Full color formula

Full color formula: level 4 to 7

Three levels is the most a permanent color should be asked to lift: what it costs, what the scraped strand shows on the way up, and the toner that finishes it.

Published 2026-09-14, updated 2026-09-24. Written by the Easy Hair Edit team and checked against the rules the rest of the site follows.

Before and after: medium brown hair at level 4, then colored to level 7, medium blonde — Left: medium brown hair at level 4, before. Right: medium blonde at level 7, warm from the lift and cooled by the 7.12 toner, after permanent cream on 30 vol, 40 to 45 minutes on one timer from the last section. Illustration, not a photograph.

The formula

In the chair: 60 to 75 min Hard Lasts Permanent; the gloss fades at 4 to 6 weeks

Product: Permanent cream, 7.12 (ash-violet); 7.1 (ash) where the line has no .12; followed by a demi 7.12 toner
Developer: 30 vol (9%), then 10 vol (3%) for the toner
Ratio: 1:1
Amount: 60 g color + 60 g developer (about 2 oz and 2 oz) for shoulder-length hair, plus 40 g + 80 g for the toner
Processing: 40 to 45 minutes on one timer from the last section; roots on at 15; nape scraped from 25; toner 10 to 15 minutes after
Result: Medium blonde at level 7, warm from the lift and cooled by the 7.12 toner

Steps

Count the levels first. A natural 4 to a 7 is three, the most permanent color lifts, so confirm the hair is virgin root to tip: no box, no demi, no henna anywhere on the lengths. Old dye sends those inches to a remover or bleach first.
Patch test 48 hours before, as the box says, and strand test a piece from the nape on 30 vol for the full 45. Dry it and read it in daylight. If the strand stops at a 6, so will the head.
Weigh 60 g of 7.12 and 60 g of 30 vol (1:1, or whatever ratio the tube gives) in a plastic bowl, with a bond builder at its own dose if you use one, and mix to one even cream. Four sections, thin partings, and more mix than you think.
Mid-lengths and ends first, starting an inch off the scalp, every strand saturated, the whole head inside 15 minutes. Set one timer when the last section is on and put a cap over it.
At minute 15 on that timer, roots. Fine partings, that last inch only, and no overlap onto the lengths already processing. Then back under the cap.
From minute 25, lift the cap and scrape a strand from the first section you applied every 5 to 10 minutes. Orange going to yellow-orange is on schedule. Rinse at 40 on fine hair, 45 on medium and coarse, when the mids read yellow-orange with no clear orange left.
Rinse until clear, one gentle shampoo, towel to damp. Mix 40 g of demi 7.12 with 80 g of 10 vol, apply fast, roots first and ends last, 10 to 15 minutes with the first look at 10. Rinse, condition, and dry a full section before either of you judges it.

From the chair

Have the toner on the cart before the color goes on. Thirty volume on a 4 always leaves a gold-orange 7 at the rinse, and the demi 7.12 is what makes it read as blonde.
The nape stalls and the hairline runs. Scrape the nape first because it went on first, and keep the finest hair around the face for the very end of the root pass.
If the crown looks done at 35, some colorists give it five more, and the number on the tube is still the maximum.

Straight answer

Permanent 7.12 (ash-violet, a 7VB or 7A type shade on US lines), or 7.1 if the line has no .12, with 30 vol, 1:1, 40 to 45 minutes on dry virgin hair, mid-lengths and ends first and roots at minute 15; then a demi 7.12 toner on 10 vol for 10 to 15 minutes. Thirty volume takes a medium brown up three levels to a warm medium blonde, and the toner takes the yellow-orange out of it. The hair comes out warm and drier than it went in, so the toner and a bond treatment are part of the service.

Three levels is the question

The first thing settled at the chair is where the hair is against where it is going, and how many levels of lift sit between them. A natural level 4 to a level 7 is three, and on virgin hair that is the ceiling for permanent color: twenty volume for two levels, thirty for three, forty for four with a high-lift series. So this is a 30 vol job with a cool shade on top, and it is real work in one visit as long as two things are said before the bowl is mixed. The hair rinses warm, and a toner goes on the same day.

Forty volume does not raise the ceiling. It lifts the same three levels faster and hotter, the scalp feels it, and the roots run ahead of the lengths. The tube says 30 for three levels on every line that prints one, and reading the directions is the step people skip. More is not more with this developer.

Why 7.12

A 7 exposes yellow-orange, the strongest warmth in the whole sequence, and canceling it takes blue across the wheel from the orange and violet across from the yellow. The .12 carries both, and on US lines it is the 7VB or 7A type shade. 7.1 alone is blue only, the pick on a line with no .12, knowing the yellow half stays. 7N comes out a warm gold here.

The bowl

Sixty grams of 7.12 and 60 g of 30 vol, about 2 oz of each, weighed in a plastic bowl. A spoon of color to a spoon of developer keeps the ratio without a scale. Mix more than you think you need, because a three-level lift only happens where every strand is saturated, and a second bowl mixed 20 minutes later is 20 minutes weaker than the first. The dye amount calculator scales the 60 and 60 for long or dense hair.

