Tuesday, a regular, an even level 8 from a bleach three weeks ago that has gone lemon in the sun. She wants it paler and cooler and has 50 minutes. This is that appointment, hour by hour, with a permanent 9.2 on 20 vol.
10:00, the consult and the swatch
I hold a dry section against a strip of white card I keep taped inside the cart drawer, because the cart top is beige and makes everything beside it look cooler than it is. Hers is clear yellow root to tip, no orange anywhere. An 8. Under an 8 the pigment is yellow, violet cancels it, and the 9 in the code is where the 20 vol should take it. I cut a piece from the nape, mix a teaspoon and leave it in 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). The ends feel smooth when dry. One visit, then, and the swatch comes out at 10:30 to prove it.
10:15, the bowl
Forty grams of 9.2 and 60 of 20 vol, by weight, 1:1.5 on this line. In my chair I prefer 9.21 for this job; pearl reads expensive and straight violet a little clinical. Today it is 9.2 because her yellow is bright and wants canceling. A second bowl gets 10 g of the mix and 10 g of clear for the ends; the developer mix calculator scales the grams.
10:20, application, roots first
On an 8 the roots are the warmest part, so this is the one toning job where they go on first, on dry hair, the scalp heat doing the last of the lift. Mid-lengths next. Ends last, from the clear bowl; bleached ends drink violet in four minutes and go lavender while the roots are still yellow. Covered by 10:26. Under the cream it looks purple-gray, which is normal.
10:35, the check
Wipe a piece at the crown and one at the ends. Crown: the lemon has gone to a flat pale beige, and the root, held against the card, is a step lighter. Ends: cool, pale, no lilac. What I cannot see is the lift under the violet; the cream hides it, so the check is a wipe and a look, and I have been wrong by half a level both ways. At 10:45 a second wipe reads cool and pale through the mids and the roots have caught up.
10:50, the rinse
Thirty minutes. Cool water, one shampoo, condition, rough-dry. Against the card it is a cool 8.5 leaning 9, the yellow gone and a faint pearl where the light hits. Fine virgin hair can reach a clean 9 in the same 30 minutes; hair bleached twice sits at 8 and only cools.
Thirty-five is the most I would give it; past that the violet keeps depositing after the lift has stalled, and the ends go lilac and the root gray.
The 8 that was really a 7
| What you see after bleach, dry, at a window | Real level | What 9.2 on 20 vol does |
|---|---|---|
| Clear yellow, even, no orange | 8 | Cools 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 | Khaki, worse by the minute on 20 vol |
| White-yellow, ends like straw | Porous 9 or 10 | Lavender ends in five minutes; use a demi |
Last winter I swatched an 8 under the cart lamp because it was raining and the window was fogged, and lamp light hides orange. It was a 7 at the crown, and 30 minutes later that crown was the color of wet cardboard, violet over yellow-orange, the developer lifting more orange under it. Thirty-five minutes and a bowl of bleach later she went home a real 8. Any orange at all and you want the level 7 to 8 formula; the toner selector will say the same.
Three 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. A purple shampoo once a week and cool rinses hold the pearl a fortnight longer. But heat tools pull the violet faster than anything, and her flat iron is why she is back at six weeks rather than eight. From then on it is a level 9 refreshed with a demi 9.2 or 9.21 on 10 vol, no more 20 vol.
