Toner Formula: Level 10 to 10, Lightest Blonde Without Lilac

Steps

Test the level dry against white paper. A 10 reads cream beside it. If you can point to yellow, it is a 9 and this is the wrong page.

Strand test the worst piece, usually the ends at the nape, for five minutes with the diluted mix. If it goes lilac, cut the ends portion with clear again.

Rinse the bleach out, skip the conditioner, towel until the hair has stopped dripping, and section.

Mix 15 g of 10.2 or 10.21 with 15 g of clear demi, then add 60 g of 10 vol. Mix only once the hair is sectioned and ready.

Roots and mid-lengths first, quickly, with the clock started on the first section.

Ends on last, at about minute five, and off first: rinse them at minute seven or eight while the roots finish.

Rinse everything by minute ten. Shampoo once, gently, condition, and look at the ends at a window before she sees the mirror.

From the chair

Label the clear. In the bowl it looks exactly like developer.
If the ends are already cool before you apply, leave them out. The runoff from rinsing the roots tones them enough.
Have the clarifying shampoo at the basin before you start. If you need it, you need it in the next sixty seconds.

Minute four. The roots have not moved. The mid-lengths are just beginning to lose their cream. And the last two inches, the part that has been through the bleach five times since spring, are lilac. Properly lilac, and deepening while you watch. That is full-strength violet on a porous 10, and it is how most people learn what this page is about.

The formula card is the version that does not do it. Half toner, half clear, 10 vol, five to ten minutes, ends on last and off first. A toner deposits and cannot lift, so the hair stays a 10 either way; only the tone changes.

Why a 10 takes toner in minutes

Level 10 is palest yellow over hair that has nearly always been through bleach more than once. The cuticle is open and the pigment left to cancel is a faint cream. Which is why a violet that would take twelve minutes on a 9 is done on a 10 in four, and why the ends, lifted more often than the roots, are done in two. The level 10 page lists violet or pearl as the neutralizer, diluted. The diluted part is the formula.

Half clear

Clear demi is the toner’s base with no pigment in it. Mixing the 10.2 or 10.21 1:1 with clear halves the violet in every gram, so the hair reaches five minutes still blonde. I keep the clear in a squeeze bottle with masking tape that says CLEAR, because in the bowl it looks exactly like developer, and I once mixed 30 g of developer into 30 g of developer and stood there for four minutes waiting for the roots to do something.

On a fresh 10 from a single lift, two parts toner to one of clear is fine. On anything bleached three or more times, 1:1, and on the ends I have gone to 1:2.

Between the two tubes I think the 10.21 is the better one; the touch of ash keeps the violet from leaning pink as it fades, and the flatter finish is a fair trade. The toner selector offers both.

Towel-dried, always

Damp hair spreads the toner in seconds and thins it a little on the way in. Bone-dry porous ends pull the violet straight in and stripe. Mix only once the hair is sectioned, because five minutes of toner sitting on the cart is five minutes closer to the ends drying out.

I had a bride’s trial on a Thursday where the lilac showed under her ring light before I had finished the nape (a ring light is the worst light in the building for judging tone, and every bride brings one). I had toned wet from the sink, and the water sitting in the ends had turned my 1:1 into a puddle at the tips.

Minute by minute

Minute	Roots	Mid-lengths	Porous ends
2	Cream, unchanged	Cream, a little cooler	Already pale and cooling
4	Slightly cooler	Clean pale blonde	Done; rinse them if you can reach the basin
6	Clean pale blonde	Done	Lilac if they went on at the start
8	Done	Cool, close to the edge	Deep lilac
10	Rinse; past here the roots go gray-lavender	Gray-lavender	Gray-violet and flat

The processing time calculator shortens these numbers for fine hair. What it cannot tell you is how porous your ends are; a five-minute strand test on the worst piece at the nape is the only thing that does.

Getting lilac out

Over-toned, a 10 goes lilac at the ends, then a flat cool gray that reads dirty. Fresh, it comes out. Rinse at once and shampoo twice with a clarifying shampoo, a full minute of lather each time. Most of it leaves on the second wash; what stays fades over about two weeks.

If it will not budge, a pale gold gloss, 10.3 cut 1:1 with clear, two minutes on damp hair, pulls it to neutral. It is a fix I dislike because it puts warmth back into hair that has just been cleaned of it. But it beats sending someone home purple.

The hair might be a 9 A 10 that still looks yellow after ten minutes was probably a 9 at the roots, and no amount of violet makes a 9 read white. Check it dry, against white paper; if that is where you are, the level 9 to 10 formula nudges as it tones.

What it keeps

Two to four weeks. The violet leaves first and the cream comes back from the ends inward. Cool water, and a violet shampoo once a week from week two. Twice a week and you are back to lilac by another route. Chlorine and hard water take it fastest of all.

Toning a level 10, the questions that come up

Can I use full-strength 10.2 on level 10 hair?

On a fresh, single-lift 10 with healthy ends, for three or four minutes, watched the whole time. On anything bleached more than twice, honestly, no. It will be lilac at the ends before you have finished the roots.

My level 10 went purple. How do I get it out?

Two clarifying washes, warm water, straight away. Most of it leaves on the second one and the rest fades over about two weeks. If it is stubborn, a 10.3 gold cut 1:1 with clear for two minutes on damp hair pulls it back to neutral.

Should I tone level 10 hair wet or dry?

Towel-dried, until it has stopped dripping. Wet from the sink dilutes the toner unevenly and bone-dry porous ends pull it straight in and stripe.

How long does toner last on level 10 hair?

Two to four weeks. The violet leaves from the ends inward, so the cream comes back at the tips first. A violet shampoo once a week from week two stretches it; twice a week puts the lilac back.

Does this formula make level 10 hair white?

It takes the last of the yellow out, so a toned 10 in daylight is a very pale, cool blonde. True white has no pigment in it at all. For the grayer, cooler version, the silver at level 10 formula adds a touch of ash, and the toner selector will tell you which of the two your hair can carry.