The order, the cap, the one timer

Four sections, thin partings, the nape first because it lifts slowest. Mid-lengths and ends go on an inch off the scalp, saturated, and the whole head is covered in under 15 minutes. One timer starts when the last section is on. Then a cap (a plastic bag from the shop does the same job as a processing cap) goes over it, because the developer runs on the warmth coming off the scalp and a cold room slows it down. No dryer over it and no heat pad under it, since the mix makes its own heat.

At minute 15 the roots go on, that last inch, in fine partings, with nothing overlapping the lengths already working. A root inch that went on at the start would be a level ahead of everything below it, and a hot root on a three-level lift is a yellow band an inch high, and the way back is a demi at the natural level on 10 vol over that inch alone. From minute 25, lift the cap and look at the nape every 5 to 10 minutes, because it went on first and it is furthest ahead. A head that is fine at the front and coarse at the nape gets both scraped at 30, and the coarse side gets the full 45.

What the scrape shows

Push the cream back with the tail comb and read the level, not the tone. Lifting a 4 goes through red, then orange, then yellow, on every head, and the table is what each stage means on this one.

The strand reads	Level it is at	What to do
Red glint under the brown	Still a 4 going on 5	Leave it. Normal at 10 minutes
Red-orange, bright copper	A 5	Leave it. This is minute 20 on most heads
Clear orange	A 6	On schedule at 30. Ten to 15 more
Yellow-orange, no clear orange left	A 7	Rinse. 40 on fine hair, 45 on coarse
Orange still in it at 45	Stalled at a 6	Rinse anyway. A fresh bowl in a week beats another 15 minutes now

Judge the strand dry. Wet hair reads a level darker at the basin, and the ash in the tint hides some of what is underneath while it sits on the hair, so the strand gets dried before anyone decides.

Before 30 vol goes on a scalp Pull a wet strand from the ends: a stretch with a spring back is fine, and a stretch with no spring means stop and cut, because 30 vol for 45 minutes on hair that is already gummy is a breakage complaint in a month.

The toner is half the service

Rinse until clear, one gentle shampoo, towel to damp. Then 40 g of demi 7.12 with 80 g of 10 vol, the bowl from the level 7 to 7 toner formula, on fast, roots first and ends last, 10 to 15 minutes. It looks gray in the sink. Dry a section and it is a cool medium blonde. If the dry 7 looks different from what the strand promised, the toner selector sorts the demi for it. A purple shampoo once a week is the upkeep between visits, and it will not tone a gold-orange 7 on its own.

When this goes to bleach

Old dye on the lengths, any amount, and the regrowth lifts to a 7 while the lengths sit warm at whatever they were, so those inches get a remover or bleach first. Hair past the shoulder blades, coarse or already dry, does better in two visits on 20 vol, a 4 to 6 now with the level 4 to 6 formula and a 6 to 7 in six weeks. Gray past about 30 percent wants a third of 7N in the bowl, with the gray coverage calculator giving the split.

Six weeks on

Regrowth is three levels of contrast and it shows at four to six weeks. The retouch is 7.12 on 30 vol on the root inch only, with nothing overlapping the hair that already went to a 7. Some colorists pull the retouch color through the lengths with a little water for the last five minutes. Others keep permanent off hair that already has permanent on it and put the demi 7.12 through the lengths instead, and that is the version to reach for, since the demi is the part that faded anyway. The processing time calculator has the minutes by texture for the root inch.

Asked before the 30 vol goes on

Why not 40 vol and get there in 30 minutes?

Forty lifts a 4 no higher. Permanent color tops out at three levels whichever developer is under it, and 40 under a full-head application is where the scalp burns and the roots run hot. Forty is for a high-lift series going four levels on virgin hair. On a 4 to 7, 30 vol for 45 minutes reaches the same level with far less damage.

Do I have to do the toner?

Yes, on this lift. Straight out of the 30 vol a lifted 4 is a yellow-orange 7 that most people call brassy, and the ash in the permanent 7.12 has spent itself on the way up. The level 7 to 7 toner formula is the same 7.12 as a demi on 10 vol, on towel-dried hair, and it is what turns the lift into blonde.

My ends were colored two years ago. Will 30 vol lift them?

No. Tint lifts the pigment you grew and leaves artificial pigment where it is, so 30 vol on old dye gives you a warmer, slightly darker version of the old dye while the regrowth goes to a 7 above it. Those inches need a remover or bleach first, and a strand test on them before anyone promises a level.

Will it come out ash?

A cool medium blonde after the toner and a warm one before it. A true ash at 7 is a dark ash blonde, and ash only starts to show on hair that has reached a 7, so this is the first level where it reads at all. Icy or light blonde wants a 9 underneath, which on a natural 4 is bleach over two visits; the level 7 page shows where this one lands.

Can I do it in two visits on 20 vol?

On long, coarse or dry hair it is the better plan. A 4 to 6 on 20 vol today and a 6 to 7 on 20 vol in six weeks is gentler and more even, and the warmth is easier to manage a level at a time. On fine, healthy, chin-length hair the 30 vol in one go is fine.