How to Fill Hair for Warm, Ash and Natural Results when going darker

I love colour corrections and transformations. My salon business has become the go-to destination for any Redhead who wants to reveal their natural Aubrun buried under years of black box dye or blondes wanting to try Copper or gorgeous Ashy Light Milk Chocolate Browns.

 I know that the 2 words colour correction are enough to send shivers down the spine of many newbie hairdressers and experienced hairdressers because it can be very daunting, especially if a client springs the request on you unexpectedly. I regularly help my students in my online course Hair Painting for Redheads private community with formula support and technique inspiration, and they’re having transformational results in their salons now too. And their clients are loving it!

I like to break every COLOUR CORRECTION down into problems and solutions.

Sometimes there is one problem needing one solution, but usually, there are 3 or more problems on the one head all needing to be solved with a solution. That’s the key! One step at a time.

Show notes for podcast episode 167

This episode is all about solving the challenge of dying your client's hair darker with confidence. And to do that, we need to discuss filling the hair. There are 3 methods that you can use for filling hair.

1. You can fill the hair with a semi-permanent colour or toning shampoo if it’s highly sensitised or damaged.
2. You can apply a tint or oxidate colour onto the hair and then comb it off and paint your 2nd layer over it.
3. You can also fill hair before dying it darker with semi or demi-permanent colours. This is the most predictable, but not always the best solution for every hair type.
   
   I am going to dive deep into filling with a demi-permanent for ashy cool, warm and natural results. So if you are finding you always end up with an unwanted red tinge to your client's hair or a drab murky green, this is the perfect podcast for you!  

Pro Tips for filling hair from light to darker

You need to fill your client's hair if you are going 2 or more levels darker. That is a colour principle that you need to memorise and work with whenever you need to. 

Let me break it down for you:

• If you are only going one shade darker – no filling is required. 
• If you are going 3-4 levels darker – you need to fill 2-3 shades darker. This is a double-process colour service.
• If you’re changing a client more than 4 levels darker,  you will probably need to do a few layers of colour, including a filler, then a colour, and a final glaze or toner. This is likely to be a triple-process colour service.
• Filling with red gives you a red-brown result.
• Filling with red means you need to be aiming for a level 5 or darker. Think about undertones when lightening and that is what you are putting back in, and that red lives at a Level 6 or darker.
• Your filler formula should always be one shade lighter than your end vision level, or perhaps 2 shades lighter if it’s porous. I suggest this because you might need to do a few layers of colour and the colour on top of colour always goes darker, regardless of what brand you use. 
• Gold lives in the hair from levels 7 -10, which is why it is worth considering to fill with Gold. 
• One of the most important things to do is to always let the filler process to the manufacturer's instructions. Don’t panic and wash it off too soon. Let it process and then reassess.
• Stop believing that filling hair with red is the only option. Try gold. Try copper. Think of the bigger picture and fill it according to whether the client wants a warm result or a cool or natural one.

Listen to episode 167 of the Colour Kristina Talks Podcast to to learn how to fill hair for warm, ash and natural results when going darker.