Improvability Blog

The 2nd part of my hair colour journey

• To go from darkest brown to pale white blonde

Part 2
Another idea got in the way of my big plans to go blonde

My big plans to go blonde were all suddenly complicated by the fact that Scott had strongly advised me to consider a perm,

“Because I would categorise you as Romantic, curly hair and movement would suit you. A Romantic’s hair priority should really be their texture and also how healthy it looks (so nice shiny hair with movement). It’s no good me suggesting you try curling your hair with heated rollers as it will fall out – you could ideally do with a perm foundation in your hair. SC.”

But he cautioned, “You are really at an important point with your hair, simply because if you want to have a perm you cannot have the highlights done. Perms work best on hair that has no lightening colour on it and certainly no bleach. If you opt to let the perm do your style statement work for you (rather than the colour), then you can’t have highlights in your hair. SC.”

So, I tried a temporary perm first

In February 2008, on Scott’s recommendation, my hairdresser Richard used a Nexture perm – a temporary perm (a bit like using a semi-permanent colour) in that it washed out after a couple of weeks.

Scott recommended that I try it again in a few weeks’ time and, if I liked it, to ask Richard to move into an ISO perm, which is the true permanent version of Nexture,

“Because you’ve been eased in gently with the Nexture product you won’t notice any difference, except this time the curls will be permanent and resilient. SC.”

I rather liked the curly look; it reminded of the Eighties when I always had a slightly curly perm. However, being an impatient so’n'so, I decided I’d rather put my energies into the colour experiment and put perms on the back burner. If you’re really interested, I’ve already written more about my perm some time ago.

My hair colour journey begins

I have naturally dark hair which started to go grey in my late twenties and the virtually white roots come through every 3 weeks so I have been colouring it myself at home for the past two hundred years, using a permanent colour off the shelf.

For techies, my base colour is about 5.0 (dark brown).

Scott’s diagnosis was, “I feel you have colour build-up on your hair due to overlaying the colour. I think it might be worth you beginning to use a professional tint range like Wella Koleston – this will cause less build up on your hair and the 6.0 (in their range) will also suit your hair type. 

“As your roots are very white then it might even be the case that you have to switch to a 7.0. In the first instance I would advise that you try and let a hairstylist do your roots for the next few months, at least until a lot of the old colour has grown out. 

“The problem you are going to face is that if you keep putting the colour over the whole head every couple of weeks the hair will start darkening again. I understand that it can be tricky applying the colour yourself (just to the roots) so if you go to a salon and ask them to apply a 6.0 with 10 volume just to your re-growth you will begin to start getting an even re-growth. You should find that it needs doing less often.

“I have an Asian client who is practically white haired and I got her from a 1.0 (black) to a 6/7 mix – she can now get away with six weeks between appointments (whereas she was having to do it every two weeks before). 

“I would say that if you get the salon to do it and you find that the 6.0 is still showing white hair quickly then the next time you go in ask them to mix 6.0 and 7.0 at a 50/50 ratio and apply it – that slightly lighter colour can make all the difference. 

“In addition, if you are going to keep a perm in your hair at some point in the future then having only the roots covered will keep the hair in optimum condition which will allow the perms to take perfectly. SC”

Once again, I had a choice:

• Do I ‘go for it’ and go completely blonde overnight or
• Do I experiment and take it one step at a time?

What should I do?

Read Part 3
‘
Yet another choice to make !’

Fabulous new hair resource will revolutionise your consultations

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• A beginners guide for Image, Colour Consultants and Stylists everywhere to learn how to safely advise clients in the topic of hair in relation to overall image. Written by top UK hair consultant Scott Cornwall.

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• Correctly diagnose the right hair colour for your client
• Identify the best colorant shades and methods to use
• Recognise cuts and styles which work

This fabulous book is available right now

An Introduction to Hair for Image, Colour Consultants and Stylists is available right now. Download it straight to your computer and print it off.

Scott ran 3 courses for consultants here in June which were utterly amazing. I learnt absolutely loads of new stuff that I would never have found in any book or publication and certainly no other hairdresser would have shared this level of information with me.

