Hair Systems 101: Hair Color Science And Finding Your Hair Color

[TheLoneWigMaker]

This will be my longest thread yet on Hair 101. Hair Color is such an interesting, vast, and sometimes frustrating topic.
In this thread, you'll learn:

• Why you should care
• The composition of the hair strand
• The science behind natural hair coloring
• Why bleaching the hair always results in a red or yellow result
• Color theory
• Hair color terminology
• How to color hair
• Maintaining color fade

Backstory
I spent a month gathering up all the education I could across the Internet on where to start with hair color theory, tools and supplies. I finally pulled the trigger on the Wella Koleston Perfect series of products. Unfortunately, there are dozens of different hair color products within the line, and I didn't know which one was best. So of course I took the shotgun approach and bought hundreds of dollars worth for trial and error!
I spent the next two months experimenting with color formulas. I went through 40 color tests before I understood the effects well enough to create the real optimal formula.
Hopefully with what I've learned, you won't have to go through all of that. There is a lot of random information on the Internet about hair coloring, but very little on how it applies to hair systems. It's one thing to come up with a formula that gets in the general viscinity of what general color someone wants to achieve, but it's a whole different challenge to come up with a formula that nails an exact replica of your bio-hair. I've found that a difference of only 4% of a color in a formula is enough to change the result from a "complete match" to "detectable."

Why should you care about hair color science?
There are four different scenarios when you may need this knowledge

• You want to make your own systems

This knowledge will be paramount to create a natural, undetectable system. Without an extremely close color match to your bio-hair, your system will be extremely detectable. Perhaps, the single most important factor in system detectability is the color.

• You want to repair / add hair to your own systems

As a system ages, the first thing that is going to go is the front hairline - even if the rest of the hair system would otherwise still be wearable. You might want to add some hair to the front with a ventilating hook to restore it. But again, you'll need to make that hair the correct color.

• You want to understand and fix your hair system fading

This is very common. After a few months, the hair system may get noticeably faded from washing or sun exposure. Your hair system may turn red or orange. This thread will explain why, and what color theory would suggest is the proper fix.

• You want to dye your own system from a 22R / blonde, or you want to customize it with some blonde highlights

Many people prefer to buy a 22R/blonde system, and then color it themselves. The advantages are that you can control your perfect color match, and that the knots will already come colorless without the need for bleaching.

 

[TheLoneWigMaker]

The composition of the hair strand



The human hair has three layers.

Cuticle
The outer layer is called the Cuticle. This layer is very thin, and acts like a shell of scales protecting the interior from moisture loss. They can make the hair look smoother and shinier.
The cuticle can open up when the hair is swelled. Hair swells at PH levels above 5. This means that using alkaline chemicals on the hair will open/roughen the cuticles, and using acidic chemicals on the hair will close/smooth the cuticles. This is how PH-balanced conditioners work. The cuticle can also swell when exposed to hot water.
Permanent hair colors will open the cuticle layer with strong Ammonia chemicals. These are highly alkaline, so will open up the cuticle enough so that the color molecules can penetrate and stick to the cortex. Afterwards, using Apple Cider Vinegar can help close and smooth the cuticles.
When the cuticle is open, the scales spread out sideways, and increase the rate of tangling with other cuticles. This reason is likely the biggest reason why hair system factories strip it off during processing. They melt it off with an acid of KOH solution in 1-butanol. However, by stripping the cuticle the hair is fully exposed to losing moisture, and faster color loss through washing.

Cortex
The cortex layer is the middle layer and the largest layer. It holds all of the hair's natural pigment.

Medulla
The innermost "core" layer is the Medulla. It transfers the scalp's natural sebum from the root to the end. On some very fine hair, this layer may be virtually non-existent.

 

[TheLoneWigMaker]

The science behind natural hair coloring

Now we're getting into the color science!

Natural hair pigment is made of melanins, like your skin color. However, these are called "Eumelanins" and "Pheomelanins."

Eumelanins contain all the cool colors. For simplicity, let's say that the "blue" is stored in these Eumelanins. These molecules are relatively large, and are by far the easiest to oxidize with bleach. (Oxidation is the process that turns pigment molecules colorless).

Pheomelanins contain all the warm colors. Essentially, it contains the "red" and the "yellow" pigments. These molecules are smaller than Eumelanins, and are much harder to oxidize with bleach.

Together, the Eumelanins and Pheomelanins are responsible for creating your natural hair color. The blue (Eumelanin), red (Pheomelanin) and yellow (Pheomelanin) combine to make a brown color.

