5 Factors That Affect Your Colour
1. Natural Hair Colour
Identifying your Natural Hair Colour is the most important factor in choosing the right Developer for your selected Hair Colour Shade. Identify your Natural Hair Colour from your Regrowth, closest to your scalp, not your ends. Read more: Natural Hair Colour Chart
2. Existing Colour and Hair history
Before Colouring, honestly examine your Hair Colour history over the last 12-18 months. Any Hair Colour, semi-permanent Colour, treatment, Colour saving shampoo and conditioners or toning products can affect the outcome of your Colour goals.
For example: If your Hair is Coloured Dark and you want to Lighten it, you cannot put another Permanent Hair Colour over the top, it will result in no change. To Lighten, you will have to use Colour Remover to clean out the pigment or follow the Hair Lightening Process.
3. Percentage of Grey Hair
Grey Hair has 0 pigment, which means that Permanent Hair Colour looks and works differently compared to any other Colour. My Hairdresser Permanent Hair Colour covers 100% of Greys. Use our Natural Hair Colour Range for the best results covering Grey Hair.
When Colouring Grey’s, it is important to establish the percentage of Greys. If you have more than 50% Grey Hair use the My Hairdresser Natural Permanent Hair Colour Range with 20 Volume Developer. If you have under 50% Grey Hair, use any desired My Hairdresser Permanent Hair Colour.
4. Hair Thickness
There are 3 main types of Hair thickness that have different resistance and effects to Hair Colour.
Fine Hair has the least thickness, although that doesn’t mean that there isn’t a lot of it. It is generally the easiest to process Colour and therefore can be easily overprocessed. It can also be more susceptible to damage.
Medium Hair is considered normal or most common and does not need any special requirements when Colouring.
Thick Hair is the thickest and strongest. There is generally a lot of it and can be quite heavy and hard to control due to its volume. Thick Hair can be harder when Colouring. It can be resistant to Hair Colour and may need a little more effort or process when Colouring. It generally needs more Product to cover the entire head of Hair. Not sure how thick your Hair is? Get a Hairband and see how many times you can wrap it around your Hair.
If you can wrap it around your Hair over 4 times, then you have fine Hair.
If you can wrap it around your Hair 3 times, then you have medium Hair.
If you can wrap 2 times and it feels tight, then you have thick Hair.
5. Hair Porosity
Hair Porosity refers to your Hairs ability to absorb moisture. The more moisture your Hair can absorb, the more porous your Hair is. The amount of Porosity determines how your Hair will accept Hair Colour.
Low Porosity Hair can be quite shiny, particularly when it's a Darker Colour. It is generally referred to as healthy. Low Porosity Hair can make Colour processing harder to penetrate as it resists the Colour process. To cater to this, alternative Colour processes may need to be applied to get the desired result.
Normal Porosity Hair generally means low maintenance Hair. It is generally good for Hair Styles and will Colour with a predictable result when using the normal instructions. Normal Porosity Hair will, however, damage over time, with repeated Colour Processes. An occasional conditioning treatment should be a part of the Hair regime to keep up the Hair’s condition.
High Porosity Hair is caused by damage to the Hair through processes such as over bleaching, chemical processes or the environment. Grey Hair is highly porous, frizzy Hair is generally a sign of highly porous Hair. High porosity Hair will absorb Colour very well and very quickly, as the Hair Shaft is very open. High porosity Hair can be high maintenance and generally needs a lot of TLC in terms of regular treatments and conditioners. Products high in protein are particularly good.
Want to know if your Hair is Highly Porous? Do the following test: Take a couple of strands of your Hair, and drop them into a bowl of water. Let them sit for a couple of minutes. If the Hair is floating, it has low porosity. If it sinks, it has high porosity.