let's begin by talking about the color wheel the color wheel is a universal tool knowing and understanding color theory will help you become a confident and Powerful colorist the most incredible thing about understanding color theory is that it really doesn't matter which color brand you decide to work with you might enjoy working with Paul Mitchell or redkin or Wella or Schwarz as as long as you have a great understanding of color theory you will still be a powerful and confident hair colorist there are a few careers that also use the color wheel some of those careers are digital graphic artists and makeup artists painters and website designers magazine editors jewelry designers even chefs and landscapers use Universal color wheels the law of color the law of color is a true law that can never be changed this is a great law because that means that using hair color can be very predictable much like the law of gravity what goes up must always come down what that means for us is that red plus blue will always equal Violet primary colors primary colors cannot be made by mixing any other colors there are three primary colors yellow red and blue secondary colors are created by mixing equal parts of two Primary Colors the first secondary color is green green is made up of one part yellow and one part blue the next secondary color is violet Violet is made up of one part red and one part blue the last secondary color is orange orange is made up of one part red and one part yellow now let's talk about tertiary colors tertiary colors are created by mixing equal parts of one primary and a secondary color our first tertiary color starting at yellow and working our way to the right is yellow green yellow green is made up of two parts yellow and one part blue yellow green lives the closest to the primary color yellow therefore we have two parts yellow and one part blue the next tertiary color is blue green blue green is made up of two parts blue and one part yellow our third tertiary color is blue violet blue violet lives the closest to the primary color of blue therefore it's made up of two parts blue and and one part red another great way to look at this is that blue violet is made up of one part blue and violet Violet is made up of one part blue and one part red therefore blue plus blue plus red equals blue violet our next tertiary color is red violet red violet lives closest to the primary color of red therefore it's made up of two parts red and one part blue red orange red orange lives closest to the primary color red therefore it's made up of two parts red and one part yellow which is the next closest primary color again you can look at this another way red orange is made up of one part red and orange is made up of one part red and one part yellow therefore red plus red plus yellow equals red orange our last tertiary color is yellow orange yellow orange lives the closest to the primary color of yellow therefore it's made up of two parts yellow and one part red which is the next closest primary color we also have neutral colors a neutral color is created when all three primary colors are mixed together and equal parts if we mix one part yellow and one part blue and one part red we will have a neutral color these are also known as our Brown our Browns our Browns Browns about tone tone is the warmth or coolness of a color we have different tones we have warm tones we have cool tones and we have neutral tones when choosing a hair color you must choose the tonal end result that your guest desires it can sometimes be difficult for our guests to understand the meaning of tone what they picture in their heads and what we picture and know as professionals may not always be the same thing when you say warm to them their mind might automatically go to just the color red when you say cool to them their minds might automatically go to Browns so showing photos and being on the same page is super important when choosing tone you can also give your guests visuals you can let them know that warm tones include Reds yellows oranges and Golds have them picture a warm Sunset warm tones may also appear slightly lighter simply because there's less saturation of these warm tones cool tones include colors containing blues and violets cool tones may appear slightly darker which means you may have to adjust your formulas to take into consideration that there might be more saturation you can explain cooler tones to guests by having them picture a deeper evening Sunset where you see blues and violets and shadows under the trees neutral tones are a balance of both warm and cool tones neutral tones are made up of an equal part of red yellow and blue anytime we add primary colors it changes the way the neutral tones appear for example if we have a neutral tone made up of an equal part of red yellow and blue and we add an additional primary color such as red or yellow we now get a Warm Neutral if we add an additional primary color of blue or blue and red which gives us Violet now we've created a cooler neutral tone it's important to explore during your consultation which tones your guest do enjoy and which tones do they absolutely not enjoy you will have guests that tell you I absolutely hate red you will also have guests that tell you they can't stand brassy tones these are important things to find out before you start mixing if your guests have tones that they like to see you can intensify and you can enhance those tones by choosing similar tones if the guests have tones that they absolutely do not want to see such as brassy tones then you can neutralize those tones but first let's take a preview of some of those tones on the left we have a cool blonde notice that there is no yellow in her hair there's no red in her hair there's no gold in her hair therefore she's a cooler blonde on the right we have a warm blonde you'll notice oranges and Golds and yellows and maybe even some underlying reds next we have our brunettes some people look at the brunettes and they just see brown but you have to train your eye to see the tones the cool brunette is lacking in warm tones there's no yellow or gold or red the warm brunette however has definite oranges and yellows and maybe even some underlying Reds we have a cool red and a warmer red which one of these has more oranges and yellows that would be the warm red the cool red is filled with more violety tones therefore the cool red also appears a bit darker to the eye the warm red appears a bit lighter and brighter to neutralize an unwanted tone we choose the complimentary color that is opposite of that unwanted tone I'm going to show you a few examples now the first example is yellow and violet if you lighten your guest hair and it turns yellow if yellow is the tone that is not wanted you simply go across to the opposite side of your color wheel and choose Violet this is how it works Works yellow is made up of yellow Violet