Polite Lines for your Hair Colorist

June 28, 2010

The biggest frustration women have after a PCA is in trying to communicate with their hair colorist. They bring in many pictures, but they meet resistance. All they’re really asking for is a look that might have happened by itself. It shouldn’t be so hard.

The colorists have comebacks, probably based on the legions of women who had yellow or bleached hair for years, finally went back to a natural color but did it too fast, and ended up going back to the processed head, despite the people who told them it looked like a bad wig. There was always that one well-meaning mushball in the crowd who was trying to say something nice, who said “I loved you as a blonde”, and back to the salon they went. I’m not nearly that nice, NOT saying that’s a good thing.

Light or Soft Season Client : I feel my head is one become one big amalgamated highlight. I’d like to go back to my natural color with just a few highlights.

Dark Season Client : I feel my head is one become one big amalgamated highlight. I’d like to go back to my natural color with no highlights. I want my hair to be A color. ONE color.

Colorist : Why? It’s boring.

A : Well, I was looking through some magazines and it dawned on me that the women I want to look like, well, none of them my age has wide stripes of highlights, or 3 very different color highlights, or busy hair, but they look amazing.”

Then I realized, “Hey, NONE of the models of ANY age has busy hair!”

And I thought “Why? Is it because busy hair would detract from the face, and they’re trying to sell mascara or lipstick? Wait a minute!! Is MY busy hair distracting from my face??? Am I wearing way too much makeup to compensate?”

Then I realized “Hey, the only photos of multi- highlights are in teen mags or starlets under 25!!”

And I thought “Hey! If it’s not flattering or age-appropriate or flattering on the sophisticated women I see, how can it be on me????”

And I thought “Hey, when they do have highlights, and most of these women probably do, you can’t see them! And the women with dark hair look a whole lot better with pumped-up shine on one-color dark hair.”

Then I realized “When I asked you for highlights in shades that are closer to my base color, you said they wouldn’t show up. I’m starting to think that’s a good thing. I wanted shimmer and got chunks that got wider over the years.”

Colorist : Why? It’s too dark. You HAVE to have lighter hair as you age.

A : “Yeah, well I’m ok with 1 or 2 shades lighter, but not more than that. It makes my eyebrows look too dark by comparison and my kids tell me I look angry. Plus, a whole head of light hair looks fake on me and costs too much money to keep up. But, while we’re on the topic, what do you think, should brows or hair be lighter?”

What Christine thinks about eyebrows : In fact, I find both 2 shades lighter or darker can work for brows and still look believable. Lighter (bleached) brows is a makeup artist trick to bring light to the eye area. Mostly I think it looks ‘different’ rather than necessarily younger. Like most things, these effects are more real on the young ones. Darker brows, by only a shade or 2, is what most people have. At maturity, past 35 say, hair that is a bit lighter than natural is usually more flattering to skin, depending on the person. To get brows even lighter than that looks a bit worked at. Best to leave brows a shade or 2 darker than hair, just looks more real and less upkeep.

This looks nice, looks real. Brows 2 shades darker. Nice feeling of relief because you don’t have to react to anything that looks forced.

Colorist : Why? It looks young and funky.

A: “Yeah, well, I work in an office where funky isn’t professional. I want to be taken seriously and the problem is that nobody will listen to one word I say if I have hedgehog hair and stripes. When I see older women trying to look younger with trendy hair, what I think is “Hm, older woman trying to look younger”.

Colorist : It looks too solid if it’s all 1 color.

A : “True, if it’s a wall of corn, or a totally unbelievable color. Other than that, on any woman I know, after a week of washing, it will be fine.”

Colorist : Taupe (light brown, let’s call them) highlights either won’t show up, or will just fade in a week and look bleached. You’ll need toner every 2 weeks.

A: It doesn’t have to be perfect. Part of what my PCA taught was to know what is really wrong. The hair below belongs to a Season who looks good in highlights (the lighter and softer Seasons). This is a woman, a Soft Summer, who now understands that the hair color that will perfect her skin best is a medium ash-brown base and a taupe highlight. Not toffee (Soft Autumn), not yellow (True Spring), not silver-beige (True or Light Summer), not platinum, and definitely NO red. She’s doing fine so far.