People with naturally dark hair will have more of all melanins in their hair. They will have a lower percentage of Pheomelanin, which is why the hair is a brown tone. However, they will have significantly more absolute molecules of Pheomelanin compared to light hair, simply because they have much more pigment to be dark haired.

People with naturally light or blonde hair will have a higher percentage of Pheomelanin, which is why the hair is a warm tone. However, they will have significantly fewer absolute molecules of all melanins because their hair is naturally light.

 

[TheLoneWigMaker]

Why bleaching the hair always results in a red or yellow result

Because Pheomelanins are much harder to oxidize than Eumelanins, the bleach will remove blue long before it removes red and yellow.

I made a chart showing how bleaching a Level 1 super dark brown / black hair will result at every level in the bleaching process. Essentially, all color pigments will be removed at every step of the bleaching process, but just not uniformly. Remember that to make brown, you need relatively equal amounts of the primary colors yellow, blue, and red. We also know that Eumelanins that make blue will be the first to go, very early in the bleaching process.

For example, imagine at Level 1, you have 100 units (ongoing to be called 'u') of blue, 100u of red, and 100u of yellow. When bleaching reaches Level 2, perhaps it leaves you with 60u of blue, 80u of red, and 92u of yellow. You lightened all colors in your hair, just not equally. The result? A slightly reddish orange tone.

Next, your bleaching reaches Level 5. Now you have 5u of blue, 40u of red, and 70u of yellow. Your hair is now an orangish yellow. Again, you lightened all colors and thus are a Level 5 in darkness, but the color is not balanced.

Finally, your bleaching reaches a Level 8. Now you have 0u of blue, 8u of red, and 20u of yellow. Your hair is now a light yellow. You lightened all colors and thus are a Level 8 in intensity, but the color remaining is almost all yellow.

 

[TheLoneWigMaker]

Color Theory

Let's now take a step back and understand how colors combine to make other colors. We all remember the color wheel from high school art class? Great, throw it out the window. The only thing you need to take from that is that all three primary colors make brown.

If you have red, you can add green to it to neutralize, but what you're really doing is adding the other two primary colors: blue and yellow. Vise-versa, you could remove some red to also bring it back to a neutral brown.

If you have orange, you can add blue to it to neutralize. Why? Orange is made of red and yellow. That means there is an imbalance of blue. So adding blue will bring all three primary colors into balance, and make brown.

We can apply this to hair color. When you have a natural pigment of equal parts: 100u blue, 100u red, 100u yellow, the color theory shows that they will appear brown. But if you bleach away the blue and result in 0u blue, 40u red, and 70u of yellow, you will get an orangish yellow. Your hair will need to have significant artificial blue and some artifical red to bring it back up to a balanced 70u of all colors.

 

[TheLoneWigMaker]

Color Terminology

Hair color is described as tones and levels.

Tone
The tone is essentially the ratio of blue, red, and yellow. If your hair has more blue molecules than it does red and yellow, you have an "Ash" or a "cool" toned hair. If your hair has some reddish to it, then you have "copper" or "warm" toned hair. If your hair system color doesn't have the same tone as your bio-hair, it can stand out as the sun can shine red or orange tones off the top of your head, in contrast with your sidehair.

Level
The level is essentially how dark the hair is. Imagine taking a black-and-white picture of your hair, where color hues no longer matter, and grading it on a greyscale basis. Another way of looking at it is, if your hair pigments are on average 100 molecules, you may be a Level 1. But if they are on average 50 molecules, you may be a Level 5. Also refer to the chart above on what base toned hair levels generally look like.
If your hair system color doesn't have the same Level as your bio-hair (for example, it's darker), it can stand out as especially incandescent lighting will show a huge contrast and an unnaturally dark look for your hair (in nature, the top of the hair is if anything, a bit lighter than the sides and back).

Lightener
A lightener is a bleaching product. This can either be hydrogen peroxide from Developer cream, or it can be a "bleaching powder" with an ingredient like Magnesium Carbonate Hydroxide (this is in Wella's Blondor bleaching powder).

"Hi-Lift" color
A high lift color is where you use a strong developer such as 40volume along with a hair color, to lighten your hair and color it in one step. However, in reality this doesn't get the hair much lighter when you consider all the toner you will need to put in to get it back down to your naturally dark level (if you are a level 5 or lower). Plus, 40 volume is extremely damaging and I don't recommend it.

