[L’Oréal Colour Keys 1] Ep 02: Hair Lightening

foreign [Music] have you recently spent time at the beach if so lucky you but for the rest

of us let's just say we've been on a sunny beach for about two or three weeks have you noticed that your hair color starts changing and becomes a little lighter and warmer

do you know why this happens let's take a guess how does hair naturally lighten

if you say because of the Sun the sea the wind the humidity all of these are right but let's explore why

the sun brings heat infrared rays and UV rays heat speeds up many chemical reactions water facilitates chemical reactions

even more so when the water contains salt or chlorine as in the ocean or swimming pools and finally mechanical actions like brushing hair or blow

drying increase the hair's sensitivity so these three things speed up lightning but they aren't actually doing the job so what's really behind the lightning

process take a breath that's the answer oxygen it oxidizes the natural pigments inside our hair it's important to understand this we

need to distinguish oxygen which is the main factor in lightning from the other elements that help start or accelerate the process but natural lightning can

only go so far the oxygen in the air isn't concentrated enough to reach high lift levels and natural lightning takes time up to

several weeks most clients want a noticeable lift and in one hour cue the colorists that's where we come

in clients go to the salon and Trust the skilled hands of talented colorists like you and me we use professional products and techniques for a pro lightning

process that will look beautiful and last so how do we enhance Nature's lightning process in the salon in the salon what products replace the

oxygen in the air we breathe and what products play the role of natural accelerators get your pens and paper ready we're

getting technical first an oxidant replaces the oxygen in the air it's hydrogen peroxide which is oxygen concentrate in a bottle but in a creamy

texture and it's available in different concentrations second decoloration products act as natural accelerators but with

Supernatural powers as a result the oxygen in the oxygen bottle delivers more lift and in a fraction of the time just one hour this

is called provoked lightning it's a decoloration process used for everything from Global lightning and highlights to balayage so to put it simply in natural lightning

exposure to oxygen in the air and natural elements takes two to three weeks and provoked lightning exposure to high levels of oxygen and a boost of an

alkaline agent takes one hour oxygen is the star no matter which process is used now let's go deeper and see what's actually happening inside the hair

remember who's the rock star natural hair color that's right it's neutral Brown and this brown is made of a certain quantity of blue red and yellow

pigments in the beginning of the lightning process blue is the first pigment to be eliminated because it's very fragile out of the three primary

colors blue is the only cool color so just a few minutes into application hair is left with only the two warm colors red and yellow

after blue is eliminated red is the next color to be oxidized only yellow pigments remain in the hair but yellow doesn't give up easily it's difficult to

oxidize and so is eliminated slowly at the end of the lightning process all pigments are removed and the hair turns Almost White when we watch the process

we actually see warm passage colors ranging from red to Yellow as time goes on the lightning process slows down it's

quick in the first minutes with blue pigment slows slightly with red and finally slows even more with yellow

now each undercoat has a corresponding level of depth for example red at a level four orange at a level six and

yellow at a level eight darker than red you will find dark and very dark red lighter than yellow you will meet pale yellow very pale between red and orange

red orange between orange and yellow yellow orange throughout your career these undercoats will be your guide in order to master the lightning process

every professional must know all the undercoats by heart you're doing a great job keep up the good work and stay focused

when you're a newcomer to the industry it can be difficult to fully know what an undercoat looks like when we look inside the hair we see that the brown

color of our hair comes from three pigments blue red and yellow what is happening when we lighten hair out of the three pigments blue is the most

sensitive to oxidation and disappears first this cool color that goes away leaves a hair with the warm color consisting

mainly of red and yellow it is then that the red disappears slowly hair now is becoming orange with as much

red as yellow after 30 minutes very little red is remaining so the hair becomes yellow orange these three passage colors are what we

call undercoats or undertones in some countries these passage colors are symbolized by 10 colors but in reality

they are continuous so we simplify by identifying 10 levels let's use the example of a natural light

brown it's a level five we start with a certain amount of blue red and yellow say we want to lift two levels after we apply the pre-lightener how do we know

when we should rinse if we want to lighten two levels the goal is a level seven so that's a yellow orange undercoat we rinse the hair when

we actually see it has a yellow orange color that's how we know it's at a level seven memorizing undercoats is everything knowing how to read undercoats is like

knowing how to read a map you need to know where to go to get the result your clients desire oxygen and undercoats you just met two

key actors who play a starring role in your life as a colorist get to know them well especially those undercoats you're possibly becoming a skilled colorist truly begins once you've made them your

best friend [Music]