Understanding Hair Color

Sometimes, the color we choose for our hair does not come out to be the same as it appears in the swatch book of the company. It may be because of the 'underlying color pigment' of your hair that plays a key role in the final outcome of the hair color. To determine that you get the desired look, you need to identify the color of this pigment known as melanin in your hair. Melanin is generally of two types - Eumelanin that is responsible of shades of brown and black in hair and Phaeomelanin that is responsible for yellowish blonde tones of hair to ginger and red colored hair. White and gray hairs are the result of absence of melanin in hair. Tone of your hair color can be warm or cool. Red, orange and yellow are considered warm tones while blue, green and violet are considered the cooler tones.

Hair can also be categorized according to the level of color within each tone on a scale of 1 to 10, where the 1 indicates black and 10 indicates the lightest blonde hair. The level of hair color usually depends on the saturation of the hair pigment or the degree of concentration of melanin in the hair. The scale is graded as follows:

The melanin is stored in alveoli cells found at the surface of the cortex of hair, which also determines the thickness, elasticity and strength of hair. If this surface is smooth and healthy, it reflects light to produce a soft sheen but can be damaged by various reasons such as strong developer or oxidizers, brushing and drying hair carelessly and perming the hair and using shampoos that are not hair-friendly. Heat is not good for hair too. Fine hair is more easily colored and damaged than coarse hair as it has less and thinner cuticle layers.