Blonde hair and its multiple bleaching techniques will forever stand its ground at the North hemisphere. Even as much so, that we easily tend to forget that most of us are naturally quite dark. Brown hair is the most common hair color in the world, but whether they come natural or colored – they are definitely anything but boring! Brown hair is versatile, multi-dimensional, and flattering on most people. It comes in so many different shades, it’s easy to find one that compliments anyone. Brown hair is also very forgiving and easier to maintain, thus cheaper option for blonde. Here are some tips to find and keep that ultimate, most complimenting brunette shade. UndertoneBy peeking at the veins in your wrist you can figure out your undertone. Do they appear green? Then you probably have warm undertones. Cool and ashy shades, like dark chocolate and ice coffee can help brighten up your complexion and bring out the warmth in your eyes. On the other hand, golden, and reddish shades like auburn, caramel, mahogany, cherry and honey bring out the warmth in your complexion. For veins that appear blue, your undertones are most likely cool. Warm shades of brown like chestnut, amber, caramel, honey can really pop out next to your skin. On the other hand, neutral shades like chocolate brown and beige can help neutralize and balance redness in your complexion. If the veins appear both greenish and blueish, you most likely have neutral skin. Lucky for you, almost any shade of brown will look fabulous on you. TechniquesIt´s easy to bring some depth and contrast to dark hair colors with multiple bleaching techniques. By creating soft and subtle contrasts you will have most natural looking results, full of dimension. Balayage and Ombre are a great choice from the trendy bleaching techniques to achieve natural sweeping glow. Depending on how light or dark your hair is, lowlights, the opposite of highlights, can give brunette hair dimension and richness by placing them strategically, to bring in some shadow and depth. CareRed, orange, and yellow undertones naturally combine to make up the different shades of brown hair. Sometimes brassy tones can show through your color. Brassiness gives hair a dull, matte look, evidently home haircare and maintenance is vital with dark hair color as well.
Silver shampoos are not for blondes only. Blue shampoo and conditioner can help cancel out brassy tones in dark hair by neutralizing warmth. The sun´s UV rays have a “natural” bleaching effect, causing your hair color to unleash the undertones of red and orange. Same thing occurs with hot tools, so to avoid color and structural damage it is important to use haircare products with UV shield and thermal defense. Dark hair can be vulnerable to dryness as well as its blonde cousin. Hydrating shampoo, conditioner, oils, hair mask and pigmented conditioners hold the key to healthy, shiny and soft hair. Tom Schevelin-Repnau
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Natural, shiny blonde or beautiful, deep brunette? We often think about updating our look, but how to go about it? Will adding some highlights do the trick? But which technique to choose? The modern-day trends follow very natural outcomes, not depending on the preferred method. But what should you consider when choosing a tone? How do you keep that tone vibrant at home? How to regain a healthy and shiny hair? Here we go through some of the most popular and current bleaching techniques, discuss about the chemical processes of bleaching and give some tips on how to choose your hair color. At Nuvo, we dare to say that we are experts of blondes and bleaching. Using different techniques, bleaching takes over 90% of our spent time in the salon. ABC of bleachingHair bleaching is a chemical dye technique that strips the color from the hair. The process begins with a combination of alkaline and oxidative agents opening the hair cuticle and dissolving the hair's natural melanin or artificial color pigments. Big molecule pigments, such as red, orange and yellow will surface when starting the process and how light will they end up becoming depends on how much pigment is in the hair. Going from jet black to platinum is rarely done in one sitting, but rather multiple visits to the salon, until there is no big molecule pigments left in the hair. This is the reason why going from dark to blonde often means having warmer tones before the process is complete. It is good to understand this before starting any bleaching process. BalayageYou have probably heard of Balayage before, and it is definitely here to stay. The word origins from a French word that means “to sweep.” In this technique, highlights are hand-painted on the surface of sections of hair, starting midshaft, lifting slightly up towards the root area and becoming denser as it moves down the section to the ends. The desired effect is a natural sun-kissed glow. Balayage can be applied as a more classic, full balayage throughout your hair to give you the lighter look all-around or it can also be done as partial, such as only around the face or the crown area of your hair. Classic Balayage highlights are traditionally just a few shades lighter than your base color, giving your hair natural depth and dimension. It blends seamlessly into your natural color that it is easy to maintain. As all bleached hair it still needs your attention and care at home to keep the hair moisturized and vibrant. Highlighting with foilsThe most used highlighting technique for the highest contrast and most intense effect. Highlights are created using foils to keep the bleach moist throughout the process and to capture the escaping heat from the scalp, thus providing maximum effect. This technique follows more structured pattern compared to free-hand versions. Typically bleaching starts from the root area, resulting it to be touched up regularly for the grow-out. BabylightsBabylights are accomplished the same way as foil highlights. The biggest difference is in the placement of the highlights and the amount of hair between the foils. Hair is sectioned very finely to achieve a naturally-lightened-by-the-sun effect. Babylights are strategically placed to blend naturally with your base color to give the hair a tiny bit of natural brightness. OmbreThe French word translates to “shadow.” The ombre effect is usually more evident compared to Balayage highlights. It is traditionally done by lightening hair from the tips up to create a gradual horizontal fade to the length of the hair. The traditional outcome of Ombre is from the darkest root area down to the lightest tip of hair, but this can be altered vice versa for more dramatic look. IlluminageClassic Balayage technique is altered here, by focusing mainly to bleach the mid-shafts and ends of the hair sweeping the brush away from the crown area, leaving room for natural color. Focusing on highlighting the face-framing areas, the contrasts are soft and moderate for the outcome to be very natural, like sun-kissed effect. GlossingA hair gloss is a subtle coloring and conditioning treatment that infuses the hair with radiance and shine.
