Formula: Level 6 to 7, Dark Blonde Toned and Nudged Lighter

Steps

Check the level dry, at a window. Orange with no yellow in it is a 6 and this formula fits. Red-orange is a 5, and the nudge will land on a cool 6 at best.

Strand test a piece from the nape for the full 30 minutes. This is the one formula where I never skip it, because the strand tells you whether the hair will lift at all.

Mix 7.1 with 20 vol at 1:1 by weight. Swap a quarter of the color for 7.12 if the hair has been lightened before; the violet handles the yellow-orange that shows as it lifts.

Apply to dry, unwashed hair: mid-lengths first, then roots, ends last, working quickly. Scalp heat speeds the root lift, so the roots go on after the mids.

Look at 15 minutes. The orange should be softening to a dull gold. Leave it. Look again at 25 and rinse when the mids read cool and slightly lighter, 35 minutes at most.

Rinse with cool water, shampoo once with a color-safe shampoo, condition, and dry it fully before you judge the level.

From the chair

Write the time you mixed on the mirror in grease pencil, where the next chair can see it too. Twenty vol keeps working under a cap, and 40 minutes on a 6 is a warm 7 that will not cool down afterward.
Virgin roots with colored lengths: the roots will lift and the lengths will only tone. Expect a slight band, and gloss the lengths with a demi 7.1 at the next visit.
On coarse, resistant hair a 7.1 alone can read khaki. A quarter of 7N in the bowl keeps it reading as a blonde.

This formula cools the orange in a level 6 and moves the hair about half a level lighter, a full level on healthy hair that has never been colored. It will not turn a 6 into a light blonde, and on hair that has been bleached or colored more than twice it will tone the orange and lift nothing.

Why the shade is a 7 and the developer is 20

Under a level 6 the pigment is orange, and blue cancels orange; a 7.1 carries that blue. The 7 in the code is the level the hair will land on, 6.5 to 7 after half an hour on 20 vol.

Twenty vol is the part people argue about. The toner selector warns you off permanent color below a 9 for toning, and for a toner’s job it is right. This page is the other case, where the hair needs cooling and needs to move, and one bowl on 20 vol does both, a little. On 30 vol the orange lifts faster than the ash can cover it and you rinse a warm 7 with a cool root.

As the hair lifts, orange turns yellow-orange, the level 7 pigment, and blue alone leaves that yellow half sitting there. I think 7.12 should be a quarter of the bowl on anything that has seen a box in the last year, with plain 7.1 for hair that was born a 6 and is still even (the leaflet in the box says the same in smaller type, and nobody reads the leaflet).

The clock, minute by minute

Dry hair, always; damp hair waters down the 20 vol and you lose the nudge. Five minutes in, nothing. At 10 the color has swelled and the orange looks hotter than when you started, which is the cuticle opening; a nervous stylist wipes a piece clean here and panics. Leave it. By 15 the orange has dropped to a dull gold and the roots, warmed by the scalp, are a step ahead; still red-orange at 15 means the hair was a 5 and you rinse a cool 6. At 25 the mids read cool and a shade lighter. Thirty-five is the limit. Once, finishing a cut at the next chair, I left a 7.1 on a natural 6 for 45 minutes and rinsed a cool 7 root over a flat gold 7; it cost me 20 minutes and a bowl of demi 7.12. Porous ends grab the blue first; on hair bleached before, the ends go on last, diluted 1:1 with clear. The processing time calculator adjusts for fine or coarse hair.

What it gives you, and when to reach for lightener

What the hair is now	What this formula gives	When to choose bleach
Natural 6, never colored	A cool 7, or a bright 6.5	She wants an 8, or anything she calls light
Natural 6 roots, colored lengths	Roots lift to 7, lengths cool and stay a 6	If the band matters; bleach the lengths, then tone
A 4 lifted to 6 with permanent color	Cools the orange, lifts a quarter level at most	For any true blonde; bleach through the old color
Bleached before, porous ends	Cools only, ends can drift ashy-gray	Bleach will not fix this; demi 6.1 and a rest
A 6 with 40 percent gray	A cool 7 with sheer white strands	Never for coverage; add 7N to the bowl

The rule I use: if the word “light” comes up in the consultation the answer is bleach, and this formula is what you offer when the word is “cooler” with “maybe a bit brighter” tacked on.

A woman last autumn brought a photo of her sister on a beach at four in the afternoon, a clear level 8, and I tried the nudge on her natural 6 because she was nervous about lightener. She rinsed a nice cool 6.5 and we both knew it. The redo was free, 40 minutes and a bowl of bleach.

Colored once is the case I cannot call Hair with one old permanent through it sometimes lifts a full level and sometimes does not move. I cannot tell from a dry swatch which it will be, so on colored hair the strand test is the formula.

After the rinse

Cool water for the first week. The blue fades first, the ash softening at three to four weeks and the hair reading warm again by six to eight, and the lift underneath stays. So the fade lands on a warm 7, better than the 6 she started with, and the refresh is the level 7 to 7 formula. But hard water pulls the ash faster than anything, and I have no fix for that.

Questions people ask about this one

Will this take my hair from a 6 to a real 7?

On healthy, uncolored hair, usually a 6.5 and sometimes a full 7. On hair that has been colored or is porous, it cools the orange and leaves the level where it is. The card says 7 because that is the shade in the bowl; the hair decides the rest.

Why a permanent on 20 vol and why no demi on 10 vol?

A demi deposits only. On a level 6 that gives you a cool 6, which is a good result if depth was never the problem. If the client wants lighter as well as cooler, the demi cannot get there and this permanent on 20 vol can, by about half a level.

Can I use 30 vol to get more lift?

You can, and on virgin hair it reaches a 7 more reliably, but it also lifts the orange faster than the ash in the bowl can cover it, and at 35 minutes you rinse a warm 7 with a cool root. Twenty vol is the honest ceiling for this shade. If you need more than a level, use bleach and then pick the code with the toner selector.

How is this different from the level 7 to 7 formula?

That one is a demi 7.12 on 10 vol for hair that is already a 7 and only needs cooling. This one starts a level darker and asks the developer to move the hair as well as tone it. Same family of shade, different job.

Does it cover gray?

Partly. A 7.1 on 20 vol covers up to about 30 percent white; above that the white reads sheer and slightly greenish. Add 7N, up to half the bowl, if there is real gray in it.