Because there are so many shades of red, a color chart can help you decide on a rich color that suits you perfectly before you color or enhance your natural hair. Take the time to consult a chart before you select your next shade to ensure the perfect results.
Color Chart Basics
If you've ever scanned the beauty aisle at your local drugstore or have had a hair color consultation with a professional stylist, you have more than likely seen a hair color chart. These charts are perfect visual tools for proper communication between a stylist and a client. They can help your colorist add the needed pigments to your color formula to create the desired effect. With a color chart, both stylist and client can discuss the anticipated outcome of each color service. In addition, color charts will help at-home beauty consumers produce accurate results.
If you need help downloading the printable chart, check out these helpful tips.
Finding Red Charts
Every color manufacturer will have their own color chart to display available color selections. Although most brands use their own names for each color, the system itself is universal.
Reading a Chart
Understanding a chart of hair colors can help you decide how to color your hair successfully at home or lighten it to the desired level. Upon first glance, color charts can be intimidating, but they are not difficult to use. Charts are based on hair shade levels numbered one through ten. Level one is the darkest hair color. Level ten is the lightest blonde.
Before you or your stylist can make a color change, you'll first need to determine your natural hair level, and then adjust it accordingly. Next, you'll need to determine the desired or natural tone. Red hair tones can be violet, red, red-orange or orange. To find the right hair color for you, consider which shades naturally enhance your skin coloring and then adjust the levels to create the desired effect.
The Many Shades of Red
There are many shades of red hair, from bold and funky to conservative and pure. Red hair is both head-turning and a daring change for those seeking an extreme makeover. Finding a red hair color shade is great fun, as red hair lets most people express the wild side of their personality.
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A Challenging Color
Although it is striking and vivid, red hair has many color challenges. Once red color is deposited on the hair shaft, hair instantly becomes brilliant and bold. On the down side, red hair tends to fade the most rapidly of all hair shades, leaving behind a lighter, washed out color of your previous tone within weeks of a color service. These leftover tones may vary and border on light pink, orange, or auburn. Vivid red hues rarely stay bold and dramatic without the help of color enhancing shampoos and color protectant sprays.
Wearable Reds
To find the perfect red shade with extended wearability, your stylist will refer to a color chart to place complementary underlying pigments in your formula which will help hold the hair color longer and keep the fade-out minimal. If you seek a red hair color that has staying power, be prepared to commit to maintenance and try out an auburn shade of red that has a brown base. As auburn hair fades, hair may appear brown rather than red, but some favor that to the pinkish hues left behind with violet or reddish bases.
Enhancing Natural Red Hair
If you're born with red hair, you may want to add depth and sparkle to your natural shade. A variety of red hair colors enhance naturally red hair. A temporary rather than semi-permanent color can add a punch of color that will increase the shine and boldness of your natural shade, taking it up a notch without changing the tone. In addition, color shampoos such as Aveda's Madder Root shampoo and conditioner naturally restore the warmth of red and auburn hair without the need for chemical service.
Find Your Color
Finding the right red hair color is key if you play to go fiery and wild. With a red hair color chart, you can unleash your vivacious side and find a color that is playful and sexy, whether that be for a permanent or temporary change.