Toner
Officially, a toner is a semi-permanent "gloss" color that you can put on top of the outer layer of hair that can balance out the colors you are left with after bleaching. In general, your hair will either be a red, orange, or yellow after bleaching. In which case, you would add a green, blue, or purple toner respectively. There are a few problems with this approach, however.
* Hair system users generally aren't bleaching their hair to blonde
* Semi-permanent will wash off within weeks
* Toners often aren't very strong, for darker colors than Level 8.

Unofficially, a toner is a more general concept of rebalancing your bleached hair to bring it back down to brown. This will be the biggest struggle to match your bio-hair.

Semi-permanent and Demi-permanent hair color
These types of hair color are not designed to penetrate the cuticle, but rather to just deposit on the outside surface of the hair. As a result, the color will wash off much faster than permanent hair color. But, it won't damage the hair as much, since the cuticles are not being forced open.

Permanent hair color
The "best" coloring method which is employed more in professional lines of color, like Wella Koleston Perfect. It is best in that it will last the longest without fading. It does this by using Ammonia to open the cuticles and stick to the cortex. Good quality professional lines are formulated with smaller molecules which result in needing to open the cuticles a lesser amount. They are also supposedly formulated to help re-close the cuticle at the end of the processing, but I would still recommend using Apple Cider Vinegar after the hair dries.

 

[TheLoneWigMaker]

Coloring hair: Products and equipment

Now we'll use a lot of the science explained up above.

Selecting the right tools
The first thing you need to do is buy coloring tools. You will need a mixing bowl, a good brush, aluminum foil, a color tube key, and a 0.1g scale.

• Color tube key: https://www.amazon.com/RAYNAG-Toothpaste-Squeezer-Dispenser-Squeezing/dp/B07SB5HWRX
• Mixing bowl and brush: https://www.amazon.com/Professional-Salon-Hair-Coloring-Dyeing/dp/B07G3JJPWR
• 0.1g scale: https://www.amazon.com/GDEALER-Digital-Kitchen-0-001oz-Stainless/dp/B01E6RE3A0

Hair color formulas need to be EXTREMELY accurate to achieve the level of biohair matching we want to achieve! Make sure you have a good 0.1g scale.

Selecting the right coloring products
Now you'll need to select the right coloring products to achieve your optimal hair color. I've gone through dozens of hair products to finally come to a surprisingly simple conclusion:

• Wella Blondor bleaching powder
• Wella Welloxin 10vol developer
• Wella Koleston Perfect 0/00 Special Mix Pure Shine (clear)
• Wella Koleston Perfect 0/88 Special Mix Intense Pearl (blue)
• Wella Koleston Perfect 0/65 Special Mix Violet Red Violet (red)

That is all you need. These are pure colors. A permanent version of a toner, if you will. Why don't you need yellow? Because yellow is the color which all others will be striving to balance out. As I've explained, yellow is a Pheomelanin which is the hardest to remove from natural hair. You don't need to add yellow.

• Note: If you are coloring from a 22R, you may want to consider buying a yellow tube, depending on how dark your hair color is. If so, the product number is 0/30 (Special Mix Gold Natural).

You can find all of these color products from eBay sellers who have hundreds of thousands of user feedback.

 

[TheLoneWigMaker]

Coloring hair: Preparing hair samples

Finding the perfect formula will no doubt take some trial and error. You'll want to make some hair samples for color tests. If you are starting with purchased hair from a weft or a loose bundle, this will be plentiful. If you are working only from a factory system piece, it will be harder. I would recommend ordering your next system in a longer hair length so you can cut it down and have a lot of extra hair to use for hair samples.

How to make hair samples
Cut the hair into small bundles about 3 inches long. Make sure there is enough hair in thickness so you can get an accurate idea of the hair color when putting against your own. I would suggest about 1/3 to 1/2 a pinky nail in width. Lay the hair in an aligned bundle down flat on a table, and then press a small piece of clear tape onto the end (root-end if you are using remy/virgin hair). Wrap it around the hair bundle. Next, fold that taped part in half (the "hamburger way") and tape it again. This will secure it pretty well. Here's a picture of one of mine:



Note that a good amount of color to use when testing samples is: 5g color, 5g developer. Make sure to cover both sides of the hair. On a folded sheet of aluminum foil. Make sure to close the foil well, folding it on all sides, and set a timer for your desired processing time.

