Hair Q&A with Karine Jackson

Karine Jackson, of Karine Jackson Hair & Beauty, is the Creative colourist Karine Jackson was the winner in the London Hairdresser of the Year Category at the 2007 British Hairdressing Awards and has all the answers to your colour queries...

Hi Karine

 

I'm fed up of my constant colour disasters and wanted some advice. I had a dark brown/red colour and my roots were starting to show through, wanted to go back to natural colour but hairdresser said they were unable to strip it so would put some highlights in to make it more of my natural colour (light brown). Anyway the colour only took to my roots so I had bright blonde roots and reddy brown on the rest of it. Then went to another hairdresser to try and just get it one colour and she put a dark brown on it twice to get my roots same colour as rest of hair and now I'm left with ginger roots and dark brown hair. Can't afford to go back to hairdressers again and just want to get my hair all one colour using home dyes. Any suggestions I know you're the expert?

 

Thanks, Karen

 

This is corrective colouring and I would not advise you to try this at home. What you need to do is have the colour stripped out of the hair; if this is done correctly you would then put your light brown onto the hair. The reason the ends of the colour didn't change is because tint will not lighten tint.

I do not know a lot about home dyes so I couldn't recommend what you could use but the points to remember are:

Tint won't lighten tint, if you put more colour on the ends it will go darker as you will have a build up of colour now. I would suggest a semi permanent colour just on the roots until the ends start to fade out.

It's really disappointing that you've had this experience though - you need to find a good reputable colourist to avoid this in the future.

 

 

 

Hi Karine

 

I wonder if you would be able to help me, I have medium brown hair with slight grey coming through (I am 35) I go to my hairdressers for a colour each month, they use mijurel, I didn't want to be as dark as it was draining on my skintone. Don't get me wrong the colour is lovely, the only thing I seem to get quite a bit of warmth (red tones) that I'm not to sure about.  She does use an ash tone and has said herself she's never seen it happen before!  Is there anything you could advise.

 

King regards

Louise

 

 

Hi Louise,

Natural hair can have a high red undercoat. This means the hair can behave differently if you have any red pigment in your hair colour and grey can throw this out. It is rare but it does happen. I would suggest depending on the amount of grey you have, to try pre softening the roots first, your colourist should know how to do this, if not they can they call the L'Oreal technical centre or ask their rep how to do it, they will only be too happy to help. Here comes the technical bit! I would mix a .0 base colour as this is anti red, and for example if your hair is light brown then use 5.0 with the ash shade ½ and ½ and 6% - your colourist will know this numbering system. With Ash colours you will have to choose a shade lighter as they go darker - ash is a heavy, dense base and less translucent than a warmer colour. Hope this helps and gives you some help.

 

Hi Karine

 

I hope you can help me.  I am a woman in my late fifties, I wear my hair quite short 2.5 to 3" and spiky.  It has red and blond highlights.  The problem is that whatever product I put on my hair to keep the spikes seems to give me the appearance of dandruff.

At the moment I use Glisten - shampoo & hairspray also L'oreal Tech to 'spike it up' a little.   I do not want to look like a punk but am fed up with 'flakes' and looking less than 'funky groomed' (if you know what I mean!)  Please can you recommend a range of products that will make my hair shine - keep it spiky - and that will not leave a flaky residue on coloured hair. I look very much look forward to your reply.  Thank you.

 

Tessa

 

Hi Tessa,

Sounds like you have a build up of product on your hair, so a simple thing to do to prevent this would be to use a very fine toothed comb and when the shampoo is on the hair, run the comb through your hair several times and this should remove the build up. I would use the L'Oreal Homme gel mixed with a little Liss control serum. The gel is water-based so it gives great hold but if you need to change the look you can you can dampen down and restyle, the liss control will give it that extra bit of shine.

 

 

Hi Karine

 

I need help with my bleached blonde hair! I'm a natural strawberry blonde and my hairdresser says that because of the red pigment in my hair I have only two hair colour options - bleached blonde or a very dark level 3 - 4 brown. I love being blonde as my hair was blonde when I was younger, but as I get older my roots have begun to get a mousey red colour so the re-growth is more noticeable. I would like to introduce some darker blonde shades to make my blonde hair a more sophisticated look, ideally a few honey and caramel slices just to tone it down a bit. My hairdresser says these kind of shades won't stick to my hair but I see pictures of natural red heads like Nicole Kidman and Lindsay Lohan with different blonde shades in their hair, so is it possible - how do they do it?

 

Please help I'm stuck in a rut!

 

 

Thanks Lucy

 

Hi Lucy,

It is possible to achieve these shades but you will have to allow for the natural red in your hair and if your hair is porous you will need to get the condition into the hair for the colour to hold. If you colourist is young they may not have the experience yet to understand how the colour holds. To achieve a nice toffee colour you will need to use a flat natural colour which will look wrong on the shade chart but will come out completely different on your hair due to the natural red! Remember that shade guides in salons aren't always a true representation of what you'll get, they're more of a guide for stylists really. Take a picture of what you want to a good colourist and they'll be able to get it right for you.

 

Hi Karine

 

I am allergic to darker hair colour dyes but I really want to change my look. A while ago I had an all over bleach then a red dye applied which looked nice and I did not have an allergic reaction.

I would like to go lighter (a honey-ginger brown shade) but am worried when I dye it back to my original colour I will come out in a huge allergic reaction again so my question is: Can you recommend a natural based lighter dye that will be kinder to my hair and skin and stop the allergic reactions

 

Thanks Max

 

Hi Max

We are now using an Organic Colour System; if you go onto their website herbuk.com you can read a bit about them and find a salon in an area near you that stocks the colour. Always have a patch test 24 hours prior to the colour to see if you are allergic. If you still are, you could still have darker colour mixed with the blonde as a heavy low light as this colour is much gentler and contains no ammonia. Good luck!

 

To make an appointment with Karine or one of her talented team please call the Karine Jackson Hair & Beauty salon on 020 7836 0300, or visit karinejackson.co.uk.

 

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