Hair Color Theory 101 | Discover Kenra Color | Kenra Professional

In this video we'll be discussing hair color fundamentals. Now this doesn't necessarily apply to just Kenra Color, but all color brands, and is the foundation for becoming an experienced colorist. Now, in order to understand how to color hair as a stylist, it's imperative that we understand the Law of color. We like to reference the color wheel for this information to help you understand what that means.. Let'S start out with primary colors. Primary colors, exist on their own and cannot be made.. These colors are red, blue and yellow. When all three of the primary colors are mixed together. The end result is brown and/or neutral.. Now, let's take a look at secondary colors. Secondary colors are achieved when mixing two primary colors together.. So, for example, mixing red and yellow will be orange, mixing, red and blue will be violet and mixing blue and yellow will give us green., And then we have tertiary colors. Tertiary colors are achieved when mixing a primary and a secondary color together in equal parts.. Now I want you guys to take a look at colors that live opposite of each other on the color wheel, --. These are called complementary colors and not only do they complement each other, but they also neutralize each other. So this is important when formulating for hair color., For example. If you want to eliminate orange tones from the hair, we would want to use a blue-based color, because blue is opposite of orange on the color wheel, providing you with a neutral brown or blonde end result.. This leads us to our next topic: --, the level system and underlying pigment. Level systems are used to describe the level of lightness or darkness in the hair, with lower levels being darker and higher levels, meaning lighter. Kenra Color uses a level system from 1 to 10, With one being the darkest brown or black and ten being the lightest pale blonde., We actually removed level 2 because it's indistinguishable to the human eye to differentiate below a 3.. We also have to talk about underlying pigment.. Underlying pigment is natural, hair pigment that is in everyone's hair, but it is visually exposed anytime, we're lifting two or more levels. So, for example, if I have a client who's, a Natural Level 6 and I'm lifting her to an 8, I'm gon na be exposing some gold tones. So thanks to the color wheel, I know that violet cancels out gold, so I would use a violet-based color for a beautiful blond end result. Before we take a deeper look into hair color. Let'S take a look at hair itself.. Let'S take a look at the structure of the hair., The hair is divided into three layers: the cuticle, the cortex and the medulla.. The cuticle is the outermost layer and it actually opens and closes to accept things like moisture and hair color.. The cortex is just inside the cuticle, and this is where most chemical processes take place and then you have the medulla, which is not present in everyone's hair, but typically lives in coarse hair structures.. Now, let's look at texture., Regardless of if your hair is curly or straight, the hair is divided into three categories: fine, medium and coarse.. Fine hair is the smallest of the three and you can barely even feel it when it's isolated. It'S also the most susceptible to damage.. Medium hair is the most common type and coarse hair is the most resistant to damage and is thicker in terms of diameter than all the other hair strands.. Then we have density. Density, speaks to the number of hairs on the head, as well as how closely knit they are together on the scalp.. Interestingly enough, someone with fine hair could potentially have a very high density, whereas the opposite could happen for someone with coarse hair. They may have low density.. This is absolutely important as well when formulating to make sure that you're getting the result that you're looking for.. Another thing we need to take into consideration is porosity.. Porosity speaks to the ability of the hair to accept and retain things like moisture, and/or, hair color and, like many other things, we've discussed today, they are divided into three groups: high medium and low.. Someone with high porosity accepts hair color very quickly, but their color is usually the fastest to fade, whereas someone with low porosity may be resistant to haircolor and you'll wind up with a longer process time.. Once you have all of this information through a thorough consultation with your client, you are well on your way to being able to formulate with color. Before we go right into formulating. It'S important that we take a look at the different types of dyes that live inside haircolor, direct dyes and indirect dyes.. Let'S take a look at what makes them different. Direct dyes have a larger molecule than indirect dyes. They do not require a developer in order to work and they live on the cuticle layer of the hair.. Indirect dyes have a slightly smaller molecule, they do require a developer and those live in the cortex layer of the hair. Developer or hydrogen peroxide. Is the oxidative agent necessary for hair color to do its job. Now different brands make different developers with varying volumes, ingredients and buffers and conditioners. So it's very important that you use the dedicated developer with the specific brand of hair color for maximum performance and integrity.. There'S a lot of science and chemistry behind the art of hair coloring isn't there.! That'S why Kenra Color has a five steps to formulation approach to make all of these things even easier to achieve. Check out our video called Kenra Color 101 to learn more