Expert Advice If You Are Considering A Drastic Change With Your Hair Color
Are You A Good Candidate For The Change?
The first thing you'll want to consider is whether or not the color you are wanting to switch to will work with your skin tone, haircut, etc. When it comes to coloring hair, you cannot just place any color and any technique on every single head of hair. Book a consultation with your stylist to determine if your favorite color is a fit. If that particular color tone will not work with your skin tone, then they can make a recommendation for another option. Here is a quick way to determine if a color will work with your skin tone.
The easiest way to determine what tones will work for you, is to flip over your hand and look at your veins. If your veins are blue or purple in color, then hair colors with cool undertones will work best for you. If your veins are blue-green, then neutral undertones are your most complimentary. On the other hand, if your veins are green or olive tones, then warm tones are your best option.
One question our experts always ask clients when having a color consultation is whether or not they understand the difference between what is warm, cool or neutral? Most often the answer is no, so here is an easy explanation for you.
Warm tones are chestnuts, golds, reds, and coppers.
Cool tones are blue, purple and green undertones which controls warmth and provides you with white or silver blondes, and ashy hued dark blondes and browns.
Neutral tones sit just right in the middle of the two. Whether they are light, medium or dark, they don't look too warm and they don't look too cool. Just right in the middle.
Can Your Hair Handle The Chemical Change?
Once you have determined what color options are best for you, then it's important to consider whether or not your hair can even handle the chemicals needed for the switch. If you are going lighter, specifically much lighter, this is very important because you need to make sure your hair can handle being lightened with bleach. After all, it doesn't make sense to lighten your hair if the integrity of your hair will be altered. We recommend having your stylist take a preliminary strand test that will show you exactly how your hair will end up after being lightened. If you are going darker it is a bit easier and this step can somewhat be skipped.
If you are going lighter and your hair cannot handle the bleach just yet, you can start preparing your hair by using quality high performance hair care. For this we recommend using our Iles Formula Shampoo & Conditioner. Our shampoo and conditioner can be used on all hair types and can provide instant repair after your first use. Talk with your stylist to determine how long you will need to treat your hair before moving forward. It's also a good idea to use a weekly Hair Mask to provide even faster results and really build your hair up with the nourishment it needs to move forward. Our Spa Collection Box is packaged in our beautiful box and includes our Shampoo, Conditioner and Mask, plus the conditioning distribution comb as shown below.
What Happens If You Don't Like The New Color?
Before moving forward, make sure this is really what you want to do to your hair. Once the color is on, specifically if you are going darker, it can be difficult to remove and often times takes several steps to do so. Our experts always recommend if you are considering going darker to start with semi or demi permanent. This can require more maintenance in the beginning, but once you feel confident that you like the darker color, you can then proceed with permanent color. The reason for this is because permanent color can be more difficult to remove especially the darker you go. If you are the type of person who likes to change your color often, we recommend that you always pick semi or demi permanent color as your option.
What About After Care?
It is just as important to take care of your hair after your color as it is before. There are a few reasons for this. First, you want to continue to be sure the hair is strong and able to accept the color on your next appointment. Also, it's important to be sure you are using color safe shampoo and conditioner like our Iles Formula products. This will prevent your color from fading out quickly. It's so important to protect your investment. Changing your hair color can be an expensive and time consuming process, and the last thing you want to do is go home and use products that do not support your investment. The Iles Formula Finishing Serum has UV protection delivering anti color fade. A small amount can be applied to hairs dry surface daily without weighing the hair down. It not only protects your investment, it calms down frizzies and seals down split ends, not to mention the sumptuous luster it delivers to hair.
We hope this has helped you with determining whether or not you are ready for a change with your hair color. These steps can really make a difference and take away a lot of the questions that sometimes comes with changing up your color. Are you going for a color transformation soon? If so, be sure to tag us in your before and after photos on social media @ilesformula_hair and #IlesFormula we love to see them.
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