Brassy is the client word, and colorists cannot agree on what it means: some say gold, some say orange. At level 7 it is both. The pigment under a lifted 7 is yellow-orange, the strongest warmth in the whole sequence, and a stalled 7 usually shows the two colors at once, which is why the tube for this job has to carry two pigments.
Two pigments, one tube
Blue cancels orange and violet cancels yellow, and a 7 has both, so the shade is a .12, the ash-violet that US lines mark 7VB. The blue takes the orange half and the violet takes the yellow half. The 7 underneath is usually a 5 lifted two levels, which is why the warmth sits where it does. Take one away and half the pigment stays: a straight 7.1 leaves the yellow and drifts green at the ends, and a straight 7.2 slides off the orange. How a 7 got here is the level page, and this page is the demi that goes on afterward. It deposits and cannot lift. The level after the lightener is the level after the demi toner, on 10 vol, 3 percent, or whatever toning developer the line sells at 5 to 9 vol.
Where the colorists split
The consensus is to tone at the level the hair reached or darker, and the card above follows it. On orange, colorists split anyway. Some go a level or two lighter with a demi, an 8A or a 9NA on 10 vol, because ash reads darker and a 7 ash on an orange 7 can look like a 6 or a 5. Some go a level darker, a 6N, because heavy orange wants the depth to do part of the work. Some put a 7N in the bowl with the ash, or make half the formula neutral, so a little warmth stays and the blonde keeps its shine. Each of those is a real route with a real result. A level-10 toner is on nobody’s list: the T18-class liquids are built for pale yellow hair and do nothing you can see on a 7.
Semi, demi, permanent
| What is in the bottle | Developer | How long it lasts | On a level 7 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Semi-permanent, direct dye | None, straight from the tube | 3 to 6 washes | A stain over the brass, the softest deposit |
| Demi-permanent, this card | 10 vol or the line’s toning developer | About 12 washes, 4 to 6 weeks | Cancels the yellow-orange, lifts nothing |
| Permanent shade used as a toner | 20 vol | Longest | Lifts a little, lasts longer, burns a same-day scalp |
| T18-class liquid toner | 20 vol | Long | Nothing, since it is a level-10 product |
| Purple or blue shampoo | None | Builds a little each wash | Upkeep for a head already toned |
The third row is argued over. Some colorists prefer a permanent shade for toning because the result is more predictable, and they keep it a toner by putting 10 vol under it on towel-dried hair for a short time, while others say permanent on lifted hair goes dull and lifeless. Both are in use, and the demi is the one that neither side warns you off.
Towel-dried, roots first
Shampoo, condition, towel-dry until it stops dripping. Roots first, since the root is the least porous hair and takes longest, then the lengths, ends last because they grab. Saturate every section and get the whole head on inside a few minutes. Slow application is how one side comes out purple and the other side still gold. One timer, started when the last section is on.
Pull it when it reads right
It goes dark purple on the head, and nothing is wrong.
Wipe a root strand at 5 and again at 10 and read the strand, because the head under the cream tells you little. At 15 the wiped strand should read a cool blonde with no gold left in it, and some heads take the full 20, so the minutes adjusted for fine or coarse hair give a starting point and you pull it when the strand looks right rather than when the timer says. Past 20 the violet keeps depositing on the most porous ends and they go a flat gray that looks fine wet and dull dry. Rinse, condition, and dry a section before either of you says a word. Wet hair reads a level darker, and a cool 7 wet looks like a 6. A hint of violet in the first dry leaves in a shampoo or two. Ash reads darker anyway, since cool pigment absorbs light where gold reflects it, so the dry result is a shade deeper than the brass was, and a client who wanted the brightness kept was a client who wanted 7N in the bowl.
Six weeks, then a choice
Four to six weeks, twelve to twenty shampoos. The cool fades first, the ends go gold before the roots go orange, and a blue shampoo once a week slows it. It is upkeep and it will not tone a fresh lift. When the brass is back, the same demi again. If she has decided she wants lighter after all, the hair goes under lightener toward an 8 after a rest and gets toned at 8 once it gets there, with a violet-led tube rather than this one. Or she keeps the 7 and owns it, which some colorists say out loud too.
