Experiment 2: Box Red VS. Professional Red

I had a request on my facebook page https://www.facebook.com/LisaF.Hair to do an experiment with red. Keep in mind that here in Texas, I can't get the brand of color that I am used to unless I wanna go on a really long drive. So this is kind of an experiment with new professional color as well as box color. This was our goal....

I am a huge fan of red hair and I always wish that I had naturally red hair. Anyway, I thought this color was beautiful (plus, I am a huge fan of the cut) and I thought that we would try it. This time, we are working on the back of Suzie-Kins head because the front has already been played with. The left side will be the side with box color and the right side is the one with my professional stuff.

So once again, I have a few things to consider.

-What is the condition of her hair? Dry and pretty damaged

-How many levels lighter will I need to go? I want to take her about two levels lighter

-Is there any gray hair? Just a couple

-Has she colored her hair before? Not yet

-If yes, how long has it been since she has colored her hair? This is so important to know if a client comes in with colored hair

-Is her hair resistant to color? Yes. Although it's real hair, mannequins are very resistant to color. 

And once again, the box color can't do any thinking for itself. It has been formulated to work on any kind of hair because there is no saying who will put it on their hair. However, I have not seen many good results from a box... something always goes wrong!

Here is Suzie-Kins with the color on her hair. Once again, the left side is the box color (bottle in the picture) and the right side is the professional color (the bowl). I was tempted to spice up the color and do a balayage but I decided to just let it be the one color (so the box color wouldn't feel so bad when it failed again :))

The instructions on the box said to leave the color on for 30 minutes and 10 extra minutes for gray coverage. I left it on the full 40 minutes just because I know that the hair is resistant and needed extra time with the color on. On the professional side, I left it on the same amount of time. Do you see the middle piece? That is the section of hair that I left the same so that it can be compared to the new colors. It is untouched by color. At the end of 40 minutes and a lot of rinsing (plus shampoo and condition), this is what I came out with...

I wish I was a better photographer! It's actually just a tad bit darker all around in real life but I had to have the flash on cause there was not enough light in my house today (storm clouds have it pretty dark here in Plano). That is the direct shot of the back of her head. You can see a tiny bit of a red lift on the left side, my piece that was not colored down the middle and then the dramatic difference of the red from my professional color. Looks like Ariel hair to me!

Just the professional side (the red looked really cool mixed in with the blonde).

This is the Box color side. Like I said, you can see just a hint of red but it's not much. In the end, I got much better results with the red than I did with the blonde! At least it did something:)

I hope these little experiments have helped everyone understand why it's so important not to color your hair from a box. Not only does it smell terrible but it is so unpredictable. I know that I feel so much better about myself when I love my hair and I know I'm not the only one, so please, please, PLEASE don't ruin your hair with box stuff.

Once again, Suzie-Kins is much happier with the red that I did with my professional color. 

If any of you readers would like to see something on my blog, leave comments here or tell me on my facebook page https://www.facebook.com/LisaF.Hair

Experiment 1: Box Blonde VS Professional Blonde

As a professional Hair stylist, people constantly ask me what the difference between box color and professional color is... and the answer? There is no ONE difference. There are several things that affect how hair color turns out when done with a box or when done professionally. Thus, I decided to do some experiments.

This is my friend Miss Suzie-Kins. She lets me do whatever I want to her hair. Including these crazy experiments. She came to me with a picture of how she wanted her hair.... (and I also talked her into a trim)

 Alright! Suzie-Kins is going for a big change! She wants to be blonde. So, here are some things that I, as a professional, consider before I even mix up color

-Has her hair been colored before? No
-Does she have any gray hair? I think I saw one...
-Is her hair resistant to color? Yes.... it's real hair but doesn't color quite as easily
-Will that shade of blonde work for her skin tone? Yes
-Does she want dimension or just one color? She wants subtle dimension
-What does she see when she looks at the picture? Everything is blonde
-What do I see when I look at the picture? I see a golden base color with a lot of beige highlights
-What is the texture of her hair? Thin, yet coarse and frizzy

From a box's point of view, here are some things that are considered


.......

....................

....................................Blonde.



Basically, the point that I want to get to is that there are so many factors to consider before changing the color of your hair and to put it bluntly, boxes just can't think for themselves. Now, on to the experiment...

Our left side is what I'm doing with my professional product and the right side is with the box color. The hair in between is to be left unchanged for comparison. Keep in mind that I put on the box color first to give it more time to develop. I followed the instructions and it gave me a max time of 35 minutes so I left it on the max time.

As I was doing this experiment, I thought, "how funny would this be if the box blonde actually turned out?" However, I didn't have to worry about that for long cause it didn't seem to be doing any changing as I let it sit. I took a close up picture so that you guys could actually see that I really did put on the color... and I drenched the hair in it. 

And my side :) You can see that it is already changing

And the results? Honestly, I was pretty shocked.... I labeled Suzie's forehead for your convenience:). P for professional and B for box

Say what!? Did the box color even do anything to the hair??? Ha! No surprise there, really. I tried to take some close up pictures because actually, the box side was tinted just a little bit. But even for my trained eye, it was hard to see.

Honestly though, it really doesn't look any different. If that was me, I would be kinda bugged that it didn't lighten my hair like it was supposed to. I even noticed on the box that it had pictures of how the hair would turn out, and it was supposed to be blonde but just a darker blonde than is indicated on the main picture.  Luckily though, it didn't turn out some funky green color.

Yay! Just what Miss Suzie-Kins wanted! I gave her a light golden base with even lighter beige highlights, but how natural does that look? Needless to say, I think she was much happier with the "P" side than she was the "B" side. And look how shiny it is. Plus, if you could touch her hair, it feels like a dream. I didn't put any product in her hair so that you could all see it with just the color.

And my baby was just a little fascinated with the head that I had sitting on the carpet so I had to take a picture. I just love that little chunk!

Next to come.... I'm thinking I'll play around with red cause I LOVE red hair. Will it work? Stay tuned!