Formula: Level 3 to 5, Dark Brown to Light Brown Through the Red

Steps

Take the hair history and count the levels. A natural 3 to a 5 is two levels, the most 20 vol gives on virgin hair. Henna, box color or old bleach through the lengths means those inches will not lift, and the plan starts with a remover or a lightener on them.

Strand test a piece from the nape in a spoon of the mix for the full 40 minutes, and judge it dry. Red at 15, red-orange at 30 and a 5 at 40 means 20 vol will do. Still red-orange at 40 means this head needs 30.

Mix 5.3 with 20 vol at 1:1, 60 g and 60 g for shoulder length. Swap in 5N for gray, and check the ratio and time printed for your line. Patch test 48 hours before, as the box says.

Apply to dry hair in thin sections, every strand saturated: mid-lengths first, then ends, and give them ten minutes before the roots go on. The scalp is warm, the roots lift faster, and two levels is enough lift to band. Cap it.

Set one timer when the roots are on, then look at the first mid-length section from 30, every 5 to 10 minutes. Red-orange on the wiped strand means it needs the rest of the time. A clean warm 5, judged dry, means rinse at 35.

Rinse until the water runs clear, shampoo once, condition, dry fully before anyone judges it, since wet hair reads a level darker. If she wants it cooler, book a demi 5.1 toner on 10 vol in two weeks.

From the chair

The nape is the slowest hair on the head and the crown the fastest, which is the reason the roots go on last and the crown gets wiped first.
Write the developer you used on her record. At the retouch you want the same volume on the regrowth and none of the mix on the lengths.
Some colorists put a bond builder in the bowl on any two-level lift. On coarse hair getting 30 vol it is cheap insurance.

Tell her about the red before the bowl is mixed. At 15 minutes a natural level 3 under 20 vol is red, plainly red, and a client who was not warned reads it as the color going wrong and asks for the basin. A client who was told sees a stage. The stage is the pigment: lifting exposes warmth in a fixed order, red first, then orange, then yellow, and a 3 starts at the red end. Two levels takes it up through the red-orange of a 4 and stops on the orange-red of a level 5, which is the warmth this bowl has to live on.

Everything between minute 10 and minute 30 is that pigment moving.

The strand decides the developer

Two levels on virgin hair is what 20 vol does. Thirty does three (the two side by side), and on a fine-haired 3 it overshoots to a 6 at the root while the ends are still a 5. So the head does not get 30 unless a strand says it must: a piece from the nape, the slowest hair on the head, in a spoon of the mix for the full 40 minutes, then rinsed and dried before it is read, because wet hair reads a level darker than it is. Red at 15, red-orange at 30 and a warm 5 at 40 means 20 vol. Still red-orange at 40 and the head is resistant, and it gets 30. The level chart gives the developer for any pair of levels. The strand says whether this head agrees.

Texture	Developer	Minutes	What you rinse
Fine, never colored	20 vol	35	A clean 5, roots to 5.5 if they went on early
Medium, never colored	20 vol	40	A warm 5, even root to end
Coarse, glassy, resistant	30 vol	40 to 45	A 5, sometimes a 4.5 at the ends
Box-dyed 3, virgin regrowth	Either	45	A 5 root over lengths still a 3

5.3, 5N, and the 5.1 that has to wait

A 5.3 (a 5G on letter lines) uses the orange-red. Gold over orange-red reads as caramel, and on hair that has never been colored it is my first choice. A 5N reads as a plain light brown, warm in the sun, and it is the shade for gray and for anyone who asks for natural. The usual advice when lifting with tint is to go ash or cool against the warmth, and a 5.1 is blue with a touch of green, the right neutralizer for orange-red, so the idea is sound. But a two-level lift exposes more warmth than one bowl of ash can cancel while it is also doing the lifting, and the result is a dusty 4.5 at the ends with orange at the roots. Ash over that much warmth goes muddy. So the cool comes afterward: a demi 5.1 on 10 vol for 20 minutes, two weeks later, on hair that is already a warm 5, does what she wanted the first bowl to do.

Mids first, roots ten minutes later

Dry hair, thin sections, every strand saturated, because a thin coat lifts less and reads as a darker stripe. Mid-lengths first, then ends, roots last with ten minutes between, since the scalp is warm and the roots process faster. Skip the gap and you rinse a 6 root over a 5 length, a hot root that no toner fully hides. On short hair go straight through. A cap over it once the roots are on holds the scalp warmth in, and keep the room steady, because cold air slows the process.

One timer, started when the roots go on. From 30, go back to the first mid-length section you painted and wipe a strand every 5 to 10 minutes, and read it dry. The crown is always ahead of the nape, so check the crown first. Rinse when the strand reads a clean warm 5, at 35 on fine hair and 40 to 45 on coarse. Read the directions on your line as well, because every line sets its own time and past the point longer only costs condition.

White hair skips the red

White hair has nothing to lift, so the 20 vol opens it and the 5 deposits at the depth on the tube, no red stage. A 5.3 on white comes out warmer than the swatch, so a natural goes in by the percentage: a quarter 5N up to 25 percent white, half to 50, three quarters to 75, 5N straight above that. That ladder is a safe start. The biggest pro lines teach a lighter hand, none under 30 percent, a third at 30 to 50, half above 50, and the front hairline, where the white usually is, goes on first.

Two levels is the ceiling for 20 vol If she says blonde at any point, this is the wrong formula. From a 3, a 6 is 30 vol, a 7 is a high-lift series on virgin hair, and anything lighter is bleach.

The line at four weeks

The 5 stays. The gold in a 5.3 softens over six to eight weeks toward a plain warm 5, and regrowth is a two-level line that shows at about four weeks, harder than the line on the 3 to 4 formula. Retouch the regrowth only, same shade, same developer, and keep the mix off the lengths. They are already a 5 and would only go warmer, and overlapping permanent onto hair that has been lifted once is where the ends start to go.

Things people ask about the red stage

Why does my dark brown go red when I lift it?

Because red is the pigment under a level 3, and lifting exposes warmth in a fixed order: red, then orange, then yellow. Lift a 3 and the red comes up first, turns red-orange as the hair passes 4 and orange-red as it reaches 5. The red at 15 minutes is the color moving, and the bowl was fine.

Can I use 5.1 to get a cool light brown from a 3?

As the first application, I would not. Two levels of lift expose more orange-red than the blue in a 5.1 (a 5A) can cancel while it is still lifting, and the result is a dull 5 with orange at the roots and a khaki cast at the ends. Lift with 5.3 or 5N, then cool it with a demi 5.1 toner on 10 vol two weeks later.

20 vol or 30 vol for two levels?

Twenty on fine and medium hair, 30 on coarse, resistant hair that barely moves on the strand test. Thirty on fine hair overshoots to a 6 at the root. The rule is the same for any pair of levels: two is 20, three is 30.

What if my hair is a box-dyed 3?

Then the lengths stay a 3 and the regrowth lifts to a 5. Permanent color moves natural pigment and leaves artificial pigment where it is. A color remover first, which takes out only the old dye, then read the level again. Or lighten the lengths and put the 5 over the top.

How long before the roots show?

About four weeks, and it is a two-level line, so it shows more than a one-level retouch would. Retouch the regrowth with the same formula on the same developer and keep the mix off the lengths, which are already a 5 and would only go warmer.