How to Create Successful Single Process Blondes

How to Create Successful Single Process Blondes What do you think of when you envision a beautiful single process blonde? Do you envision a soft buttery blonde, that has a hint of golden sunshine to it, or an ice cool blonde that has that Nordic – Swedish look? These images conjure up thoughts of what I call: Successful Single Process Blondes. This is what we think will be achieved when we look at them on the color charts from the manufacturers, but the reality is usually quite different. Oranges, blondes, bold gold blondes, brassy blondes, greenish blondes and grayish blondes are many times what we end up with. And what about the client that you have been highlighting very heavily for some time now and one day says to you - “You know I like my blonde highlights so much that I think I want to go solid blonde all over”. And you figure that maybe she’s right. I mean, if a little blonde looks good, a lot of blonde should look better. So, you mix your favorite shade of blonde and put it on. In 30 minutes, you have a yellow canary"Book Antiqua"""> sitting in your chair that looks as though she has seen a ghost. To make matters worse, you suddenly discover the big black bushy eyebrows that you never realized that she had when the hair was just highlighted. All of these situations stated above are just a few of the horrors that can happen when we start to dive into the world of single process blonding. To begin with, let’s define the term Single Process Blonding. When I discuss single process blonde/blonding, I’m referring to one shade of blonde tint (not lightener, not highlights, not lowlights) that is applied to the hair from re-growth to ends. Who are the Best and Worst Candidates for Single Process Blonding Like all the haircolor that we do, we’ll always have a best and worst candidate for any particular shade and single process blonding is no different. As a matter of fact, this is one category of color where choosing the right candidate is absolutely essential in order to achieve success. And as you will soon see, there are very few really good candidates from which to choose. If you try to make a single process blonde out of anyone that is a natural level 1-6, you are going to get very warm tones and produce an orange/brassy blonde. This does not mean, however, that we cannot make them blondes in other ways, such as a double process blonde or a slightly warm single process blonde with highlights woven in to defuse the warm tones That leaves us with natural levels 7, 8, 9, 10. If you think about it, why would anyone with a natural level 9 or 10 want or need to color her hair blonde? The only reason that I can think of is if she has gray in her blonde hair and wants to re-color it blonde.yes""> This will actually be darkening, not lightening, the hair. So that leaves us with only two natural levels to chose from, 7 & 8. Yes, that’s right, believe it or not, out of all the people in the world the only clients, in my opinion, that will become beautiful, successful single process blondes are the ones that are already starting out with a light natural base color such as natural levels 7 & 8. Having said this, here is the exception to this rule - there are a few level 6 clients that you may be able to make successful single process blondes. These are clients that have very light color skin tones and light cool eye color such as light blue, light gray or light green. The light skin tones and light eye color will usually indicate that they have very light Pheomelanin (red-yellow) color pigmentation and, therefore, usually will not pull too much gold as you lighten their hair. Go ahead and give them a try. That's it for today, have a Great Week! David

What is a “Real Toner”?

What is a “Real Toner”? Hi, everyone, David here, It seems that lately I have gotten many e-mails asking about "Real Toners". Because in my book, Stunning Double Process Blondes, I speak a lot about toners and what to look for in a good bleach-out. Unfortunately, this is something that most hairdressers have never heard about because double process blonding is not taught anywhere else except in my haircolor course. So I would like to try to cut through all of the confusion about toners. Today most haircolor manufacturers have quit making what I call "traditional toners". Traditional toners are toners that are mixed with a developer (hydrogen peroxide) and were made using the third-generation of color from the color wheel known as tertiary colors. Presently, most haircolor manufacturers quit making traditional toners because there is not a large demand for them so they are not a big moneymaker. Most manufacturers these days will tell you to simply use their demi-colors as a toner. Now, some demi colors work great as toners but others do not. That is why I always recommend doing a swatch test first on a small piece of hair to test your particular demi-color before you put it on all over the hair. My preference, if I am doing a very light double process blonde, is to use one of the old-fashioned traditional toners. Unfortunately, my manufacturer (Wella) has also quit making traditional toners in its more modern haircolor lines. However, they do still make traditional type toners in one of its old fashion lines called “Color Charm”. If you have been doing haircolor as long as I have, I'm sure you will remember the old Color Charm tints and toners. These days they are usually sold at discount beauty supply stores such as Sally's. That is where I go to buy these old-fashioned traditional toners. One of our Clubhouse Members recently e-mailed me saying that she has never heard of traditional toners and asked if there is such a thing as a swatch chart for toners. The answer that question is YES! There is a swatch chart for the Color Charm tints and it does include some of the toner shades. If you would like to download this swatch chart, Click here and go to my website where I have created a Secrets Download Page for you. (Look on page 9 – to the right hand side). The best way that I know to use these toners are as follows. If you want to do a double process blonde but still leave a good bit of tone in the hair such as a medium blonde, you should bring your bleach out to the gold stage and select a Color Charm toner that is in the 30s series. If you would like to make a lighter double process, bring your bleach out to the yellow stage and use a toner in the 20s series. And, finally, if your desire is to create a very light double process blonde, "almost white", bring your bleach out to pale yellow and use a toner in the 10’s (or teen’s) series. My favorite Color Charm formula for a very, very light blonde almost white color is two shades in the teen’s series. I can't remember offhand the exact numbers, but they are in the 10’s series and they are called "White Lady" and “Ivory Lady". I mixed them together 50/50 with 20-volume peroxide to achieve a beautiful white effect on a pale yellow bleach-out. I hope that this information is helpful to you and, if you have any comments or would like to share your favorite toner formulas, please do so here. Have a great week, David

The Level System Lies, the Color Wheel is B.S., and All Ash Tints Suck!...There, I said it.

