Don’t you ever wish there was a place you could ask your innermost hair and beauty questions anonymously without feeling more than a little ignorant? We at Beauty Undercover hope to come to your rescue with AskSalons, a monthly column where we interview stylists and therapists to help you get your questions answered! Following our first Hot in Singapore: Hair Colour article, we received several queries with regards to Hair Colour. We have hence approached Juno, founder of Artica Hair Studio to help us with those questions.
I would LOVE to try out shades of reds, pinks and ash dip dyes on my hair but I’m not really sure what I have to do to get them. What are the procedures I have to go through?
It really depends on
1) How long you want the hair colour to stay.
2) The shade of colour you choose
3) The brand of hair colour used by the stylist.
There are 4 types of hair colour products out there.
Credits: http://www.hair-heads.co.uk/
Temporary Hair Colour
Meant to be absorbed by the shaft of hair instead of penetrating it, these colours come in the form of shampoos, sprays, gels and so on. Temporary hair colours are the best option if you just want some exotic colours for a one-time occasion or if you need to change colours frequently. These can last for a day and usually comes off with a single wash.
The only problem – Temporary hair colours do not show up well on Asian hair because the colours are usually translucent and easily overpowered by our dark hair pigments.
Credits: http://www.hair-heads.co.uk/
Semi-Permanent Hair Colours
Absorbed partially by the shaft, the semi-permanent hair colours are tougher than temporary ones and contain little to no ammonia/bleach (developer). Since they go over the natural hair colour, the final shade and intensity for semi permanent colours depends on your original hair colour. The semi-permanent colours typically last through 5-6 washes. These will not brighten your hair and must colour to a darker shade. For Asian Hair, this means that only reds and browns are suitable. The best part is that it does not damage your hair too much!
Credits: http://www.hair-heads.co.uk/
Permanent Hair Colour
Normal Hair colour use alkaline agents instead of ammonia to remove natural pigments so while they can stay very long on your hair, the colours you can apply to your hair tend only to be darker colours such as Mahogany, Brown and Copper. If you don’t mind the colour line, the hair colour can last for months! So this means that if you want bright colours such as Pink, Purple and Ash, there is only really one option left:
Credits: http://www.hair-heads.co.uk/
Bleaching!
Involving ammonia, oxidization and stripping the hair off its natural colour, the permanent hair colours are truly permanent. These colours function in two parts- first the natural colour of the hair is bleached out and then the new colour soaks in completely to penetrate the hair shaft. The upsides are a lasting colour with some fading as well as lighter hair colouring being possible. . No matter what colour you want, whether it is Pink, Yellow, Purple or Ash colours, Bleaching can help you achieve your intended shade of colour. However there are also downsides you have to take note of. As our Asian Hair Colours are pretty dark, you may actually have to bleach your hair colour more than once to achieve the intended hair colour. In addition, the new grown hair which comes out in the natural colour will have to be bleached and coloured every time. These colours last pretty much a lifetime and reversing the colour requires either a harsh process of stripping or colouring it back to the original shade, which may not always be possible depending upon the two colours. Finally, bleaching is not recommended for everyone. Bleaching can be quite damaging for your hair so permed or rebonded hair are not advised to go for bleaching and vice versa.
OK so MUST WE REALLY bleach if we want slightly more vibrant colours such as Red and Ash Green instead of really bright pink? We just want to brighten up our permed hair!
We are not sure if other salons can do this but we have innovated and managed to find a way to apply ash green, red and violets (darker purple) hair colours on our customers without bleaching. This is due to our unique hair application process and Italian Hair Colour brand we are using: Suki Passion.
As you can see, the colours applied are vibrant although we did not do any bleaching for the customers shown below.
I have a friend who is starting to get a lot of white hair even though he is still quite young. Is it possible to do vibrant hair colour for white hair as well?
Your friend is not alone. We get a lot of customers who are starting or have already gotten quite a huge chunk of white hair. Many salons turn them down for hair colouring but we have coloured so many customers with white hair that we know exactly how to help them with hair colour. So the short answer is YES with a caveat. You have to find the right stylist with the right techniques to make sure that the white hair is well covered during the hair colouring process!
Hair Colouring for White Hair (Juno)
Why is it that sometimes we choose a certain colour with our hairstylists but the colour doesn’t come out as we chose?
Many people do not realize it but colouring can be an art. Asian hair, for example, may look black at times but really our hair is made up of dark red pigments. The amount of red pigments differ from one person to another so hairstylists often has to estimate the right shade to add so that the intended colour comes out. Applying blue colour pigments for example may lead to dark violet hair colours but the vibrance and shade may in the end depend on how dark your red pigment is. Experience and communication is thus key. The more experienced your hairstylist is, the more able he is able to estimate the right colours to achieve the right results. Still, the most experienced hairstylist might make a mistake IF you do not share your hair history with your stylist. As mentioned earlier, some people may colour their hair black or brown after bleaching their hair blonde. Colouring it black or brown can make it very difficult for other colours to penetrate. On the other hand, the damaged hair might also absorb the new hair colour in an unpredictable way. Hence, for customers who frequently bleach and colour your hair, I would recommend for you to stick to your stylist until your hair fully grows out to avoid miscommunication with new stylists.
My hair is very very damaged (weak dry ends) but I really really want to get my hair coloured. Is it really impossible?
Nothing is impossible but it is crucial to repair your hair before you can even contemplate colouring it. The key is to find the right hair treatment that is able to revive your hair’s natural protein structure. I am not a fan of Keratin treatments such as Brazilian Blowout due to the presence of poisonous formaldehyde (http://www.hop-law.com/fda-warns-of-formaldehyde-in-keratin-hair-straighteners-after-4-5-million-class-action-settlement-against-brazilian-blowout/)
Having done much research and product trialing, I have settled on two professional Japanese hair treatment products and one USA haircare brands that have so far proven very successful for my customers.
For those with REALLY damaged hair, I’ll recommend Tribolli Trioxxy Treatment. A pure synergy of proteins, Tribolli nourishes hair from within to repair any breakage and damage with its patented Hydra Delivery System technology. The HDS allows each hair strand to be coated and sealed to lock in moisture and nourishment, immediately repairing hair damage and guards against future environmental and styling damage. On top of repairing dry damaged hair, this also means that Tribolli Trioxxy can be used to straighten permed or wavy hair (without damaging it again via rebonding!). Its straightening effects last for more than 5 months, which is pretty impressive. Best of all, you can enjoy smooth, straight, shiny and great-smelling hair which can undergo hair colouring again if you so choose. The only downside? Its high price tag of $399-$599 (depending on hair length). The amount might seem quite a lot at first but that’s also because its effectiveness is so good, it is equivalent to more than 4 times the effectiveness of a regular hair treatment.
Having understood that Tribolli can be a tad too expensive for some of our customers, Artica also carry Neoprocess 3+1, one of Japan’s more popular hair treatment brand. It may not work as fast as Tribolli but its high protein content and consistent results can achieve the same level of repair effectiveness after 4 times of treatment over the course of 2 months. This means that perming and even rebonding is possible for the most damaged of hair after 4 times of Neoprocess 3+1 treatment.
Hair treatment Neo Np 3+1 (Juno)
Thanks Juno for taking the time to share with us about hair colouring! Having much experience trying out many different hair colouring techniques and products, friendly Juno from Artica is the person we trust for hair advice on colouring! If you have any more questions on hair colouring, feel free to leave us a comment or drop by Artica!