Hello Antonio,
I have just stumbled upon your blog and I am literally fascinated. I live in CT and I have been to many of the salons, Tricomi, Fekkai, Licari, etc when I lived in the city. I am intrigued by a person who, I think, must be so confident about his talents and abilities, that he can post his "secrets online," and is willing to help others. Truly, you must be one in a million. Now, I live in CT and I have had 4 babies in six years. I am too busy with my kids to get to the city anymore and the time to go to the salon, etc. is just an impossibility right now with my hectic schedule. Ten years ago, before I had kids, I used to live in Philadelphia on the main line and I went to a salon which used Goldwell color. The girl there used to use Goldwell 11N on my hair. I loved the color it would be and the soft blond buttery highlights that I had naturally when I was little were back. I have not had such a good experience with highlights since, no matter how fancy the salon I have tried and how much I have paid. I know that my well water is partially to blame for this as well (and I have become a slave to Redken Pre Art treatments).
My mom is one of those people that is just "good at hair," period. Had she not become the fabulous teacher that she is, I think she could have been a tremendous colorist or hair stylists. At any rate, I have now not had my hair highlighted in months, I just cannot get there anymore. She has finally given in and said that if I can get the right product, she will do it for me. I have been on Goldwell's website and I have looked up the fact sheet on the Top Chic color for 11N. My base has only gotten darker after each child and with age, and so I think I need to mix the 11N with the Topchic lotion 12% (40 vol).
ME
Yes you do need to mix it with 40 volume, but as you mentioned your hair has gotten darker which means the 11N will be too warm on your roots. Mixing it with some 11A or 11P will help control the warmth.
LADY
They also talk about the possibility of using a blonding creme mixed in as well. I do not know if my old Philadelphia stylist used this. Can you tell me if this is something you would recommend? I like my highlights to look cool. I do not like any warm toned or brassiness at all.
ME
Well then you may want to stick with the 11P or 11A for sure. Of course it depends on if there is any gray in your roots as well. If there are any gray hairs, then you already have cool in their, its really about formulating.
LADY
"Using Blonding Creme - Blonding Creme increases the degree of lift by a half to one level.
Blonding Creme Ash has an added controlling effect. Both Blonding Creme varieties can be used with the 11-Series and the Topchic (2 –10) shades (up to a maximum of 50 %)."
LADY
Do I need to use a color controller in the V family or in the P family to make certain that it will not be brassy or does the 11 and 12 series have this built in?
ME
As far as I know the ability to control tone is built in but if you want extra lift you can add little of the desired tone of blonding creme to insure lift.
LADY
How can I prevent my ends from getting too solid?
ME
The only way to create dimension and allow the color to grow out naturally without an intense line of demarcation is to low light your hair. Adding highlights to your hair now will blend in the roots a bit but the ends will become too solid. The best low light is 7G Topic sheet with 10 volume and a little water so it then becomes a 5 volume.
LADY
Can you tell me if II should put the 11N on my whole strand of hair, root to end of strand or should I just do the root?
ME
It depends on the color of the ends, your ends may be the totally wrong blond and putting it from roots to ends and adding low lights may be the answer. Then to fuse it all together a glaze or toner (Colorance Demi-Permanent acid shades) would be amazing.
LADY
In the Goldwell Tips section of the 11 series: Tips: • Use to mid lengths and ends after high lifting
What does this mean? And if this is to correct that "solid" look that I have, which demi permanent acid shade would I use?
ME
This is what you will use after doing highlights and/or low lights to fuse it all together as I mentioned before. Remember when you foil the hair what happens to the hair that you can't foil? It may not be a color that you like so adding the Colorance color balance will correct the over all tone.
LADY
*The Goldwell fact sheet also talks about the possibility of using a blonding creme mixed in as well. I do not know if my old Philadelphia stylist used this. Can you tell me if this is something you would recommend? I like my highlights to look more cool, think butter. I do not like any warm toned or brassiness at all.
ME
Oh yes I would absolutely recommend this.
LADY
They also say, “It is not recommended to pull high lift color through pre-lightened hair.”
Does this mean that they only want me to put the 11N on my roots and leave out the hair that is the mid length portion that has old blond color in it?
ME
Exactly, the roots are darker and needs the full time to be processed. The ends are already processed so the product on the ends may have to change to a colorance demi-permanant color, but once again it depends on how light the ends are and you need to decide if not coloring the ends in the highlights is the right choice.
LADY
The tips also say “When high lifting, always treat the darkest parts of the hair first.” Does this mean do the roots first?
ME
Yes it does, but once again it depends on the existing color that is on your ends now.
LADY
Another tip is “When using the high lift series, apply to the hairline for the last 15–20 minutes of processing time.”
What does this mean? I thought the roots took the longest?
ME
This is if you are doing a single process color(roots to ends all over) The hairline is fragile and the heat in the scalp allows for faster lifting on virgin hair.
LADY
The last tip is, “Processing time is 45 minutes (without heat) or 30 minutes (with heat – open air system only).”
Do I set the timer for 45 minutes for my whole head or do I rinse out the first part that I highlighted first?
ME
Yes 45 minutes is recommended. Since this product is not bleach, I generally I rinse it all together. My tip is don't mix all at once. Mix as you go.
LADY
I am so sorry if this is a pain to answer all of these questions. If so, I totally understand.
Thank you so much.
ME
Darling, it is not a pain at all. This is what I am here for. I enjoy helping people and I am honored to be of service. Let me know how you your hair turns out.
I wish you great Hair!
Copyright © 2008 Antonio Gonzales, All Rights Reserved
4 comments:
I just found your web page after another mortifying session at a salon in this hick town we moved too. I lived in LA forever and was in love with my color. 11n with blonding creme and a few low lights of 7 n. I tell each stylist that uses goldwell the same thing and my hair is always a hint of orange/brass. I hate it. It makes me incredibly depressed when it is not done properly. So in the past 10 months I have gotten my hair done by 3 different colorists here, all using Goldwell, but it never looks as light blonde as it did in LA with no brassy/orangey colors. Is there anything I can do at home to lift the color to a lighter blonde? I don't have the time or patience here anymore. I would so gladly appreciate your help and remedy! xo
That sucks!! How long have you been using that formula? Is it possible your natural hair color has changed a little? Maybe got a little darker? To be honest as a hair stylist we do little tricks in the color room by adding a little of our magic touch to our formula. I wonder if they really gave you the real formula? It seems like its not lifting enough so its brassy. One tip is using more blonding cream than usual with the origional formula. Answer those questions for me please..
AFG
Hi Antonio, question for you. I just got highlights put in my hair. She used the foil technique, but for some reason she didn't start at the root, they all start just below the root, which to me looks as if my hair has grown since the highlights, but hasen't. Was this how she was supposed to do it? Is there a reason she didn't start at the root?? She did put a toner if afterward, but that didn't do much.
Can I dye my whole head a light shade of brown to blend everything in??
My hair is dark brown, and she put some caramel pieces everywhere to give me a lighter look. When my hair is in a ponytail, I don't like the look of the stripes on the side of my head.
HELP.
Thanks
Kelly
Hi Kelly
The reason that the highlights have a root line is because of a bad application :( The foils were not applied close enough or they slipped. With your dark hair painting may have been the better technique. Yes you can use a dark brown over everything but I would need to see a picture first. Can you send it to comessenyc@gmail.com? Thanks a million!
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