ATTENTION COLOURISTS!! by Remo Cignetti

IDEAS on fixing grey coverage problems.

I was listening to a podcast the other day by Dennis Gebhart called “Guru in your ear” (episode 7)

“Dennis Gebhart is one of the most sought-after hair color, business development and sales trainers in the professional salon industry. He has dedicated over three decades of his industry career helping salon professionals understand and master the art of hair color.”

I have put together a summary of points I think will be helpful.

Preparing Resistant Grey hair for a successful result.

Science has shown resistant grey hair has more than the average of 7-10 layers of cuticle. Sometimes this may cause problems.

How do you ensure success? Well Dennis recommends the following 3 steps for your daily procedure.

1. Cleanse the hair before colouring. This will remove any foreign matter, dirt, debris, and anything that might prevent your formula from penetrating.

2. It’s all about sectioning. When in a hurry sometimes our sections get larger and we know that the finer the section, the better the colour deposit will be. Science teaches us that our sections should be paper thin, and you should be able to see through the section. If you think your section is too thick it probably is. Always start where the client is most grey, for maximum colour development.

3. What is very essential is timing. Sometimes you can let it develop longer which allows it to have maximum colour development. Always check before removing colour, if it is definitely ready or not. If it is not ready you can make a fresh batch with low volume developer and apply it right over the top of your previous colour. Now the hair has been pre-softened, and it may be more receptive to your desired colour. You can also extend your processing time an additional 15-20 minutes.

There will always be that client (even after following these 3 steps) which still may not be quite right, so here are 2 more options.

1. Pre-Soften the hair prior to application.

Try using Powertools TRA, The Resistant Assistant which is a pre-softener.

Follow this QR code to view this product in action.

or

Use colour straight from the tube and apply to most resistant areas. Colour is alkaline.

Alkaline will swell the cuticle which accelerates the lift in the cuticle area. This will allow your

colour to successfully find its way through to the cortex layer and pigment to be deposited.

Rule of thumb when pre-softening, is the colour you pre-soften with should be two levels

lighter than your target colour. This way you won’t get too much depth. It can also be from a

warm family. I feel the warmth will give you a more natural result.

2. Shift your mixture to try 3 parts colour and two parts developer. This gives more alkalinity and extra pigment to achieve an improved result.

I hope these useful tricks can be used successfully in your salon to cover those stubborn greys.

If you have ideas that have worked for you, please let us know so I can share them here.