fire engine RED to CHAMPAGNE BLONDE

July 10, 2017

nicole has been fire engine RED for a little over a year and now she’s ready to go BACK to BLONDE. we’ve decided on a lovely CHAMPAGNE BLONDE color <3

watch the video, read the blog, & snag our CHEAT SHEET to get the formulas ;)

considering the fact that she’s coming from a very vibrant red, we’re going to need to be very careful as to how much we lighten her hair. vibrant reds such as nicole’s leave the hair more susceptible to damage and at the end of the day, any dyed color is going to leave your hair weaker than virgin hair.

removing the RED PIGMENT from the hair

we’re going to start with a few layers of pravana COLOR REMOVER. in this case, it took us two rounds to remove as much as of the red pigment. if your client is coming from a bright artificial color, color remover is almost ALWAYS necessary. not only does it help break down the pigment, it helps you avoid extra lightening damage.

simply coat the hair you want to remove color from with the remover. in nicole’s case, we’re avoiding her roots. they are her natural hair color and the color remover will only remove artificial pigment so the natural color will not be affected.

once you have the hair fully covered, let the remover sit for 20 MINUTES under heat.

champagne blonde

here’s where nicole’s hair was at after 20 minutes. as you can see, a lot of the red is gone but we still want to go back and REMOVE some more of the pigment. so what we’re going to do next is wash her with the clarifying shampoo for about 3-5 minutes before before applying the color remover again. after the SECOND application, we’re as far as we can go with the color remover so now it’s time to lighten.

now we’re going to rinse her hair and make sure we have any remaining remover out of her hair. when washing out remover, you want to make sure you wash for 3-5 minutes and rinse for 1 minute with the hottest water your client can tolerate. (don’t burn anybody!)

here’s the result from the second round dried. now we’re ready to move on to LIGHTENING.

LIGHTENING the HAIR

as always, we’re starting by SECTIONING the hair into 4 even quadrants. we’re not going to lighten her hair further up the root, because we already like the degree of blending and darkness. we’re simply going to BLEND it evenly to make it appear more natural.

let’s start with the bottom. believe it or not, we’re not going to put the bottom into foils. we’re simply going to use where the hair is lightened already as a guide.

make sure that you’re FEATHERING with your brush and saturating the ends thoroughly. remember to backcomb to help DIFFUSE the line. once you approach the top of the head, it’s time to whip out the foils. you’re going to use a variety of techniques to OMBRE the hair and make it appear more NATURAL.

in the top portion of the head, we’re going to incorporate a few different techniques. first, we’re going to create a BABYLIGHT to help diffuse the line and create a veil. second, we’re going to just BACKCOMB a section and feather the lightener on. we’re going to REPEAT the process across the top of the head.

with the foils all in:

with each new bowl we mixed for moving up the head, we raised the developer a little higher. the back had 20 & 25 vol and the front simply had 30 vol. this helps us make sure that the hair is reaching the same point of lightness at the SAME TIME.

in the photo above, the front has only been processing for 18 minutes. you can see that it’s almost as light as other areas of the hair already. we’re going to keep a close eye on her hair, making sure to check the integrity of the hair to avoid damage.

once we wash that out, we need to TONE the lightened hair to take away a bit of the brassy. we do want to keep some of the pigment for the CHAMPAGNE BLONDE in the hair. to do so, we’re going to tone just enough to remove the yellows and oranges and KEEP the pink hues.

this will complete the CHAMPAGNE BLONDE color we’re working towards and add a bit of dimension to the color overall.

RESTORING MOISTURE and STYLING the hair

even when wet, you can see the lovely CHAMPAGNE BLONDE color.

though her hair is much softer than expected, we still want to go the extra mile to restore MOISTURE to the hair and protect it from the blowdrying and styling we’re about to do.

we’re starting with nvenn’s REPLENISH. this lightweight HAIR MOISTURIZER features a luxurious blend of oils, extracts, and vitamins that SOFTEN, TAME FLYAWAYS, and ADD SHINE to the hair—immediately and over time. after applying to damp hair, blow dry to get hair that looks and feels healthy, shiny, smooth, silky, and conditioned. this hair moisturizer for dry hair helps STRENGTHEN AGAINST BREAKAGE, detangles hair, and dramatically REDUCES FRIZZ. the best part? you can use it daily without feely greasy ;)

second, we’re going to use nvenn’s PROTECT. this nutrient-rich, NATURAL HEAT PROTECTANT FOR HAIR is also a STYLING PRIMER that speeds up your blowdry time. full of organic sea kelp extract and pure essential oils, this rich elixir quickly REFRESHES HAIR without weighing it down. it provides a PROTECTIVE BARRIER, or heat shield, for preventing heat damage and split ends. use it to PREPARE and PRIME your hair for the best style everyday.

last but not least, we’re going to add some of nvenn’s FIX flexible hairspray. this flexible hairspray holds even the toughest of styles—like sleek up'dos, curly sue's, and beach waves—without flaking. It leaves the hair SMOOTH, HEALTHY-LOOKING, and PERFECTLY IN PLACE with no stiffness

now we can BLOWDRY the hair. we’re going to use to add a little of nvenn's VOLUME to nicole’s hair while we blowdry to add BODY to her hair.