Hair Colour Glossary

A scale colourists use to describe how light or dark hair is, usually from 1, the darkest black, up to 10 or beyond, the lightest blonde. Your natural level and your goal level shape the whole colour plan.

The warmth or coolness of a colour, such as golden, copper, ash or beige. Two colours can be the same level but look very different because of their tone.

The natural warm tones that appear as hair is lightened, moving from red to orange to yellow. This is why lightened hair can look brassy before it is toned.

How many levels lighter the hair is taken. More lift usually means a stronger product, more time or more than one appointment.

The activating liquid mixed with colour or lightener, measured in volumes. Lower volumes, such as 10, are gentle and deposit colour, while higher volumes give more lift. Your colourist chooses the strength to suit your hair and goal.

Colour that changes the hair's natural pigment and grows out rather than washing out. It gives the strongest grey coverage.

A gentler colour that blends greys, adds shine and fades gradually over several weeks.

Colour that coats the hair and washes out over a number of shampoos. It cannot lighten hair.

A product, often called bleach, that removes natural or artificial pigment to make hair lighter. Read our Bleach and Tone guide.

Hair that has never been coloured or chemically treated. It usually lifts and takes colour more predictably.

Home colour from a supermarket or pharmacy. Tell your colourist about any box dye in your hair, even from years ago, as it can affect how salon colour works.

A colour applied after lightening to refine the tone, for example to soften yellow or orange and create beige, ash or golden blondes.

A sheer, shiny colour treatment that refreshes tone and adds shine. Many colourists use the words gloss and toner interchangeably.

A colour applied at the roots and softly blended down, so the regrowth line is less noticeable and grows out gently.

The new, uncoloured hair that grows at the roots after a colour service.

Softening the contrast between grey hair and the rest of your colour, rather than covering every grey. It often grows out more gently than full coverage.

A treatment added during or after colouring to help protect and strengthen the inner structure of the hair while it is lightened.

Fine or chunky sections of hair lightened, usually woven into foils, to add brightness and dimension.

Sections coloured darker than your base to add depth, often used to bring back dimension to very light hair.

Very fine highlights placed close together for a soft, natural, sunkissed effect.

Highlights where the hair is backcombed before lightening, so the colour blends softly at the root with no harsh lines.

Brighter pieces of colour placed around the face to frame it and lift the complexion.

A hand painted lightening technique that creates a soft, natural gradient from root to end.

Colour designed to grow out softly with no obvious regrowth line, so you can go longer between appointments.

Rich, shiny brunette colour created with glosses and tones rather than lightener. You may hear it called a no bleach brunette.

Fixing an unwanted colour result, such as banding, brassiness or a colour that is too dark. It can take several appointments to protect the hair.

A small amount of colour applied to the skin, usually at least 48 hours before your appointment, to check for an allergic reaction. Many colour brands require it before every colour service.

Testing colour or lightener on a small hidden section of hair to check how it lifts, how it takes colour and how strong the hair is.