She’s got a selection of neutral brown colours here. It’s just that there’s too much lightened hair and some is too light. Solution : Ask the colorist foil to the brownest ones to protect them and just color the rest to a good base color. Yes, the lightest tones will fade faster, but eventually it will all balance. Will the lightest strands pick up too much of the darker base color? Could be, but surely colorists have a way of dealing with that.

Colorist : It looks sexy.

A: You know, I asked 5 guys, all different ages, and not one of them thinks hair color makes me sexier. “It’s the whole package”, they said. “We’re guys, man. Unless it’s beach-blonde mermaid hair, we’re not going to think “Did you see those highlights, boys? She must be a vibrant woman!”, we’ll do well to notice that you have hair.”

I asked my husband and he said “I ain’t in love with your hair”.

I asked my boss and he said “You don’t communicate with your hair, do you?”

I asked myself if I feel sexier and decided that I don’t set out in the morning to be provocative. If it comes up later, I’ll do it with clothes and lipstick. I guess women have always tried to look seductive, but I really do want people to pay more attention to my words. At this point in my life, they’re the best part of me.

A: If you had seen color change your own face to 10 years older and back again, you’d believe in PCA too. Maybe you should try it before you write it off. It would change your entire career.

Final A: It’s my money. Let’s do it anyhow. If I don’t like it, it will be all my fault.

Posted by Christine Scaman | Filed Under Color Analysis, Great Hair

Comments

4 Responses to “Polite Lines for your Hair Colorist”

Jay on June 29th, 2010 4:30 pm

Hi Christine,

This is very interesting about the highlights.

This is a great article i read a short while ago about how to deal with that solid wall of colour you get when you highlight for a long time.

http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/beauty/article7144315.ece

I just have a query about taupe as a highlight. I am a soft summer type but my hair is dark blonde not ash brown. But it is boring so i highlight.

A taupe highlight would be around the same or darker than my natural base – i am not light but i am definitely not as dark as the hair in the picture above. I need to go a bit lighter than taupe when i highlight because of it. I think there are other soft summers as well who are a shade lighter than taupe.

Plus even though i am soft summer and fairly neutral i do have some gold warmth in my hair. It’s the last colour the hair holds on to as the colour fades and the pigment leaches out of the hair shaft. Because of this my colourist does a very neutral highlight of this with not a trace of warmth in it. I have yet to figure out the best way to deal with the highlight thing. I’ve been warned i go khaki green when too much ash goes into it to correct. It’s complicated.
Christine Scaman on June 30th, 2010 6:49 pm

Jay,
GREAT article. About time women started thinking about this.
I’m no hair colorist so it’s hard to help. I wonder if we have the same color in our heads when we see “taupe”. Or at least, we both understand that there are many taupes of different depths. The thing is to use a light brown, not a yellow for Soft Summer.
Ash is good, but alone it looks flat and doesn’t cover grey, so some warmth helps, as you say. A little warmth is perfectly ok, this is a Neutral Season and has both warmth in coolness. Just no red.
The woman in the picture- her colorist ended putting a toner over the entire head and it worked perfectly. She has a little warmth now too, a very subtle highlight, and no regrowth issues.
While we’re on the hair topic, one look I think is awful is highlights that start right at the part. I think that’s what SJP did in the article – had them section off the very top layer of hair and highlight underneath. That way, nothing starts right at the part, and grows out awfully, and the highlights look like they’re shooting out from underneath. Also a few lowlights at the part may work. And allowing the lower half of the strand to lighten more than the top half, so it looks more natural, like children in November.
Sounds to me like you’re doing better than 90% of the women out there and that you have good taste (or at least, my taste )
Jay on July 1st, 2010 1:01 pm

I guess I’m not too sure what you mean by taupe – to me that is brown and would be darker than my hair. A light brown would always be too dark for me a highlight. It would be pretty much the same or darker as my natural base colour. But maybe you mean a beigey type cream highlight? Yes?

I’ve have tried that before and it’s difficult to keep the colour like the because the gold in my hair makes it yellower as it fades.

but i am going to try your suggestion about the underneath highlight and what they suggest in that article about where to put the lowlights into the wall of colour that has built up.

It is hard explaining that to hairdressers though because it’s not what they normally do.
Marcy on July 2nd, 2010 7:03 pm

One advantage of age (I’ll be 53 next week) is that my gray hair provides the ‘highlights’ when my hair is colored–it looks totally natural, and most people think I’m at least 10 years younger than I am…partly thanks to genetics and Paula’s Choice!