Formula: Level 4 to 6 Full Color, Medium Brown to Dark Blonde

Steps

Hair history first: henna, box color, bleach, a perm, anything through the lengths in the last two years. This bowl lifts virgin hair only, so old color on the lengths means a remover or a lightener there before this goes near it.

Check the level in daylight on dry, unwashed hair: a natural 4 is medium brown with a red glint in the sun. Patch test 48 hours before, as the box says.

Weigh 60 g of 6.3 and 60 g of 20 vol, equal parts, and stir to one even cream. Your line's own directions win on ratio and time. Four sections, clips in, gloves on.

Mid-lengths and ends first, half an inch off the scalp, thin sections, saturated, all four sections in under ten minutes. Start one timer when the last section is on.

At minute 10 put the roots on, that last half inch, in fine partings. The scalp is warm and they lift faster, so they get less time. Cap or bag the head to hold that warmth.

From 25 go back to the first section you painted and wipe a strand every 5 to 10 minutes, judged dry. Rinse at 35 on fine hair, 40 on medium and coarse, when crown and nape both read a warm dark blonde with the red gone.

Add a little warm water, work the color to a lather at the scalp, rinse until clear, shampoo once, condition. Dry a section before anyone looks in the mirror, because wet it reads a level darker.

From the chair

The orange at 15 is the level 5 pigment showing through on its way up. Leave it. Rinsing at 25 gives you a 5.4 nobody ordered.
Wet 6.3 on a fresh lift reads like a copper light brown. Dry the strand before either of you judges it.
If she asks for it cooler at the end, that is a demi 6.1 toner on 10 vol at the next visit. 6.1 on 20 vol today reads khaki on the nape, and a level 4 is where most khaki starts.

Whether any of it has been colored is the first thing to find out, and the second, because this bowl lifts hair that has never been touched and does nothing else. Henna, a box brown from two winters ago, bleach at the ends from a summer, a perm: any of them through the lengths and the regrowth will go to a 6 while the lengths sit where they are, with a hard line between them. Ask, then look. Virgin hair is rare these days and the lengths usually tell you.

On a natural level 4 that has never been colored, two levels of lift is what 20 vol does, and a level 6 is where it lands.

Why gold

Lifting exposes red, then orange, then yellow, and a 4 lifted two levels stops on orange. Ash against warmth is the usual advice when you lift with tint, and at 6 it half works: 6.1 (a 6A on letter lines) carries blue, blue cancels orange, and on a nape that has not quite reached a 6 the blue meets red-orange instead and reads khaki. Gold is the other answer. 6.3 (6G) sits on the orange and dresses it as warmth, and the result is a warm dark blonde that looks like it grew that way. Take that today, and a demi 6.1 toner on 10 vol at the next visit cools it with no risk once the level is settled.

The bowl

Sixty grams of 6.3 to sixty of 20 vol, mixed until there are no streaks. Equal parts is the rule, an ounce and an ounce, whatever you measure with, and read the directions on your line, since every line sets its own ratio and time. Mix fresh and use it now. Sixty and sixty covers a shoulder-length head, and dense hair takes more, so I mix a little over rather than run out at the crown. The dye amount calculator will say how much more.

Mids first, roots at ten

Dry, unwashed hair. Mid-lengths and ends first, half an inch off the scalp, in thin sections, saturated on top of the section and underneath. Thick sections lift unevenly, orange patches beside brown ones. Get all four sections on in under ten minutes, then start one timer. At minute 10 the roots go on, that last half inch, in fine partings, because the scalp is warm and the roots lift faster than anything below them. Cap the head after that to hold the warmth in. A cold room slows the whole head, and a cap is the answer, never a dryer.

At 15 orange surfaces under the cream at the mids, the level 5 pigment on its way up. At 25 it is plain orange, root to end. From 25 go back to the first section you painted and wipe a strand every 5 to 10 minutes, and judge it dry, since wet hair reads a level darker. At 35 on fine hair, 40 on medium and coarse, both crown and nape read a warm dark blonde with the red gone, and that is the rinse. The timer only told you when to start looking. Past 40 the roots run hot and the lengths gain nothing.

The orange at 25 is the formula working A natural 4 passes through orange on its way to a 6. Rinse at 25 and you have a 5.4. Rinse at 35 to 40 and you have the dark blonde on the swatch.

Gray at 6

Past about 20 percent white the 6.3 goes sheer, a gold tint over gray. Up to 30 percent, half 6N and half 6.3 in the same 60 g, and past that 6N alone, since the natural gives the white hair something to hold. Our ladder leans heavy on the natural and the big pro lines run lighter, none under 30 percent and a third at 30 to 50, so treat ours as the heavy end. The front, where the white usually is, gets its color first and 45 minutes if it is stubborn. 6.1 on white hair without a natural in the bowl goes greenish, one more reason it waits for the toner.

The six-week regrowth

By week five there is half an inch of natural 4 at the part line. Roots only with the same bowl, 35 minutes, then the last five minutes pulled through the lengths with a little water to refresh the tone. Do not overlap the full-strength mix onto the lengths, and do not run 20 vol through them for the full time every six weeks, which is how a warm 6 becomes a dry, uneven 7. A purple or blue shampoo once a week keeps the warmth in check between visits.

When it goes wrong

What you see at the rinse	Why	The fix
Copper light brown, root to end	Rinsed at 25, the 5 had not reached 6	Nothing today. Same bowl on the lengths in a week
Pale, bright first inch over a warm 6	Hot roots: roots on with the mids, or no gap	Demi 6N on the root inch, 10 vol, ten minutes
Warm 6 roots, brown lengths, a line between	Old color on the lengths did not lift	Remover or lightener on the lengths, then a demi 6
Green-brown cast on the nape and ends	6.1 went on before the level was reached	Demi 6.3 on 10 vol to warm it back
Gold tint over visible white	6.3 alone on more than 20 percent gray	Half 6N next time, 45 minutes on the front

Most of those are a clock or an order problem, and a wiped strand at 25 catches all of them but the first.

Asked over the bowl

Can I use 6.1 to keep it from going warm?

On a natural 4 I would not. The two levels of lift expose orange, and 6.1 (a 6A) has only blue to throw at it. On a nape that has barely reached a 6 that reads khaki. Take the warm 6 today and cool it with a demi 6.1 toner on 10 vol next visit.

Will this lift the ends I colored last year?

It will not. Permanent color moves natural pigment and leaves artificial pigment where it is, so the virgin regrowth goes to a 6 and the old dye on the lengths stays put, maybe a touch warmer, with a band where the two meet. Old color on the lengths means a remover or bleach on those inches first.

It went orange at 20 minutes. Rinse?

Leave it. Orange at 20 is a 5 on its way to a 6, and the last fifteen minutes are the ones that turn it into a dark blonde. Rinsing early gives you a warm light brown that most people describe as ginger.

Can this take me to a 7?

Twenty volume stops at a 6 on a natural 4. A 7 is three levels and needs 30 vol and a toner after, and that is the level 4 to 7 formula, and it costs more in condition than this one.

What do I do at the regrowth?

Roots only, same 6.3 on 20 vol, 35 minutes, then the last five minutes pulled through the lengths with a little water to refresh the tone. Twenty vol on the lengths for the full time every six weeks is how a warm 6 turns into a dry, uneven 7.