Ammonia is the alkaline chemical in virtually all permanent colors that allows the dye to penetrate the surface layer, and to lighten natural pigment to the desired level. One downside of ammonia is that it can make hair more porous, decreasing shine and effecting the hairs ability to hold on to the color pigment and resist fading. Schwarzkopf is an industry leader with it’s ammonia content in Igora Royal one of the lowest on the market, making the colors incredibly shiny and long lasting. And Schwarzkopf demi-permanent color has never contained ammonia, and for most tone-on-tone applications, is as durable as a permanent color.

New Schwarzkopf ESSENSITY Colour offers you the first odorless and ammonia-free permanent colour with up to 100% white coverage and up to 4 levels of lift – for a perfect colour result. The oil-in-cream formulations are enriched with Grape-Seed Oil, natural Ectoin and natural Bees Wax and they are free from: Silicones, Paraffin-/Mineral Oils, Parabens, Alcohol, and Formaldehyde Derivates.

Extensive research by Schwarzkopf Professional laboratories has enabled ESSENSITY to deliver professional, high performing product formulations, in which synthetic ingredients are replaced whenever possible without compromising on performance. All ESSENSITY Colour products stand for 100% Performance and 0% Compromise.

With the first gray hairs, a good option is a demi-permanent color, such as Schwarzkopf's Igora Viviance, that covers gray 70 percent. Because they do not lift the natural color, visible roots are insignificant as the hair grows. The color is durable enough that it performs like a permanent color; not a temporary one. You will experience minimum fading between salon visits. Another option is Essensity, which will provide most with 100% gray coverage. Like Viviance, it is ammonia free, but covers up to 100% of gray and unlike a demi-permanent, it offers the option of going lighter.

With more gray hair, a natural lightening effect is taking place. Many of us have seen persons who've decided to color their graying hair in order to look younger only to have the opposite results. For most of us, as we age, our hair color (and skin tone) typically gets naturally lighter (regardless of gray) and the color we had naturally in our twenties may be too dark when we're fifty. By coloring the hair with a too-dark hair color we only succeed in making ourselves look pale and emphasizing any age lines and wrinkles we may have. When your goal is to cover gray hair, it is often wise to aim for a color a bit lighter than the natural color of your non-gray hair. Additionally, with a lighter color you can avoid at least some of the harshness of white roots.

Igora Royal or Essensity are both great permanent colors for even coverage when there is more than a little gray hair. When the hair is resistant, Schwarzkopf Igora Royal Absolutes are made for this purpose( shown in the image above). This product provides even color results on more than 50% white hair with 100% color intensity.

Highlights & Lowlights

Highlighting will hide a certian amount of gray hair. Lowlights can also reduce the amount of gray hair by roughly 25%-30%. One solution that works well is adding an all-over color between the highlights. (See the next section on highlights). A demi-permanent color between the foils of the highlight can make a big difference in covering gray compared to just a highlight, as covering the gray 100% does not matter as much because of the variation in tone. A demi-permanent works well here because it does not create as obvious a line of demarcation as the roots grow out.

Color Placement

Gray or salt and pepper hair can make you look older than you feel. With reduced pigmentation, nature may also be lightening up your hair in variable degrees of uniformity. Fortunately, variations in the distribution of white hair can be beautiful and expressive, and you can may choose to enhance this effect without returning to the exact shade of your younger self. Adrian is highly skilled at creative color placement on gray hair, paying special attention to hair around the face and the parting to minimize the appearance of roots. One advantage to keeping the light areas lighter is that roots will be much less noticeable, keeping you looking better longer between salon visits. See "Accenting with Placement" under the creative tab for more information.

Highlights are very popular because of the tremendous creative flexibility this service offers. When highlighting, very fine strands of hair are colored in one or more shades to harmonize with the natural hair color. Lowlights may be added to restore depth for added dimension, while vibrant or very light tones may be used where accents are desired. Typically, a full head of highlights colors only 20-30% of the hair, which keeps your hair healthier, and has several additional benefits:

1. Roots are less apparent as the hair grows compared to an all-over color;
2. The effect that can be achieved ranges from natural-looking to surprisingly bold;
3. If you choose to maintain highlights, retouching is only necessary every 2 1/2 to 3 months (minimum)*;
4. Highlights offer tremendous flexibility for changing the look down the road.

*Bold, thick slices or weaves with a high degree of contrast will show re-growth sooner than every three months, and may be more difficult to retouch without overlapping. I will guide you in choosing an effect that suits your personality and lifestyle.

Most clients will find a half-head highlight service adequate or even preferable to a full-head application, because it is nice to retain the natural depth in the nape area.

When an all-over high lift color a better choice than highlights:

1. You want a very dramatic lightening effect.
2. You don't mind or actually prefer coming to the salon every 4 to 5 weeks for a re-touch.
3. You want better gray coverage than you can achieve with highlights.

Combining all-over color and highlights

If you have gray hair, or if you want a very light blonde-on-blonde effect, or if you wish to soften your dark base color a little, an all-over color with highlights might be a good option. However, depending on how much the base color is altered, consider that roots will grow out faster than with a highlight. An all-over color may need retouching in 4-6 weeks, which is a lot more often than a straight-up highlight that can last up to 3 months.

There are options to consider when a multi-tonal effect is desired, and when it is the desired effect to alter the natural base color. The ultimate decision is both an esthetic one and a practical one that has to do with keeping the hair looking as good as possible for as long as possible between salon visits. To the Vidal Sassoon trained colorist, using a demi-permanent color to gently alter the base color, or accenting with color placement (see the next section) are alternative to highlights that allows a very sophisticated look in which the pitfalls of over-processed hair, and hair requiring frequent all-over toning or other corective procedures, is much easier to avoid.

 

The most esthetically interesting and dynamic coloring effects are created using color placement techniques. With a panel of color creatively placed within the design of the cut, the effect is variable as the hair moves. Change the parting, and you may have a completely different look. Creative color placement can solve many esthetic and practical challenges. Color placement can be used for the following creative and practical effects:

1. For highly saturated, vibrant shades: These colors take on a uniquely sophisticated look using skillful color placement techniques. These shades are often too much as an "all-over" color, and present the problem of visible roots as the color grows. These colors do not work well as highlights for two reasons: First, the vibrancy of the color is diluted so much it is lost, and if sliced "chunky" instead of finely woven through the hair, the effect may be striped. Second, if the vibrancy needs to be refreshed later, it is virtually impossible to isolate the highlighted areas from the rest of the hair.
2. For extreme lightening on dark hair. Again, color can be placed so that roots are less noticeable, and the result is the best of both words: a luminous blonde color effect that doesn't wash you out because you keep most of your natural depth. This also avoids the horrible striped effect of highlights that are too light for dark hair.
3. For adding depth on natural lighter shades. When lowlights might be too subtle and an all over color is too much of a leap, adding some darker tones underneath the parting and mostly or entirely away from the front hairline give the depth that you crave. Add a light panel also for even more dimension.
4. Instead of highlights when contrast is the desired effect: Sometimes a fine weave of highlights and lowlights is insufficient to create that perfect balance of contrast and dimension. As an alternative to a highlighting technique, in which color is applied to fine slices and weaves, color placement is regional, and capable of providing a little more "punch". Think of it as adding a "block" of color, which can be a panel, a small or large bar, triangle, or other geometric or morphic shape.
5. For gray hair: Color placement solves many esthetical and practical challenges. See the section "Covering Gray" for more information.

The images above are from ukhairdressers.com, and are chosen because they illustrate excellent color placement technique comparable to Adrian's technique.