Color Wizards! Can I create highlights with a permanent color instead of bleach?

[MonPetite]

My thinking is that using a permanent color within two shades of my natural color (JET black) as a highlighter would be less damaging than using a traditional bleach-based highlight system.

I'm a total DIYer...so I'd probably use Perfect 10 or Natural Match to apply my highlights doing a modified paint-brush method.

I have naturally jet black hair that lightens to orange and then platinum blond if processed with bleach.

I don't want to hurt my hair...but some highlights would be nice. If this is a no go...I'll leave it alone.


What do you lovely ladies think?

 

[gymfreak336]

Keep in mind that all lighteners are not bleach. They use developer aka peroxide. The % of peroxide is what determines the lifting power. Demi Permanent color uses 10vol developer which isn't strong enough to lift your natural pigment. Permanent colors use 20vol or higher developer.

How light are you trying to go for your highlights. What colors from these lines were you looking at?

 

[MonPetite]

Keep in mind that all lighteners are not bleach. They use developer aka peroxide. The % of peroxide is what determines the lifting power. Demi Permanent color uses 10vol developer which isn't strong enough to lift your natural pigment. Permanent colors use 20vol or higher developer.

How light are you trying to go for your highlights. What colors from these lines were you looking at?

A DARK (I have glossy black eyebrows and don't want anything I'd have to lighten them to play off) plum/burgundy since my base color is red. I'm a very, very dark read-head (think garnet) who goes (believe it or not) strawberry blonde in the summer with too much sun.

I use Demi permanent colors now, so I'm familiar with peroxide/developer levels. It didn't dawn on me though that highlight kits use peroxide instead of bleach too. Silly me.

What would you suggest?

 

[JustKiya]

Peroxide is bleach, isn't it? And just the % is what makes the difference, so straight up bleach would be 80% peroxide, or so?

 

[gymfreak336]

A DARK (I have glossy black eyebrows and don't want anything I'd have to lighten them to play off) plum/burgundy since my base color is red. I'm a very, very dark read-head (think garnet) who goes (believe it or not) strawberry blonde in the summer with too much sun.

I use Demi permanent colors now, so I'm familiar with peroxide/developer levels. It didn't dawn on me though that highlight kits use peroxide instead of bleach too. Silly me.

What would you suggest?

Your natural color sounds very pretty. I would look for a color that is similar to the color your hair turns to in the summer. I would love to see pics.

I will say the perfect10 system is pretty cool. I haven't used it but the science behind it is beyond impressive. They have this new aminoglycine technology that is able to distinguish between your keratin and melatin so that you get less protein damage and faster processing.

 

[MonPetite]

Your natural color sounds very pretty. I would look for a color that is similar to the color your hair turns to in the summer. I would love to see pics.

I will say the perfect10 system is pretty cool. I haven't used it but the science behind it is beyond impressive. They have this new aminoglycine technology that is able to distinguish between your keratin and melatin so that you get less protein damage and faster processing.

WOW. That does sound neat.

If this works out I may try an all over color in a deep plum.

I don't even want dark BROWN hair -that to me is practically blond. I just want something with a teeny bit more contrast than jet, jet black hair.

I did a plum demi-permanent in Natural Instincts (I gave it a mixed review) and it looked great with my gold undertones...the ones red usually clashes with.

Do you think plum/burgundy would be not-so-terribly damaging because it is a dark color? Or would it being an unnatural shade for the most part make it as damaging as say going blonde to uber dark hair like mine?


Thank you so much for your advice!

 

[gymfreak336]

Peroxide is bleach, isn't it? And just the % is what makes the difference, so straight up bleach would be 80% peroxide, or so?

Its not exactly the same. Some people are allergic to bleach but they still can dye their hair blond. Lighteners are bleach agents that you can use in conjuction with developer to lift the hair even lighter. They come in two types...on the scalp and off the scalp. One the scalp lighteners are more gentle hence the name and they process a little slower. This is how you might see a celebrity with naturally dark brown hair get all the way to a light white blond.

The highest strength used is 40vol.

 

[MonPetite]

Perfect10 is getting mixed reviews online. Oh, dear. Gymfreak what say you of unnatural hair color and their possible damage level? I am a color novice in terms of highlighting.

 

[JustKiya]

Its not exactly the same. Some people are allergic to bleach but they still can dye their hair blond. Lighteners are bleach agents that you can use in conjuction with developer to lift the hair even lighter. They come in two types...on the scalp and off the scalp. One the scalp lighteners are more gentle hence the name and they process a little slower. This is how you might see a celebrity with naturally dark brown hair get all the way to a light white blond.

The highest strength used is 40vol.

Innnteresting!! Thank you for that, Gymfreak! I need to get up outta here, but I'm going to have to do some reading on that now......I really do want lighter hair. *sigh*

 

[gymfreak336]

Perfect10 is getting mixed reviews online. Oh, dear. Gymfreak what say you of unnatural hair color and their possible damage level? I am a color novice in terms of highlighting.

Personally, I think as long as you don't go any higher than 2 shades different then you will be okay. Any higher than that and you can start to pull out weird undertones that have to be adjusted with toner and

When in doubt, go to the drugstore and pick out what you think would look good on you. Pick out 3 different ones then call the number on the back of the boxes and talk to a representative. Clariols hotline is very helpful and can give you more product insight than I can. They can point you in the right direction of getting the final result you are after.

Personally, color, anything besides a full basic job, is something that I don't play with at home. Not because I don't understand it science wise but because placement in color is everything. That is what sets color jobs apart. It is very difficult to do somethings at home simply because of the angles you are forced to work with. Then duplicating results come touchup time get hard and so on. Color can also be deceptive because what you think they did for that final look is usually not what they had to do. You might see a head full of beautiful highlights and go try to get the same shade yourself. You might match the color perfectly but wonder why you don't get the same effect and many times that comes down to the base shade and undertones. Many great highlighting jobs are accompanied by an overall lift. It just starts to get complicated and head starts

I think as long as you keep this simple then you will be just fine. Call Clariol and see what they say.

 

[MonPetite]

Personally, I think as long as you don't go any higher than 2 shades different then you will be okay. Any higher than that and you can start to pull out weird undertones that have to be adjusted with toner and

When in doubt, go to the drugstore and pick out what you think would look good on you. Pick out 3 different ones then call the number on the back of the boxes and talk to a representative. Clariols hotline is very helpful and can give you more product insight than I can. They can point you in the right direction of getting the final result you are after.

Personally, color, anything besides a full basic job, is something that I don't play with at home. Not because I don't understand it science wise but because placement in color is everything. That is what sets color jobs apart. It is very difficult to do somethings at home simply because of the angles you are forced to work with. Then duplicating results come touchup time get hard and so on. Color can also be deceptive because what you think they did for that final look is usually not what they had to do. You might see a head full of beautiful highlights and go try to get the same shade yourself. You might match the color perfectly but wonder why you don't get the same effect and many times that comes down to the base shade and undertones. Many great highlighting jobs are accompanied by an overall lift. It just starts to get complicated and head starts

I think as long as you keep this simple then you will be just fine. Call Clariol and see what they say.

Good points. I may just stay with semi-perms that make my black a glossier black or just stick to fiddling with honey which lightens me a great deal. Thanks!