hair might look like the same shade of black, brown or blonde as someone else's, but there are subtle differences in everyone's natural haircolor.
Your natural haircolor is determined by three factors:
- The type of natural color pigment melanin present in your hair's cortex. There are only two types of pigment:
- Eumelanin (black pigment)
- Phenomelanin (red/yellow pigment)
- How many melanin granules exist
- Whether those granules are close together or far apart
Here is how these elements determine your natural haircolor:
- Black hair contains densely packed melanin granules full of eumelanin.
- Brown hair has a loose pattern of eumelanin-filled granules or granules blended with eumelanin and phenomelanin, depending upon its cool or warm tones and its darkness or lightness.
- Blonde hair contains few granules with minimal bits of eumelanin. In fact, the eumelanin is so sparse that the color of blonde hair is the color of the hair fiber itself.
- Red hair has loosely packed granules containing phenomelanin.
Gray Hair
Although most people don't see gray hair until their late thirties, a very few see premature gray hair in their teens. Like your haircolor, it depends on genetics.
What causes gray hair? As you age, your natural production of pigment slows down and your natural color loses its color strength. This doesn't happen to every hair at the same time, so the contrast between the hair with no color and the hair that still has some color causes it to look gray. So how gray your hair actually looks is determined by the percentage of strands with no color vs. the pigmented strands.
Gray Hair Myths
Myth: Pulling out even one gray hair causes several grays to grow back.
Fact: If you pull out one hair, only one grows back.
Myth: Gray hair is more coarse and wiry than pigmented hair.
Fact: Gray hair tends to contain a larger medulla region, which can result in a hair strand that is:
- Stiffer
- Harder to bend
- Less manageable (wiry)
Gray hair may also be drier because fewer natural oils are present.
Myth: Gray hair colors as quickly as pigmented hair.
Fact: Gray hair can be resistant to haircolor, due to a decreased amount of melanin. Melanin contains metals such as iron, zinc and magnesium that help the dyes develop. If you want to color gray hair completely, leave the color on for the full time recommended in the product instructions. Your hair may need a full 45 minutes to completely color gray hair.
Myth: Your hair can turn gray over night.
Fact: Hair turns gray gradually over time.
Semi-Permanent Haircolor
Semi-Permanent haircolors last from 5-8 shampoos.
What they do:
- Add color that washes out gradually and doesn't leave roots
- Color without lightening
- Do not change natural haircolor
How they work:
Gently add mostly large color molecules to the cortex of your hair. (The large size of the molecules in the dye limits its penetration into your hair.)
Color without using ammonia or peroxide
Use Semi-Permanent colors to:
- Blend or cover hair that is up to 50% gray
- Subtly enhance your starting haircolor
Want to add just a subtle boost to your haircolor
Demi-Permanent Haircolor
Demi-Permanent haircolors last up to 28 shampoos.
What they do:
- Leave no noticeable root line
- Color without lightening
How they work:
- The actual shades are formed in the cortex by use of several dyes. Color does not shampoo out as quickly because it has actually changed the composition of the hair.
- Color using no ammonia and low volume peroxide
Use Demi-Permanent colors to:
- Blend or cover up to 50% gray
- Richly enhance your starting haircolor
Permanent Haircolor
Permanent haircolor lasts until you change shades, your hair grows out or you cut your hair. Reapplication is recommended every 4-6 weeks to avoid noticeable re-growth.
What they do:
- Change the color so that it does not wash out
How they work:
- The actual shades are formed in the cortex by the interaction of several dyes. The change in the cortex is made more permanent with the use of a higher volume peroxide.
- Permanent haircolor can lighten hair 2-3 shades, while high lift shades can lighten hair up to 4 shades.
Use Permanent colors to:
- Cover up to 100% gray
- Achieve subtle or dramatic haircolor changes
- Lighten haircolor
Highlighting
Highlights are a quick and easy way to add anything from subtle to intense streaks to your hair. You control how many and where you add them, so getting the look you want is simple.
What they do:
- Change the color so that it does not wash out
How they work:
- The highlighting mixture enters the cuticle through the cortex to decolorize the natural pigment.
- Can lighten hair from 2-6 shades
- Contain peroxide and alkalizing agents
Use highlights to:
- Complement and add dimension to your natural haircolor
- Achieve subtle or dramatic effects
- Brighten haircolor
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