The science behind great hair colour decisions

Kelly Furnival has more than 20 years of experience in the hair and beauty industry. She has a wealth of hair & colour science knowledge, behind the chair experience and skills which she loves to share with others. She is a VTCT qualified assessor in hairdressing, independent educator and owner of KF Hair Education.  Kelly is also a full-time stylist and owner of Alchemy Hairdressing in Manchester, UK.  I first discovered Kelly’s Instagram in 2020 and fell head of heels in love with her technical approach to colour theory. I just love her clear and scientific approach to hair colouring education. I have been trying to tee up this conversation for a while and am super excited to have Kelly waiting online to chat with us on all things colour. 

Show notes for podcast episode 60

The science behind great hair

If you are not getting consistent and predictable colour results for every client in your salon, it could be time to revisit the fundamentals of haircolour. We dive deep into the science needed to paint with perfection and predictable results. I have been hairdressing for 20+ years and my mind is blown at some of the information shared in this interview because it is new to me and it's game-changing stuff.

The 5 key topics discussed in this podcast:

1. White Hair Coverage
2. Long Regrowth
3. Business Tips for busy Hairdressers
4. Colour Wheel Fundamental knowledge
5. Plus how to neutralise tones with hair colour

kelly's top tips for white hair + long regrowth

White or Grey hair can have up to 30 layers of the cuticle. If a Colour molecule does not fully penetrate the hair fully and you get translucency. You lose about 30% of the colour straight away when you rinse it at the basin. The cortex becomes bigger when it becomes white. So we have 30 layers of cuticle and a larger cortex and most hair colours are designed to penetrate only 10-15 cuticle layers. This is why hairdressers often struggle with coverage… but don't stress because we discuss the solutions for this in the podcast.

Have you ever heard the terminology “Resistant Mix”?

Kelly mixes her white coverage permanent colour thicker. This keeps the ammonia higher in the mix. For example 40g of colour to 30 g peroxide as opposed to the 1:1 mixing. But if that doesn’t work you can try to pre-pigment the gold back in there first on a white colour. That is a double process that is done at the same time. Apply Gold and then a Double Base colour over the top.

Want more great tips for resistant grey coverage and long regrowth? Keep scrolling for the learning resources mentioned in this episode of the Colour Kristina Talks Podcast and download the podcast freebie created by Kelly for our listeners. Enjoy!