The Level System Lies, the Color Wheel is B.S., and All Ash Tints Suck There, I said it. After 35 years of trying to make these things work, I finally quit beating my head against the shampoo sink. Why do I say this - the Level System Lies, the Color Wheel is B.S. and All Ash Tints Suck? Simple….. Let me ask you these few questions: Most haircolor manufacturers tell us that we can achieve up to five levels a lift with their products. This means that if I have a client who is a natural level 2 (dark brown), I should be able to use a level 7 (medium blonde) and achieve a beautiful single process blonde. Can you do this? Of course not, she would be a screaming, “Orange head,”sitting in your chair. And what about the Color Wheel? We were all taught in beauty school that, if a client's hair looks green to simply go across the color wheel and we would see that we must put red into the hair to neutralize the green. Have you ever tried this? If you have, I'm sure you will agree that it does not neutralize the color. Instead of the client being lime green, she's now an olive green. So there goes the color wheel theory out the window. And what about Ash Tints, aren’t we told by all the product manufacturers that the Ash Tints will subdue the unwanted warm tones? Do you have any brunette clients who are constantly complaining about their hair looking red? Do you have any blonde clients who are constantly complaining about their hair looking brassy? Listen guys, I’m not trying to put down the product manufacturing companies. I mean, they do the best job they can and give us good products to work with. I'm also not trying to put down beauty schools, although I definitely think that their teaching is antiquated. However, I'm sick and tired of all of the haircolor myths that we have been told for years from both of these institutions. I guess this is one reason why my home study course, Trade Secrets of a Haircolor Expert, has taken off like a rocket ship. All because a few short years ago, I decided to sit down and write a haircolor program that would teach hairdressers the “REAL DEAL” of how haircolor “REALLY” works. I have no hidden agenda, such as trying to sell you a line of haircolor or trying to push you through beauty school, even though you haven't a clue of how to do haircolor. No, no, no, my only agenda is to try to help you to be the best colorist you can be. Just to prove the point, I want you to take quick little tests. STOP READING right now and open a new browser window, go to Google, and type in the term "Haircolor Education". Do it now…I’ll wait for you to come back…dumm, dumm, di..dumm, dumm, (That’s me waiting.) Now, at what position do you see my haircolor course Trade Secrets of a Haircolor Expert ? I guarantee you my program is either number one or number two. (By the way, don't look at the top two or three terms that are highlighted in yellow because those are what's called “sponsored links” and they are paid advertisements to be in that position. I am talking about all the rest of the search results which are known as the organic or “real” search engine results.) Now, isn't it amazing how my little ol’ haircolor program, Trade Secrets of a Haircolor Expert, typed out with my own two hands on my own little ol’ laptop has a higher Google ranking than all of the major companies who also offer haircolor education. I’m talking about companies like Wella, L’Oreal, Goldwell, Jingles, Paul Mitchell, Aveda, as well as every other haircolor company and other individuals like me out there teaching haircolor. It’s a matter of fact, according to Google, my haircolor program is searched more than over 3 million other websites that also sell haircolor education. If you didn't open a new browser window and did the search like I asked you to, you can just look at the screenshot below to see what I'm talking about. By the way, Trade Secrets of a Haircolor Expert’s number one ranking is the same search results in Yahoo, MSN, Bing, Dog Pile and every other major search engine out there as well. Now, people in the know are constantly asking me how I get the number one spot in the Google search engine ranking (as I have done for the past two years since the launch of the Trade Secrets program). I tell them it’s simple; the word is out that the teaching in this home study course is the only course in the world that teaches hairdressers “How Haircolor Really Works”. You see there’s really only two ways to learn haircolor. One is by trial and error (this could take 10 to 20 years). The other is by learning from someone who has been there before you, has already made all the mistakes there are to make and is willing to share with you what they have learned…which is exactly what my haircolor course is deigned to do. So anyway, as we begin another new year and people make all kinds of New Year resolutions such as lose weight or quit smoking…why don’t you make this the year that you learn how to do Amazing Haircolor? I don’t mean just take a 1-hour haircolor class at you local beauty show… I mean really study the craft of how haircolor really works and master this true “ART” form once and for all. Remember the longer you wait, the longer it will be before you start to see results, so why not dig in right now at the start of this brand new year and get going? I wish you massive success in all your haircolor endeavors, and it would be my pleasure to help you along your journey to haircolor mastery. See you next week, David For more info on the Haircolor Trade Secrets course Click Here.