understanding your hair color

Do not apply hair coloring to dirty hair!
Do not apply hair coloring to tangled hair!
Do not apply hair coloring to conditioned hair!
The first two may be obvious but the third is also important, do not apply your new color when you have used conditioner on your hair that day, shampoo is fine however.

While you may think you can tell your hair color at a glance there is more to it than most people think.
There are 10 base colors to hair and there are 10 underlying pigments to those colors.
The underlying pigments will be enhanced when you lighten your hair which can lead to some unnatural looking tones if not treated correctly.
Here is a list of colors and their pigments.

-COLOR- | -UNDERLYING PIGMENT-
10 - Platinum Blonde | Pale Yellow
9 - Very Light Blonde | Yellow
8 - Light Blonde | Yellow-Gold
7 - Medium Blonde | Gold
6 - Dark Blonde | Orange-Gold
5 - Lightest Brown | Orange
4 - Light Brown | Red-Orange
3 - Medium Brown | Red
2 - Dark Brown | Red-Brown
1 - Black | Dark Red-Brown

When you are changing hair color you must take action to neutralize or enhance the underlying pigment to get the color you desire. If you simply apply a new color, especially if you are trying to lighten your hair by more than 2 steps, you may find the new color warped because of this.

Over the counter hair color......

can cost you more in the long run than professional color. Several things from as basic as you going through puberty, going through menopause, taking prescription drugs even a daily vitamin can cause the chemicals in your hair not to mix well with color. Most of the boxes of color on a shelf show you the true pigment of the color you are about to use but that color is only true if you have white hair. Most people do not have white hair. Unfortunately being a professional and taking you by the hand into a store to help you pick out a color that would be right for you would be very difficult because they do not list the colors in the true color level that they should. There are places that you can purchase close to professional product and get close to the result a professional would give you but i would only recommend these places if you plan on doing an all over color. If you plan on doing highlights PLEASE SEEK A PROFESSIONAL!!If you decide you want to purchase the over the counter color and you do not know your base color or the level of the color you are buying you might end up spending est..$60/hr and up for corrective coloring. That rate is on the low end because it all depends on the market where you live. I am a professional stylist. I do not claim to know it all but have seen my fair share of hair catastrophes due to lack of knowledge on the over the counter hair color.