Current level, then desired level, then the count between them. That is the first question on any lift, and here the arithmetic is short: a natural level 3 to a level 4 is one level of lift. Twenty volume takes virgin hair up to two levels, so it has room to spare here.
The hair has to be virgin for that count to hold. Henna, box color, an old bleach, a perm through the lengths: any of those and the lengths will not move, and the plan changes to a remover or a lightener on those inches before this bowl goes near them.
One level off a 3 still shows red
Lifting exposes warmth in a fixed order, red first, then orange, then yellow, and a level 3 sits right at the start of that run. One level up brings the first of the red with it, a red with the beginning of orange in it. A 4N reads as a neutral medium brown over it. A 4.3 uses it, and the red under the gold reads as chestnut. On hair that has never been colored I go 4.3, whatever the swatch looks like held against a 3. 4N is for gray, and for the client who says the word natural.
Some 3s throw more red than others. A strand test from the nape, processed the full time and judged dry, tells you before the whole head does.
The ash that sounds right
The general rule when lifting with tint is to lean cool, because an ash shade stands against the warmth coming up. At level 4 the rule runs out. Ash pigment absorbs light, so a 4.1 (a 4A on letter lines) reads about half a level darker than a 4N, and the lift you paid 40 minutes for gets eaten by the shade on top. She rinses her own 3 with a green edge at the ends, where the lift was least, and a cooler root where the scalp lifted more. Some colorists say ash barely shows on a dark canvas until about a 7. If she wants cool, a quarter 4.1 with the rest 4N is as far as it goes in the first bowl, and the rest of the cooling is a demi toner at the next visit.
| Shade on a lifted 3 | Reads as | Use it when |
|---|---|---|
| 4N (4N, or 4-0 on dash lines) | Neutral medium brown | Gray in the mix, or she said natural |
| 4.3 (4G) | Warm chestnut, the red used | Virgin hair, wants warmth |
| 4.1 (4A) alone | A cool 3 with green at the ends | Do not, on a one-level lift |
| Three quarters 4N, a quarter 4.1 | Medium brown, barely cool | She said less red, and means it |
| 4NN | Opaque medium brown | Resistant white above 75 percent |
Order, saturation, the clock
Dry, unwashed hair, four sections, thin partings. Saturation matters more than speed on a one-level lift, because a strand that got a thin coat stays a 3 and shows as a dark thread through the 4. Mid-lengths first, then ends, roots last, because the scalp is warm and the roots process faster than anything below them. Cap or bag the head once the roots are on to hold that warmth in. A cold room slows the whole head down.
One timer, set when the last section is on. Then walk back to the first mid-length you painted and wipe a strand at 25, and every 5 to 10 minutes after that. The timer is a reminder to look. Rinse when the strand reads a clean 4 dry, which for most heads is 35 to 40 minutes. Read the directions on your line too, because every line sets its own time, and more is not more: past 40 the roots run hot and the lengths gain nothing.
After
Permanent, so the level stays. The gold in a 4.3 softens over six to eight weeks. Cool water the first week and a color-safe shampoo. Regrowth shows at three to four weeks as a soft line, a 3 under a 4, and the retouch is the same bowl on the regrowth only, kept off the lengths that are already a 4. If the lengths have gone flat by then, a demi 4.3 on 10 vol through them for the last five minutes brings the warmth back without lifting them again.
Gray on the way to a 4
White hair does not lift. On the gray the 20 vol only opens the cuticle, and the 4N deposits at full depth, which is why 20 vol (6 percent) is the gray developer and 10 vol only blends. How much 4N goes in follows the percentage of white. Our ladder is a safe starting point: a quarter 4N with the rest 4.3 up to 25 percent white, half and half to 50, three quarters to 75, and 4N straight above that, 4NN if it is resistant. Wella’s own education runs lighter, no natural under 30 percent, a third at 30 to 50, half above 50. The gray coverage calculator turns a percentage into grams. Give the grayest area, usually the front hairline, its color first and its full time, and wipe there before you rinse. When the gray gets heavier the 4 to 5 formula is the same idea a level up.
