THE BLONDTOURAGE

As I’ve made all things blonde my civil duty to the world, I have comprised a list of terms used for you to better understand how you can ask for your dream blonde hair color. 

YAY! You’ve decided to go blonde, or think you may, or maybe you just have a thirst for knowledge when it comes to hair colors!

While I and the BLONDE/BLOND team applaud you; there’s going to be a bit of a situation when trying to explain yourself and your blonde interests and needs. 

Why, you ask? 

Because there’s a zillion different terms and works used to explain what you want and what color services will get you there!  And every salon and color line and colorist will have their own “lingo” when it comes to blonde. 

This is the first list of definitions, there will be more to follow.  This list is for hair color services.  Next will be names of colors themselves, and then one which explains how to use hairdresser terms to explain the look you want for your color.

The BLONDE/BLOND List of Hair Color Service Terms and Their Definitions:

Highlights: can be in foils, paper, or painted on without either. This means the pieces of hair taken out and colored will be lighter than they are currently. Can be done on new regrowth or all over the entirety of the pieces of hair taken out for the highlight. 

Lowlights: the same as highlights but these pieces will be a darker shade than what they are currently. 

Base color: 

Hair color used to lighten your natural hair or to cover grey on your natural hair. This is usually used to describe painting the color only on regrowth you have. 

Balayage: 

The art of painting bleach on hair freehand without the use of paper or foils. This can range from a heavy balayage to create a super blonde look to smaller pieces taken out to create a natural sunkissed look. Fashion colors can be applied afterwards to give you a variety of rainbow hues! 

Base bump: 

Painting haircolor on hair after highlights or balayage is done to lift up your natural root color and also add in a different shade of blonde to the light pieces in your hair 

Smudge: 

See base bump 

Toner: 

A deposit only color that changes the tone of the current haircolor. 

Gloss: 

See toner; this can be a toner with pigment in it, or a clear gloss for shine and also used to fill lightened hair so it’s not as porous. 

Highlift color:

A color that has more lift than regular color. Can be used in highlights or balayage or even as a base color. Mostly used if natural hair is light, if your hair is darker it will result in an orange tone. In foils, it can bring up to ~4 levels of lift and is a great way to create multiple shades of blonde when used with bleach highlights. 

Bleach: 

Hair bleach that lifts pigment out but does not deposit any. 

Lightener: 

See hair bleach. It is a colorists term for bleach. 

Root shadow: 

Toner or base color used to create a depth around the first inch or more of your hair (from the scalp). Used in ombres sombres and general natural blonde “looks”. 

Color melt: 

Color taken from the root down (can be natural toned or fashion colors) and pulled over highlights or balayage to have a gradual color placed at the beginning of bright blonde ends. 

Ombré:

The gradualism of dark roots to light ends. Can be severe in nature, re: your ends can be several shades lighter than your roots. 

Sombré:

A less severe ombré; the portmanteau of “soft-ombré”. 

Microfoils:

Paper thin sections of hair put into foils that make it able to get within millimeters of the scalp.  Can be used to do any type of color, when used for highlights, they blend better than regular highlights. When used for all over blonde, they make it possible to get hard to lighten hair blonder than thicker foils.

Babylights:

Very thin and not obvious highlights that create a blended look.

I’m SURE there are things I’m forgetting! PLEASE comment and ask about anything you need defined!! 

XOXO

Caitlin and Team Blonde and Webster’s Dictionary

8581 Santa Monica Blvd #305, West Hollywood, CA 90069

As I’ve said before, great blondes think alike.

(This is, of course, assuming that you all think like me!)

So if you don’t like spending hours getting ready and work more than you know you should, and sleep less, every minute counts!  To help with the process, I’ve compiled a short list of “cheats” that will help save time and fool everyone into thinking you have your shit together. Yay!

Cheat One: Dry Shampoo

There are many out there; and I’ve written about some of them before, but recently I have gotten my greedy little hands on one that I think works the best.

Shu Uemura “Dry Cleaner” 

This is not only a dry shampoo, it also is a dry conditioner and your hair will feel so soft and also lay correctly just as if it was really clean after using it!  My hair even feels good the next day- no weird build up or waxy or powdery dry feeling.  Spray onto scalp area or really anywhere your hair feels dirty, wait 5 minutes, then brush out. It’s bomb AF.

Cheat Two: Malibu Packets

This is another item I have written about… They are used to get out deposits in your hair left by smog, product, and minerals/crap from water…even (GASP) build up from overusing purple shampoo!  (WHO THE HECK DOES THAT??? LOL)

These you can use when your color feels dull and you want to brighten up your blonde, but don’t have time to go into the salon.  Please note, however, that if you have corrective toner (your hair is brassy underneath a toner that was put on to combat that), or lowlights put in with hair color (not the ones that naturally occur when the pieces in-between your highlights are left out), these packets CAN take those out.  If your hair seems to be not as ashy after use, you can always use them and then use purple shampoo right after :).

Follow directions on the box! Also, I’ve noticed that they are cheaper on the malibu professional website than on amazon.

Cheat Three: Sebastian Cellophane 

OH hell yes. Shiny shiny hair.

These are from back in the DAY.  Like think “Heathers”.  “Heathers” was the “Mean Girls” of the late 80’s.  If you haven’t seen it, watch it and get ready to have a bunch of one-liners to use in multiple situations.  It’s almost as quotable as “Mean Girls”. (She doesn’t even GO HERE!!!!!)

This stuff is fantastic.  It’s a one step clear gloss that will truly make you feel so much better if your roots are getting a tad long or you feel like your hair is kind of matte.  I had a client who used this gloss at home and when she would go to film, her hair and makeup people would always ask her if she just got her color done the day after she used it.  No joke.

Important note: Do NOT get creative and get the colored cellophanes!  I know it seems like a good idea, but it’s not!!!!  If you want a colored cellophane, sorry kids, you need to go to your colorist.

Cheat Four: Straightforward Blow Dry Oil

Okay. For those of you who are better than us and insist on washing your hair and being so much more adult than the rest of us, here is a real time-saving product!

Made by the same hair geniuses that gave us Drycleaner dry shampoo, Shu has hit it out of the park with this one.

When sprayed into wet hair, (before towel dried), you can literally see the water beading off the hair. It cuts dry time by 50% and smells amazing and also smooths and protects your hair while drying it.  We LOVE it at BLONDE/BLOND because it makes being able to see our finished product come much sooner, and you know we love to admire our own work LOL!

Okay thats it for now!  I did a study of how long blondes like to be told what to do and it seems that we lose interest after about how long this blog post is.

Here’s to sleeping in and having good hair regardless!!

XOXO

Caitlin 

8581 Santa Monica Blvd #305, West Hollywood, CA 90069