Color Terms 101
Dab, gloss, smudge, lift, shadow, highlight, lowlight, … The hair color industry has what seems to be an endless bag of terms and adjectives that can sometimes make it feel like we’re speaking a different language. And the fact is, we are. I have some dusty Cosmetology textbooks to prove it.
If you are new to coloring your hair or you have been getting by over the years with ‘I love what we did last time’. I’m here to help you start from the basics. Today we’re going to start with basic techniques and some common terms and questions. My hope is with this information you can better communicate your needs to your colorist and help the front desk book you the right appointment 😊
Highlights:
By definition a highlight is “a bright or reflective area in a painting, picture, or design”. So when you are asking for highlights you are asking your colorist 1. to create a lighter color than your background color or base color and 2. apply it to select pieces of hair making them brighter and reflect more light.
“What is the difference between highlights and balayage?” The answer is, no difference. Balayage is a technique used by some colorists to create highlights in the hair. Balayage is a hand painting technique often used to achieve more subtle or ‘natural looking’ highlights. Foiling is the other common technique for highlighting hair which can deliver a more controlled, dramatically lighter product due to the heat generated by the tin foil used.
“Will you be using bleach or hair color to highlight my hair?” To state it simply, hair color alone cannot lighten another hair color, therefore if you have previously colored hair you would almost always have to use a lightener, like bleach. Bleach has a bad reputation in this sense. The hair color companies have improved hair bleach so much that when used correctly it is very mild and causes little to no damage. Damage becomes a real risk when attempting a color drastically lighter than your natural.
Base:
Let’s keep this one simple, there are two reason to color your base:
1. You have grey and want to cover or blend it
If covering greys the decision your colorist will help you make is between a semi/demi permanent or permanent hair color. If you are less than 50% grey I almost always recommend a demi permanent option. There is no lifting agent, therefore you expose less warmth, and experience less oxidation. When color oxidizes you are usually left with something slightly brassier or warmer than our natural color. NO GOOD! Over 50% grey, chances are you need the real stuff (permanent) to guarantee coverage.
2. You want to alter your natural color, usually making it lighter serving as a softer background for your highlights.
Lightening your base can be a very quick process, often applied to damp hair at the sink, you can go a level or two lighter in just a few minutes. I love lightening or ‘lifting’ a client’s base when their natural color has become too dusty or charcoal looking. This technique creates a much softer background, giving your highlights a lighter base to reflect off vs a dark ashy one. IMPORTANT: lifting your base almost always adds warmth so if you hate any warmth, this is not for you!
Root Dab/Gloss:
Both of these techniques are applied at the sink with a semi permanent hair color and are compliments to any base or highlight work done.
To explain glosses we need to brush off our textbooks and get a little nerdy for a minute. The materials used to achieve highlights have a Ph level that is alkaline, leaving our cuticle exposed, raw and susceptible. A gloss is acidic so when applied after highlights it neutralizes the Ph of our hair. This process is very important to maintain the overall health of the hair shaft during color treatments. Glosses are either clear or formulated with color to add depth and tone.
While glosses can tone, they cannot lighten. This is where the root dab has its moment in the spotlight. As I shared before a highlight is a “bright, reflective piece” these pieces can sometimes appear stripey. A root dab is essentially adding another color, somewhere in between your natural and the highlight, dabbed at the root of the highlight. This gives a more natural look as well as improving the grow out process.
Treatment:
Post color treatments can sometimes feel like an add on service or activity – but they are arguably the most important.
There are many different types of treatments. I am going to explain the concept behind a cult favorite, Olaplex. When coloring you hair you are penetrating the cuticle and breaking down the bonds of your hair, this also happens when we wet our hair or heat style. These bonds do repair themselves on their own, much like your skin when you cut yourself, but that takes a few weeks. Olaplex builds an artificial bond almost immediately, strengthening the hair and improving post color feel and texture.
A more straight forward conditioning treatment fills the hair shaft with vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, leaving the hair softer and more protected from heat and environmental damage.