 

[TheLoneWigMaker]

Coloring hair: Planning your color alteration
Coloring hair will consist of either one or two steps. If you are only trying to tone/correct fading from an existing colored hair, you will need only the dyeing step. If you are trying to color hair that is darker than your desired match, you need the bleaching step as well.

Dark hair wearers will definitely have a harder time here. I'm personally a Level 3 and working with raw hair, I'm starting at a Level 1. Unforunately, it's not as simple as lightening 2 levels.

As I mentioned, yellow is the hardest color to bleach out. Unfortunately, a level 3 is going to naturally have considerably less yellow than a level 1. This means if I only bleached to a level 3 and then toned down, it would either be too yellow in the sunlight or, if properly neutralized, it will be too dark from the neutralizing red and blue and revert back to a Level 1 or Level 2.

Since yellow is the bottleneck here, you need to bleach it much higher than you would want to otherwise. For me, I needed to bleach the Level 1 all the way to a level 6 to remove the amount of yellow Pheomelanins that would be in a natural level 3. Let's say for example, the level 1 had 100u of yellow, and my natural hair had 70u of yellow. I then needed to bleach to a level 6 to bleach out the 30u difference. Of course, this resulted in a yellowish orange tone.

After bleaching and resulting color profile of 0u blue, 40u red, and 70u yellow, I then needed to tone it back down to a Level 3. I know that to make a natural brown once again, I need to add 70u of blue and 30u of red. After coloring, I found a result that was virtually a perfect tone match out in the indirect sunlight, yet not too dark from blue pigment in incandescent light.

I present to you my formula. How I got my Level 1 raw hair to a perfect Level 3 biohair color match:
Lightening step:

• Wella Blondor powder mixed with Wella Welloxin 10volume developer at a 1:2 ratio.
• Processing time: 42 minutes (no heat)
• Rinse out with a small amount of very gentle shampoo (no parabens or sulfates!)
• Let air dry for 2 hours
• Result in a Level 6 Yellowish Orange color.

Coloring step:

• Wella Welloxin 10vol developer mixed with:
• 55% 0/00 Pure Shine
• 20% 0/88 Intense Pearl (blue)
• 25% 0/65 Violet Red Violet (red)
• Mix equal parts developer with the color (1:1)
• Processing time: 39 minutes (no heat)
• Rinse out with cold water ONLY (do not shampoo hair for at least three days!)
• Result in a perfect Level 3 brown color.

The point of the 0/00 is to act as a diluter of color. In itself, it supplies the ammonia necessary to activate and open up the cuticle layer to allow the permanent color to deposit into the cortex.

Please modify these formulas to what you think the needs are for your own hair color. Once you get this process down, you can start to iterate on it.

Please note that if your system hair does not have cuticles your color processing time will be SIGNIFICANTLY LESS. Your hair is like a damaged, pourous sponge. You may also want to shampoo your hair samples before coloring, to remove some of the factory silicone on them that may obstruct some absorption.

 

[TheLoneWigMaker]

Coloring hair: Iterating on your hair samples and how to find your perfect bio-hair match

Each time you try a color formula, make sure you write it down along with a label code. I used labels such as "C01" through "C07" for my coloring attempts with a 36 minute bleach, and "D01" through "D05" for my coloring attempts with a 42 minute bleach. Save the samples in a ziploc so you can always go back and compare how each one is different.

To truely test your sample's color, you need to test it from several light sources and at different angles. First, go out in the sun with a hand mirror and hold the sample up to your head with the hair going in the same direction and angle as your bio hair.

Turn away from the sun, so the sun's rays are traveling from the back of your head to the front. This indirect sunlight will show off the warmer tones. That is, it'll exploit the reds and yellows. If the sample shows more yellow, orange, or red than your natural surrounding hair, it has too much yellow, both red and yellow, or red, respectively. Write down these results in your formula book.

Next, turn so the sun is more or less directly hitting the sample hair. This is a good balanced look at how the hair looks compared to your biohair. Perhaps it will show a bit green, or a bit orange. Factor this into your notes.

In incandescent light with little to no sunlight, check the hair for Level darkness. Face a bathroom mirror and hold up the hair sample. This is the easiest way to check the blue color, which will show up the darkest. If the sample is too dark, you have too much blue. Write down these results.

After you have your results, analyze them. If the sample is too yellow, you need to add red and blue. If it's too orange, you need to add blue. If it's too red, you need to reduce the red. Finally, if the color seems fairly balanced but too dark from blue in incandescent light, you went too far with red and blue to neutralize the existing yellow. You need to bleach it higher to remove more yellow.

