Shopping advice

Dyeing hair with professional hairdressing colours

Dyeing hair with professional hairdressing colours is often more complicated than dyeing hair with colours from drugstores. For dyeing hair with professional hairdressing colours it is almost always necessary to buy two products, which are:

• the professional hairdressing colour you want and
• a developer

These two components are usually mixed together before hair dyeing in a specifyed ratio. The resulting mixture is subsequently applied on hair.

The developer is often sold only in a very large package. But some brands sell developers in a small packages for one application (e.g. Wella Professionals or Schwarzkopf Professional). We always recommend to mix every professional hairdressing colour only with a developer which is designed for the colour.

The force/concentration of the developer

The force/concentration of the developer is expressed in percentage (%) or units Vol. The higher the number is the stronger the developer is and it therefore more lightens hair. Weaker developers or even no developers are used for temporary hair dyeing. Moderate developers are used for permanent hair dyeing tone in tone or for a darker tone. Stronger developers are used for hair lightening or for covering gray hair.

Numbering of colours

Professional hairdressing colours are often labeled with numbers or combinations of numbers and letters. The first number in these numerical designations denotes the height (saturation) of the colour tone. The higher the number is, the brighter tone is (ie. 2=black, 12=platinum blond). The other numbers or letters indicate reflections of the colour.

Types of colours

• Temporary colours - designed for rinsing after 1-2 washes. They contain relatively large pigments which easily bind to the hair surface. They are usually applied in a spray form or as a coloured chalk. Temporary colours are also found in some shampoos and conditioners.
• Semi-permanent colours - usually last for 4-15 washes. They are non-oxidizing (i.e. they are not mixed with a developer) and their pigments are often of a herbal or natural origin.
• Demi-permanent colours – usually last for 10-25 washes. They combine permanent and semi-permanent hair dyeing. The hair dyeing process is partly oxidative and partly natural. Low concetrations of developers provide friendly hair dyeing.
• Permanent colours – last for a long time. The hair dyeing process is a chemical process which includes mixing with a moderate or stronger developer. You can reach almost any shade with permanent colours.

What's cabinet packaging?

• cabinet packaging is specially designed for the use in hairdresser or beauty salons
• packagings are usually less esthetic and with no emphasis on design and appearance of products
• the price of a cabinet packaging is usually lower
• the contained produkt in the classic sale packaging and the cabinet packaging is always the same