Glossing service is most beneficial in between bleaching sessions, for example, if your hair has been Balayaged, chances are, that there is no need to lift that effect for months. The tone of the color however will not last that long, so Glossing will come handy to tone out those brassy tones and refresh the color with a vibrant shine. It is perfect for blondes, reds and brunettes. Tom Schevelin-Repnau Color correction most commonly means either toning out unwanted color pigments, dying your hair darker, or lightening your hair even more to achieve the desired effect. A pre-session appointment is needed to go through the detailed history of your hair. If the damage is minor, the hair is usually easy to fix with a quick dye job. However, if your hair is already dry and brittle from excess bleaching, you might need multiple sessions, spread out over several weeks or months to get the color right, leaving your hair rest and recuperate in between sessions. To maintain or regain the healthy and shiny hair is unfortunately time and money consuming project that should be understood before going into it. Ways to do itBy bleachingYour hair is not just one color you see, there are many undertones such as red, orange and yellow pigments and their variations combine to make your hair the color you see. Uncombining these organic or artificial color pigments by bleaching can be time consuming process, that needs a lot of work and patience, since the hair cannot be bleached too heavily at one sitting. How much lighter the hair gets depends on a great deal of multiple factors. It is advised to bleach the hair gradually and carefully, since the bleach can strip your hair of essential proteins and nutrients, and repeated exposure can be damaging. We highly recommend products that repair the polypeptide chains inside your hair, like Olaplex or K-18 to be used with any of our bleaching services. By color and tonerHair toner is used to adjust the shade of hair color by removing unwanted color pigments, such as orange and yellow, by using the complementary colors of the color wheel, such as blue and violet. Often the least damaging and the easiest color correction for bleached hair is to dye it darker. Overprocessed bleaching results will be corrected by inserting the hair with a big molecule color pigments such as yellow and/or orange to prevent the color fade and muddy or greenish results. The second color session on top of this process will provide the outcome with depth and shine.
Tom Schevelin-Repnau Blonde and bleached hair is always going to be in, but it may require some extra attention after the salon visit. Blonde hair is exceptionally porous and vulnerable to the elements, such as the sun’s rays to the minerals in your water to the wrong hair products you use, all can damage the hair, leaving it dry, brittle, and off-color. Here are a few tips for blonde haircare and maintenance. Hair is very similar to your skin. Depending on the circumstances it sometimes may get dry or oily, so having right haircare products at home is essential. Ask your stylist to guide you through all your hair-needs. HydrationHydrated hair is healthy hair, no matter what color it is. Bleaching strips the hair’s cuticle of oils and nutrients that keeps it looking soft and healthy. A hydrating shampoo and conditioner along with weekly used hair masks will make all the difference to your bleached hair, helping them to stay healthy, shiny and beautiful. ProtecA challenging part of blonde haircare is protecting that beautiful and shiny color. Sun exposure, chemicals like chlorine and mineral deposits from hard water will alter the shade of the hair, creating yellow, orange or even green tones. Ask your stylist to help you with the right toning products to keep up the shine of the vibrant new color. Ward off unwanted brassiness with a silver shampoo and illuminate your bright blonde hair with conditioning toners between salon sessions. Avoid excess shampoo wash, since it strips hair of its pigment, resulting faster color fade. If the hair gets oily in between washes, try a dry shampoo! The sun´s UV rays are extremely harmful to your hair as well as your skin. The effect on the hair is similar to the skin. Don’t believe in the myth that the sun will “naturally” lighten your hair, since by the time this happens, your hair will go through extreme structural change by burning. Always protect your hair and skin with UV products to prevent the damage. Invest in water filtersHard water contains minerals, like copper, chlorine, calcium, and magnesium. While not hazardous to your health, hard water can damage your hair color and is notorious for dulling blonde hair, making it less shiny and dry. Mineral deposit can also affect bleaching process or prevent it completely. Hot toolsHard water contains minerals, like copper, chlorine, calcium, and magnesium. While not hazardous to your health, hard water can damage your hair color and is notorious for dulling blonde hair, making it less shiny and dry. Mineral deposit can also affect bleaching process or prevent it completely.
Tom Schevelin-Repnau OlaplexHair contains billions of disulfide bonds which will give the hair its structure, strength and stability. When these bonds are broken, it results in hair damage. Olaplex restores damaged hair by repairing from the inside out with its patented ingredient. Once all bonds are intact and in alignment, the hair is healthy, shiny and beautiful. Most of our clients already use Olaplex treatment as regular part of their coloring or bleaching sessions, for a very good reason: hair suffers of oxidizing, both natural and chemical, resulting in dry, brittle, non-elastic-, another words: damaged hair. Olaplex prevents this from happening and rebuilds the already-broken-bonds. The effect is permanent, however its work on hair is endless. Disulfide bonds are stretched and broken daily when we go about our regular business. All the mechanical stress will further the damage, like using hot tools, brushing and combing the hair. Thermal, mechanical, chemical and environmental factors all show in your hair. We highly recommend using Olaplex No.3 as once-in-a-week care, for maintenance and prevention at home, in between the salon sessions. Ask your stylist for more information. K18The keratin chains´ structure in the hair is mostly built of three kinds of bonds, out of which the disulfide bonds are crucial for the healthy-looking hair. When these bonds are broken (read Olaplex), the whole keratin chain and thus the hair, will result in visible damage. There are billions of keratin chains in a single strand of hair. When these are damaged, hair’s core structure becomes compromised and, as a result, it loses its strength, elasticity, resiliency, and shine.
With patented K18Peptide, this will rebuild the keratin chains on molecule level using biomimetics, becoming permanent part of hair structure. Hair care with K18 product varies depending on the condition and state of the hair. Ask your stylist for more information. Tom Schevelin-Repnau |
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