YOU can learn from an expert

• This ground-breaking book has been written by Scott Cornwall, a recognised hair expert who has also trained in image, colour and style. Order now
• It will answer all your hair questions and give you so much more confidence when you speak with both clients and hairdressers about hair in relation to image.
• You will love the easy-peasy 5-minute hair colour consultation and the separate 5-minute hair style consultation, both of which you can do with your client within their colour or style consultation. We’ve even provided the related consultation handouts for you to print off straight away.
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Pause for Thought

“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.”
– Victor Frankl -

What would YOU like to change?

The 3rd part of my hair colour journey

• To go from darkest brown to pale white blonde

Part 3
Yet another choice to make

Once again, I was faced with a choice:

• Do I ‘go for it’ and go completely blonde overnight or
• Do I experiment and take it one step at a time?

Scott advised, “The experiment approach is to immediately have fine bleach highlights weaved through the whole top section and then left to develop to go a pale yellow. Your re-growth can have the 6.0 applied whilst these foils are developing. Once the bleach had lightened the hair, the bleach is rinsed and lightly washed then rough dried and a 8.0/beige/ash is applied to the whole head (mixed with 10 volume peroxide).

“This beige-ash blonde colour will tone all the bleached hair a cool natural dark blonde, so once these highlights mix up with your darker base colour, your hair will look a cool tawny brunette. The benefit here is that your roots will not need doing as much.

“I have attached a photo of the ‘tawny’ brunette/blonde colour I spoke to you about which works for Winters. This colour is on the pop star Rachel Stevens, who is a Winter but like most young pop stars is covered in fake tan so she looks a bit orange. But if you look closely, you will see that her hair has a very mixed brunette-blonde tone which is achieved by highlighting (ash) brown hair and then toning the highlights beige blonde. SC.”

I decided to become the ‘experiment’ and take it one step at a time.

Scott and I agreed that I would aim for a ‘Tawny Winter’ colour as an interim look but, again, he warned me that I’d quickly get tired of it. He knows me far too well!

In March 2008, Richard applied a dark blonde (6.0) to the roots only and my hair began to gradually get lighter and lighter over the following 4 months.

Then we ran 3 hair colour and style training courses for image professionals in June and July. I just couldn’t get my notes down fast enough. This hair colour training is absolutely fascinating stuff and Scott gave everyone in the room some great ideas for their own hair – about how to change their hair colour or style, or both. He checked on how my colour changes were coming along and…

by August, Scott said it was time to go blonder

The first task was to start getting my white roots covered with a lighter blonde.

Scott recommended putting a 9.0 on the roots only. My hairdresser bottled out (get it? bottled out – oh, please yourself) and decided to put an 8.0 on the roots.

I wrote to Scott, ‘I was expecting a definite silver streak down the parting but that only appears when you flatten the hair out. It just seems to blend in right now. Around the hairline it hardly looks any different from the 6.0 / 7.0 mix they were applying before!’

Scott told me, “After the roots have grown down a while your hair will start looking a soft muted (mousey) blonde colour – which would be too dull for your colouring, so that’s why you might start wanting to applying even a 6.0 Colour Fresh* over the whole head to keep the hair looking deeper and more vibrant.

“Once you have a whole head of (ideally) 9.0, you can get Richard to apply tons of high lift tint ashes, platinums and pearls in foils and it will transform your hair to that Diamond Winter colour you are seeking. But keeping the contrast in the meantime with the Colour Fresh 6.0 is the best idea – see how you get on over the next few months and gauge the necessity of the Colour Fresh yourself. SC.”

* Colour Fresh is a semi-permanent hair colour product by Wella. It’s available in a variety of shades and fades out over about 6 to 10 washes. Your salon wil be able to supply you with this.

For another 5 months, the salon continued these root tints together with the Colour Fresh and my overall hair colour changed from mid brown to light brown to dark blonde.

Shocked at how dull my hair looked

Over Christmas 2008, some sneaky little person took this photo of me at a family gathering and I was shocked by the dullness of my hair colour.