Hopefully you can get the hang of the process, and after so many iterations, you will always have your perfect formula for an undetectable bio-hair match in all lighting environments!

 

[TheLoneWigMaker]

Coloring hair: Maintaining color fade

This section is not too much different than the sections above. However, in this case, you likely won't be bleaching the hair at all. If it is safe to assume your hair color originally was perfect, then it should be possible to restore it to that color without bleaching.

Trial and error here is obviously harder, because you can only work on your used hair system. In this case, I would suggest coloring in baby steps, and with very small areas in the back. You can color the same area in steps to iteratively make it darker and closer to your bio hair.

You have two ways to go: permanent hair color again, or semi-permanent. The benefit of semi-permanent is, if you mess up and go too dark, you can wash it out. But, you'll need to maintain it more often.

One way you can go safely is to use color depositing conditioners, which are basically semi-permanent dyes. Amazon sells an array of color conditioners, such as this one: https://www.amazon.com/Viral-Colorditioner-Rose-Gold-8-25oz/dp/B074VKMFNG.

Just remember the color theory and the hair color science. Chances are, the blue will be the most significant color to fade, with potentially some red. So your faded hair color will likely be a reddish orange. Blue will be your best bet on a correction color.

If you do decide to continue with the permanent hair colors, you could either dilute the color with either more 0/00 or more 10vol developer.

 

[TheLoneWigMaker]

Let me know if there are any other areas of color I should be covering, or if you have any Q&A.

Thanks,
LWM

 

[Hair2019]

Hey, wow thanks for all that info, I will bookmark this post for reference. I was wondering, can you recommend a good UV protection spray for hair systems to help stop them fading in the sun? I haven't yet tried using a UV protector spray, but I've heard it's a good idea to do that if you wear a hair system and go out in sunny weather quite a lot.

Thanks,

 

[TheLoneWigMaker]

Hey, wow thanks for all that info, I will bookmark this post for reference. I was wondering, can you recommend a good UV protection spray for hair systems to help stop them fading in the sun? I haven't yet tried using a UV protector spray, but I've heard it's a good idea to do that if you wear a hair system and go out in sunny weather quite a lot.

Thanks,

I think any leave-in conditioner that as UV Protection will be good with respect to sunlight. IMO, the issue with leave-in conditioners is their tendency to leave residue/build-up on the hair. You'll want to rinse them out and use conditioner regularly. Some can really weigh down the hair or make it feel kinda greasy, maybe from the propelyne glycol. Just pick one that has no alcohol, sulfites, or parabens. "It's a 10" is a popular one around here, although it does have alcohol in it from what I remember.

 

[jcbest]

Hi TheLoneWigMaker

How about going the other way and coloring bio hair to match a standard piece color?

I've never gotten a great color match from any vendor. Probably because I have sort of a color between 6 & 7 and the red gets bad fast. I'd say I lean more toward a 7 since stock 6 color appears quite dark and red on me.

Now that I have a lot of gray its worse so instead I've decided to color my bio hair 7ash to match a standard color piece and get rid of the red problems in the process. Do you have any advice on the best way to achieve this?

I've been experimenting with semi-permanent colors (7ash box) in case I make a mistake. My first attempts have been pretty close but the color fades fast. I decided to try permanent 7A since I was losing color fast so I chose a 7ash from a different brand(colorsilk) which was a lot lighter on the box than the semi brand (clairol) and didnt work out so well. It seemed to really bring out red. Could this be because the shade was too much lighter than my real color?

Any thoughts on how to get a better match?

Thanks

 

[yomama69]

Hi, what colour and process would you recommend to restore a #2 (dark brown) sun faded colour on a hair system? From what I have understood I would say a blue colour, but which one exactly? Thanks

 

[mrdavies]

I'm so glad i have so much grey hair

 

[TEG]

I got tired of guessing what to buy, so I finally went to sallys. I told the woman that works there "I want this color hair" (pointing to my piece) to be this color hair (pointing to my bio hair)

She looked at it for a few seconds and came back with wella dark natural ash blonde. And it IS the exact same color as my bio hair.

Problems resolved. Best thing about it, I can order this on their website.

 

[hair4meTomorrow]

This is where customs shine. You send off a sample of your hair and they match it perfectly.

 

[AxC123]

I'm so glad i have so much grey hair

Hi Mr.D what's your percentage of Grey? Do you wear human or synthetic Grey ? And if not 100% Grey, doesn't your color fade over time?