is made up of one part red and one part blue remember anytime we have equal parts of a yellow a red and a blue it gives us a neutral another example is red and green if you've lightened your guest's hair and it's turned red and that's your unwanted tone you simply go across to the opposite side of the color wheel and choose the complimentary color of green this is how it works red is made up of red green is made up of yellow and blue once again we've evened out or balanced out our primary colors which will give us a neutral tone here's another example yellow orange and blue violet if we've lightened Our Guest hair to school bus yellow orange and we have an unwanted tone we go across and we will see blue violet this is how this one works yellow orange is made up of two parts yellow and one part red blue violet is made up of two parts blue and one part red what we have is a balanced primary color we have two yellows two blues and Two Reds all in equal parts when we put those together it gives us a neutral tone what happens if you don't go directly across the wheel and find the complimentary colors sometimes in the salon things can get a little hectic and once in a while we might guess we have to be careful when we guess because we could choose the wrong complimentary color you may only partially neutralize an unwanted tone or you may end up turning the guest hair an undesirable color here's an example if your guest has hair that's been lightened to yellow and you don't go directly across and choose Violet to cancel out the yellow but instead you choose a tube of color with a blue base remember color theory never lies to us and the law of color tells us that yellow and blue will always make green what will happen is that you'll turn that yellow hair to a green cast how does color theory relate to hair let's discuss the level system dominant pigments and tonal bases of hair color the level system level system ranges from 1 to 10 colorists use the level system to measure the darkness or the lightness of hair level one is always the darkest or black hair and level 10 is always the lightest or platinum hair an easy way to remember the level system is to think of a set of stairs that goes from the ground all the way up to the sun if we start at stair one or level one black hair it's darker this is where our shadows and our cooler tones live the higher the amount of stairs we climb or the amount of levels we go up the brighter things become when we reach that stair or level number 10 that's where it's the lightest the brightest and the warmest try and guess the levels of the hair in the following photos this guessed hair is jet black therefore she is a level one on the on the left we have a photo that's slightly lighter than a level one she might be closer to a level two this guest could be a 3/4 because she has different tones and levels in her hair this guest might be a level five and a level six notice they could have artificial color you can have a level six in natural color and you may also have a level six and an artificial tube of color here we have what's close to a level seven and a level eight and when we reach the highest levels levels 9 and 10 we're moving towards our platinum colors at a level 9 the hair is yellow and at our level 10 the hair is incredibly pale yellow to almost white with practice and experience a colorist will train their eyes to see both level and tone in natural and artificial color here are a few examples all three of these photos are guessed with a level 10 lightest blonde but they're different tones the first one is a level 10 warm blonde there are still some yellows in her hair the next one is a Guess level 10 lightest blonde but the tone is more neutral she's somewhere in the middle of a warm and a cool the last image is of a guest at a level 10 lightest blonde who's completely cool notice she's lacking any warmth in her hair this is an example of guests with level four four or five medium to dark brown hair at different tones the first photo is of a guest with warm brown hair color notice the oranges and the Reds the coppers in her hair the middle is more of a neutral she's somewhere in the middle she has a little bit of warmth and a little bit of coolness but she's not extreme on one side or the other the last one is more of a cool Brown notice she's lacking the warmth that the first photo has what is dominant pigment dominant pigment is a term that's used to identify underlying tone and hair color it's also the pigment that remains in hair and is exposed when the natural color is lightened with a bleach now that we've discussed the level system and you understand dominant pigment let's talk about how they work together at a level one which is black hair the dominant pigment is blue at a level two the dominant pigment is blue violet at a level three the dominant pigment is violet and at a level four the dominant pigment is red violet at a level 1 2 3 and four you cannot see those do Min pigments to the naked eye they're too dark but what you will see is when you put lightener on hair and it lifts and reaches a level five at a level five the dominant pigment is red and that's the first underlined pigment that you'll see show up when you're lightening darker hair at a level six the dominant pigment is red orange at a level seven the dominant pigment is orange orange at a level eight the dominant pigment is yellow orange and once you've lightened hair to a level N9 and 10 the dominant pigment is yellow to pale yellow there's also dominant pigment of yellow green green and blue green these underlying pigments are not directly related to hair color levels as they do not naturally live in a natural hair color they do however live in artificial tubes of color so here's an example if you lift your guest to a level five and the dominant pigment of red shows through if red is an unwanted pigment that you want to neutralize you would go directly across the wheel to the green here you could choose a tube of color that has a dominant pigment of green to neutralize the natural red tonal bases and hair color every hair color line has their own unique names for the tonal bases found in each individual tube or bottle of hair color some examples are WM or warm mahogany RV or red violet CC for Cool Copper RB Ro Brown NG natural gold and WB warm beige notice the photo of Paul Mitchell the color tubes of color the one in the front says 5 VR this shows us that it's a level five Violet red tonal base some color lines use a number stroke system to label their color tube the first number often represents the level and the second number often represents the tonal base every color line has a tonal based chart to help guide you to the correct tube for the tonal base you desire just remember you have to know and understand color theory and the universal color wheel to guide you to know which tonal base you need to choose