I had slowly morphed into a Soft-muted blonde and I looked and felt very grey.

It was time to get rid of this awful, dreadful, vile, uninspiring colour. Now don’t get worked up here – it may look absolutely fine on you, or on someone you know, but on me, it’s absolutely ghastly.

Secret ingredient gets rid of the brown

The next task was to get rid of as much artificial dark brown as possible and in January 2009 Scott developed a brand-new product for me to try,

‘A permanent colour remover isn’t like a bleach or peroxide – it’s a formula that enters the hair and shrinks artificial colour pigments allowing them to be rinsed away. It then displays the real hair colour which lies underneath (so in your case this would be white). In the UK there hasn’t been a decent version of a colour remover which doesn’t contain bleach or peroxide. However I have now created a colour remover called Colour B4 which is completely ammonia and peroxide free and will remove your permanent colour.’

In February and after much initial sceptism from Richard, my hairdresser, together with all his staff who investigated the box and its contents in absolute disbelief, ‘We used the Colour B4 at the salon, just on the brown from about halfway down to the ends. I’ve never had my hair washed so many times! Richard and Callie (the colourist) agreed that it had changed from a 5.0/4.0 to a 7.0. Callie used about ¾ of the bottle and they were all pleased but totally amazed at the excellent condition of my hair afterwards.

“They weren’t keen to try the whole process again just in case the condition deteriorated so put an 8.0 on the top with pastel through the bit that had been brown to blend it in. It is certainly blonde on top but still blonde-> caramel -> brownish at the ends. KB.’

And the results?

I sent Scott this photo, ‘This is about a week and a half after the Colour B4 treatment. I can certainly handle the current colour but I can see the caramel and would really like to be Dramatic again.  I really want to go to full-blown Diamond Winter now.

“I’ve still not realised in my head that I’m no longer dark. I still refer to myself as the archetypal dark-haired, pale-skinned, bright-eyed Winter when I’m running training courses! And I found myself sifting through a clothes catalogue the other day with the same mindset. It is obviously going to take some time to get my head around being blonde! KB.’

Scott replied: ‘I can absolutely see what you mean. Your hair is soft muted which isn’t right for you at all. However, you’ve done really well getting through this awkward stage and I can see by the photos that you’ve actually shifted all the old brown colour. Looking at the top and front I can see all your pale blonde hair. My advice to you now would be go for it 100%. SC.’

Read the final Part 4
‘At last – I go completely blonde!’

How to remove unwanted artificial hair colour

Scott has developed his own branded haircare product range and you can buy Colour B4 colour remover that I used either online or straight off the shelves in Boots.

I recommend the extra strength version but if you’re in any doubt, book your own individual personal hair consultation with Scott Cornwall now – just like wot I did (sorry – I’m just a massive Eric and Ernie fan) See below for how.

Your very own personalised Hair Analysis with Scott Cornwall

This is exactly how my own hair journey began. Scott analysed what hair colour and style he thought I should be wearing to go with my colouring and my style personality. He’s so very clever that if you don’t get this done soon, you’ll regret it.

If you’re not an image professional and you would like to attend one of Scott’s amazing Hair Analysis Classes to discover your own hair colour and style, then contact him now for details of a class that you could join near you.

Are you an Image Professional?

We have a fantastic opportunity for you and your clients to receive personalised hair colour and style information from the man himself.

Book Scott Cornwall now to run Hair Analysis Classes for your clients on your own premises. You will:

• complete the service you offer to include client-specific hair guidance
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• earn commissions
• receive your own hair consultation absolutely free!

Download all the details here but beware! This opportunity if only for a limited time. The reason why is explained in this document.

Scott is already talking about a tour of Australia and New Zealand where he will be running these Hair Analysis Classes, amongst other things. Contact him directly for more details.

Pause for Thought

‘Dream what you want to dream; go where you want to go; be what you want to be, because you have only one life and one chance to do all the things you want to do.’
- Anon -

What is YOUR dream, and why aren’t you living it right now?