BlkMane
New Member
As some of you know, I've been experimenting with Texture & Tones Permanent Haircolor trying to find the right color to highlight my hair dark brown.
My hair is naturally black (or near black), but now that I relax it, it acts funny...sometimes it looks very dark and other times it looks dark brown? I don't get it either, but I swear some days people tell me my hair is brown and other days it looks shiny black...even to me.
Anyway,when I looked at my hair close up after relaxing for a few months, I started to see more and more brown streaks in my hair.
Okay, so...I like my black hair, but wanted a color change. I wanted to give myself dark brown highlights which I've never had. In the past, I've been dark blond (professionally done) and auburn (did myself), and I've had reddish (did myself) and blondish highlights (professionally done), but NEVER dark brown highlights on my black hair. I thought that would look nice.
However, as most dark hair tends to do, my hair almost always will turn RED no matter what permanent color I apply to it (without using a bleach, of course). I wanted to find a way to apply a GENTLE permanent color to my hair and achieve a BROWN, not a reddish tone.
I experimented with Textures & Tones colors individually and by mixing two colors together.
I tried Cocoa Brown, Lightest Blond, Bronze & Lightest Golden Brown.
And the winner is: Lightest Golden Brown.
This color used ALONE created the closest thing to brown in my hair. Yes, it was a little on the reddish side of brown, but not as brassy as the red I got from using Lightest Blonde. I always planned to TONE the color to my ideal brown anyway by using a semi-permanent color over it, and I chose Adore in Cinnamon . I applied the highlights to my hair using the weave method and highlighting papers in sections and rinsed out each section after 20 minutes. I then shampooed, deep conditioned (for 10 minutes) and then applied the Adore Cinammon, put on a cap and sat under the dryer for 25 minutes. I then rinsed, lightly shampooed and applied Tropical Avocado for 10 minutes (no heat). I rinsed, applied my leave-ins and roller-set and dried.
And my highlights turned out....A PRETTY MEDIUM/DARK BROWN!!!! Just like I wanted! I love them!!!! /images/graemlins/grin.gif /images/graemlins/grin.gif /images/graemlins/grin.gif
I had some trouble doing the back of my hair, but now that I know what colors to use I can always just take the stuff to a Dominican salon and have them highlight my back some more.
BTW- I didn't put in TONS of highlights, because I wanted a natural look, but it's enough to really notice especially in sunlight and it does look very natural. I will probably gradually add more if I want my hair to be more brown, but for right now the highlights have added enough dimension to my hair and have "broken up" the black very nicely. I got a lot of compliments during the holidays /images/graemlins/grin.gif...my hair looks much "richer."
P.S. Textures & Tones permanent colors have NO AMMONIA!
Regarding the other colors I tried on my black hair:
T&T in Bronze was the second runner up, color came out a little red as well, but not bad, not to brassy and a little lighter than the Lightest Golden Brown. I might actually add a few strands of Bronze to the front of my hair this summer and tone it with Adore to get a few lighter streaks in my hair.
Cocoa Brown also gave nice SUBTLE dark brown highlights...and I'm stressing SUBTLE. (They were more apparent as time passed and the sunlight lightened them a little more.) However, note that the dark brown created by the Cocoa Brown color is DARKER then the dark/medium brown I achieved with the Lightest Golden Brown/Adore Cinnamon combo.
Lightest Blonde: would not use again, results too brassy.
[I also did a lot of color mixing and actually found a combo that gave me a nice color, but I don't know where I put my notes!] /images/graemlins/blush.gif
I would post a picture, but I don't have a decent digital camera that will pick up the color difference. I will update my hair album as soon as I'm able.
My hair is naturally black (or near black), but now that I relax it, it acts funny...sometimes it looks very dark and other times it looks dark brown? I don't get it either, but I swear some days people tell me my hair is brown and other days it looks shiny black...even to me.
Anyway,when I looked at my hair close up after relaxing for a few months, I started to see more and more brown streaks in my hair.
Okay, so...I like my black hair, but wanted a color change. I wanted to give myself dark brown highlights which I've never had. In the past, I've been dark blond (professionally done) and auburn (did myself), and I've had reddish (did myself) and blondish highlights (professionally done), but NEVER dark brown highlights on my black hair. I thought that would look nice.
However, as most dark hair tends to do, my hair almost always will turn RED no matter what permanent color I apply to it (without using a bleach, of course). I wanted to find a way to apply a GENTLE permanent color to my hair and achieve a BROWN, not a reddish tone.
I experimented with Textures & Tones colors individually and by mixing two colors together.
I tried Cocoa Brown, Lightest Blond, Bronze & Lightest Golden Brown.
And the winner is: Lightest Golden Brown.
This color used ALONE created the closest thing to brown in my hair. Yes, it was a little on the reddish side of brown, but not as brassy as the red I got from using Lightest Blonde. I always planned to TONE the color to my ideal brown anyway by using a semi-permanent color over it, and I chose Adore in Cinnamon . I applied the highlights to my hair using the weave method and highlighting papers in sections and rinsed out each section after 20 minutes. I then shampooed, deep conditioned (for 10 minutes) and then applied the Adore Cinammon, put on a cap and sat under the dryer for 25 minutes. I then rinsed, lightly shampooed and applied Tropical Avocado for 10 minutes (no heat). I rinsed, applied my leave-ins and roller-set and dried.
And my highlights turned out....A PRETTY MEDIUM/DARK BROWN!!!! Just like I wanted! I love them!!!! /images/graemlins/grin.gif /images/graemlins/grin.gif /images/graemlins/grin.gif
I had some trouble doing the back of my hair, but now that I know what colors to use I can always just take the stuff to a Dominican salon and have them highlight my back some more.
BTW- I didn't put in TONS of highlights, because I wanted a natural look, but it's enough to really notice especially in sunlight and it does look very natural. I will probably gradually add more if I want my hair to be more brown, but for right now the highlights have added enough dimension to my hair and have "broken up" the black very nicely. I got a lot of compliments during the holidays /images/graemlins/grin.gif...my hair looks much "richer."
P.S. Textures & Tones permanent colors have NO AMMONIA!
Regarding the other colors I tried on my black hair:
T&T in Bronze was the second runner up, color came out a little red as well, but not bad, not to brassy and a little lighter than the Lightest Golden Brown. I might actually add a few strands of Bronze to the front of my hair this summer and tone it with Adore to get a few lighter streaks in my hair.
Cocoa Brown also gave nice SUBTLE dark brown highlights...and I'm stressing SUBTLE. (They were more apparent as time passed and the sunlight lightened them a little more.) However, note that the dark brown created by the Cocoa Brown color is DARKER then the dark/medium brown I achieved with the Lightest Golden Brown/Adore Cinnamon combo.
Lightest Blonde: would not use again, results too brassy.
[I also did a lot of color mixing and actually found a combo that gave me a nice color, but I don't know where I put my notes!] /images/graemlins/blush.gif
I would post a picture, but I don't have a decent digital camera that will pick up the color difference. I will update my hair album as soon as I'm able.