Cooler and lighter, or cooler at the same depth. The test piece comes back one of those two ways, and the page turns on which. A brassy 7 that wants to be a clean level 8 light blonde is either a one-visit head or a two-visit head, and the bowl on the card is only the one-visit route.
Which head is in the chair
Healthy, even, lightened once at most and evenly: one visit. A permanent 8.1 on 20 vol cancels the yellow-orange and moves the hair about half a level, and she leaves a cool 7.5 to 8. A whole level, rather than half, is the 7 to 8 done as a color service. Bands, old highlights, box color through the lengths, ends that stretch when wet: two visits. That bowl cools what it can and lifts nothing where the hair is porous, and the true 8 is bleach, a rest, and the demi from the 8 to 8 page a week or two later. The porosity test sorts them before the gown goes on.
| What the dry hair shows | Which case | One bowl of 8.1 on 20 vol gives | The plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Even yellow-orange, never colored | One visit | A cool 7.5 to 8 | This formula |
| One old permanent, no bands | One visit, probably | Cool 7.5, lift uncertain | Test piece first |
| Yellow-orange roots, orange ends | Two visits | Cool roots, orange ends untouched | Bleach the ends, then demi 8.1 |
| Old highlights, three tones | Two visits | A stripy, muddy cool 7 | Bleach through, rest, demi 8.1 |
| Bleached before, ends stretch wet | Two visits, or none | Ends go gray, no lift | Demi 8.1 with clear; no 20 vol |
Why the 8 in the code and the 20 in the bottle
Level 7 sits on yellow-orange, and the wheel says blue for orange and violet for yellow. An 8.1, 8A in the letter lines, carries the blue; 8.12 (8VB) adds violet for the yellow half, a third of the bowl when the wiped strand shows more yellow. What 20 vol lifts and what it burns is the whole trade of this page: half a level of lift on healthy hair while the ash deposits, paid for with a burn on a scalp bleached today, breakage on ends that already stretch, and a gray, dingy cast on over-lightened sections.
Ash reads a shade darker than the number, so a cool 7.5 looks deeper in the mirror than the warm 7 did, which is worth saying out loud before the bowl is mixed.
Mids first, roots last, ends from the clear bowl
Dry, unwashed hair, a day or two after any lightener. Equal parts, 45 g and 45 g for shoulder-length hair, about an ounce and a half of each, weighed, and the directions on the tube may say 1:1.5. Mid-lengths first, half an inch off the scalp, then the roots last, because scalp heat processes them fastest and a root done first comes out hot. Ends that have seen lightener grab the ash and go gray before the roots have cooled, so they get a second small bowl of the same mix diluted equal parts with clear, in the final ten minutes.
The purple stage and the wipe
Timer at 30 when the roots are on. Under the cream it goes purple-gray, which tells you nothing. At 15, wipe a mid-length piece with a towel: the yellow-orange has gone to a flat straw and the piece is a shade cooler. At 25 the mids read cool and a step lighter, and the roots have caught up. Thirty is the rinse, 35 if the hair is coarse and slow, and the leaflet number is the ceiling; past it the ash keeps depositing on hair that has stopped lifting. Read the wiped piece dry, because wet hair reads a level darker and a warm indoor bulb reads it lighter and more golden.
What fades and what stays
The blue goes first, at four to five weeks, and the hair drifts back to a warm 7.5. The half level of lift stays. Purple shampoo once a week is upkeep; it will not re-tone a head that has faded all the way back. Fresh yellow-orange at the root by week six is a demi job, an 8.1 on 10 vol, and the demi seals the cuticle and adds shine. If she stays at a cool 7.5, cooling a 7 that stays a 7 is the refresh page.
