Changing up your vivid hair + Color theory

CONFETTI CROWN.SARAH LADNSTROM.CHANGING UP YOUR VIVID HAIR+COLOR THEORY

written by sarah landstrom

If you switch up your vivid hair color a lot, you may find yourself in a tricky situation. Sometimes your color hasn’t faded all the way and you want something new, but the color you want is opposite your current color on the color wheel. 

In the color wheel, the colors are arranged in rainbow order in a circle. So red/green, orange/blue, and yellow/purple are opposite each other. Basically, they cancel each other out to make a neutral brown and are called complementary pairs.

Well, we certainly don’t want to accidentally end up with brown. What can we do? 🤔

 Remove the color with a gentle color remover. My MVP in so many of my vivid applications is @malibucpro DDL XL. I mix it with water to make it even more gentle. In my experience, there is very rarely a need for a developer. I honestly couldn’t do half the services I do without my DDL. 

🧡  If your hair only has a pastel tint left over and you want your end result to be a bit darker or brighter, we can neutralize the undesired color first by putting the corresponding complementary color over it. For instance, if you have some minty green left over you can apply some baby pink to neutralize the color first. We won’t have a perfect blank canvas, but it will give us a light beige- a great starting point for deeper jewel tones!

💛 If all else fails (maybe your hair is too compromised even for the Malibu DDL, or the color is just too stubborn), try to be flexible. Having vivid hair is all about experimenting! Embrace that fade, or go with a nearby color (1-2 steps away on the color wheel) and see what happens. For instance, what do you get when you put purple over green? 💙

💚 Pro tip: In the long term, we can plan ahead and move along the color wheel with each touch up. For instance, you have pink hair and know you eventually want to go green. We can do a turquoise after the pink, setting ourselves up for an easier transition to green next time. 

This is one of the many reasons a professional is going to be your best bet for vivid hair. Fashion color can be surprisingly complicated, and a stylist well-versed in color theory can help you achieve the hair of your dreams!

Being a unicorn isn’t easy. The work we do in the salon is only half of the equation. The other half is YOU! After investing your hard-earned money into your hair, it’s so important to follow proper hair care guidelines. The good news is, with quality color, professional products, and good at-home care, your fashion color can absolutely last! 

CONTINUE FOLLOWING ALL THE RAINBOW’S @SARAHVIVIDS + STAY IN TOUCH WITH ALL THE LATEST @CONFETTICROWN_SALON.SPA

XOXO