Tuesday morning, a regular, an even level 8 from a bleach three weeks ago that has gone yellow in the sun. On virgin hair the same depth arrives another way, a 7 lifted to a 9 with permanent. She wants it paler and cooler and has 50 minutes. This is that appointment, with a permanent 9.2 on 20 vol, and the half level it can honestly promise.
10:00, the consult and the test piece
A dry section, with the lightener three weeks gone. Clear yellow root to tip, no orange. An 8 on the site chart, said out loud, because level comes before tone. Under an 8 the pigment is yellow and violet cancels it, and the 9 in the code is where twenty volume, six percent should take it: half a level on healthy hair, a full level at most, nothing on porous hair. A nape piece with a teaspoon of the mix goes into foil while we talk. She says “just a bit lighter” with her fingers an inch apart, and an inch is two levels, so we agree on half of one. Her ends do not stretch when wet, and the piece comes out at 10:30 to prove it.
Not the day of a bleach, ever; 20 vol on a scalp lightened this morning burns, and hers was three weeks ago, unwashed since yesterday.
10:15, two bowls
Forty grams of 9.2 (9V) and 60 of 20 vol, weighed, 1:1.5 where the line calls for it; the grams for a 1:1.5 mix scale with the head. 9.21 (9P) is the pearl version for an 8 that is already pale; hers is a bright yellow and wants canceling, so straight violet. A second small bowl gets 10 g of the mix and 10 g of clear for the ends. Mixed at 10:18, on by 10:26; it starts working in the bowl.
10:20, mids first, roots last
Permanent color on 20 vol goes on mid-lengths first, half an inch off the scalp, and the roots last, because the scalp is warm and processes them fastest. The demi she will have in six weeks goes on roots first, which is the order most toning is done in; the developer is what makes today the exception. Ends last of all, from the clear bowl, for the final ten minutes, since bleached ends grab. Timer set at 30 once the roots are covered. Under the cream it goes purple-gray, which is normal.
10:35 to 10:50, the wipes and the rinse
Wipe a mid-length piece with a towel at 15: the yellow has gone to a flat pale beige. At 25 a second wipe reads cool and pale through the mids, and the roots have caught up. What a wipe cannot show is the lift under the violet, and it is easy to be wrong by half a level in both directions. Thirty is the rinse, 35 if the mids still read warm, and the leaflet number is the ceiling; past it the violet keeps depositing on hair that has stopped lifting, and the ends go purple and the root gray. Rinse, shampoo, condition, rough-dry, and read it dry: a cool 8.5 leaning 9, the yellow gone and a faint pearl in it. Fine hair bleached once can reach a clean 9 in the same 30 minutes; hair bleached twice sits at 8 and only cools.
The 8 that was a 7
| What you see dry, after the rinse | Real level | What 9.2 on 20 vol does |
|---|---|---|
| Clear yellow, even, no orange | 8 | Cancels it; 8.5 to 9 on healthy hair |
| Yellow lengths, orange roots | 7 at the roots | Muddy beige roots over cool ends |
| Yellow-orange all over | 7 | Greenish, worse each minute on 20 vol |
| White-yellow, ends that stretch wet | Porous 9 or 10 | Purple ends in minutes; diluted demi |
Any orange and the page you want is the 7 to 8 nudge, and which violet the selector names changes with the level you wipe; a 9 shade on a true 7 goes muddy, because a toner lighter than the hair does nothing.
Six weeks on
The violet fades first, at four to six weeks, and the hair drifts to a warm 8.5. The half level of lift stays. Purple shampoo once a week is upkeep. From then on she is a very light blonde refreshed with a demi 9.2 or 9.21 on 10 vol, roots first at the bowl, no more 20 vol; the 9 to 9 demi is that page.
