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Hair coloring
Hair highlighting allows you to mimic
the effects of the sun with hair colors.
You can accentuate or emphasize the
haircut by creating contrast and
dimension with hair highlights.
Different hair colors add or subtract
from your original hair color and offer
it a range of hues and shades. A
professional hair stylist can suggest
the hair color that can flatter your
hairstyle as well as your skin tone and
natural hair color. You can also find
out the hair coloring or streaking
method that will do wonders for you. You
can experiment with hair colors to give
you the look you desire - cool and
sophisticated, casual and trendy or wild
and wicked!
Natural hair coloring
Women have been using natural hair
colorants for thousands of years. These
natural coloring products were extracted
from plants and minerals. Henna and
black walnut shells are natural agents
containing pigments that lend themselves
to coating the hair shaft with color.
Though natural hair coloring agents are
relatively safer and non-toxic, some
people develop allergies to them. The
henna shrub is widely found in West Asia
and North Africa. The henna leaves are
dried and powdered fine and then used as
a natural base for hair coloring. Other
than imparting its characteristic
brownish red color, henna works as a
good hair conditioner and adds body and
texture to the hair. Henna coats the
hair shaft with a semi-permanent protein
known as hennatannic acid. Henna does
not create any dramatic color changes
but instead coats and seals the hair
shaft. It merely darkens your natural
hair color. Color derived from henna is
transparent and hence cannot lighten
dark hair but instead add highlights to
dark hair.
Hair highlighting
Hair highlights are spot colors applied
to selected strands of the hair.
Highlighting of the hair involves
lightening the hair shade by at least 2
shades. You can give your hair the sun
kissed look and even frame your face
with the right amount of hair
highlighting. When done well, hair
highlighting can add depth and volume to
your hair. Lowlights are not yet very
popular with most women. This involves
darkening some strands of hair to
achieve a different look. While a hair
highlight lightens and brightens the
hair, a lowlight darkens and deepens it.
Hair colors for highlighting must be
carefully chosen. Opt for blonde, gold
and chamomile tones. The reds, plums and
aubergines work best for lowlights. The
process of applying hair highlights
involves wrapping strands of hair with
aluminum foil after applying bleach. Yet
another method is to use a plastic scull
cap with holes all over. . Hair is
pulled through these holes and then
bleached. With this method, you can
ensure that sensitive skin is not
exposed to chemicals.
Hair color
Colored pigment of the hair shafts
reflect the light and consequently you
can add or subtract from your original
hair color. Hair coloring involves
chemical reactions. Hydrogen peroxide is
the developer or the oxidizing agent
that aids the color forming process.
This developer removes the sulfur from
the hair. Ideally, the developer should
not exceed 30% volume. Ammonia is
alkaline and works as the lightening
catalyst when the hair color comes
together with the hydrogen peroxide.
Ammonia separates the hair cuticle and
allows the hair color to penetrate the
cortex of the hair. The alkaline color
penetrates the hair shaft and hydrogen
peroxide causes the color molecules to
bond. Semi permanent hair colors add
only a minimum amount of color molecules
to the shaft of the hair. These hair
colors do not alter the hair's natural
pigments. The color molecules of
semi-permanent hair colors are small and
do not penetrate the hair shaft
sufficiently. As a result, these hair
colors get washed away after several
shampoos.
Permanent hair colors work on a double
action process - they lighten your
hair's natural pigment to form a new
base and then add the new color. The
color molecules expand within the cortex
to a size that cannot be washed off.
Hair colors are graded according to the
degree of lightness or darkness, 10
being the lightest and 1 being the
darkest. The color wheel for hair colors
can offer you anything from golden brown
to coppery shades and chestnut and
mahogany or even café au lait.
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