Note: As with any situation in which you are unsure of how the hair’s texture or porosity will affect the result, a test strand is recommended prior to toning the entirety of the hair.
Formulating a pale purple color
Ingredients are scored based on their formulation and concentration in this product. Click on an ingredient for more information.
WATER
Appeared as: AQUA (WATER)
Data Availability: Robust
| FUNCTION(S) | solvent |
| LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS INGREDIENT | |
CETEARYL ALCOHOL
Data Availability: Limited
| FUNCTION(S) | emulsion stabilizer, opacifying agent, surfactant – foam booster, viscosity increasingagent – aqueous, viscosity increasing agent – nonaqueous, emollient, emulsifying, emulsion stabilising, foam boosting, opacifying, surfactant, viscosity controlling |
| LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS INGREDIENT | |
DISTEAROYLETHYL HYDROXYETHYLMONIUM METHOSULFATE
Data Availability: None
| FUNCTION(S) | antistatic agent, hair conditioning agent, antistatic, hair conditioning |
| CONCERNS | • Developmental/reproductive toxicity (low) • Allergies/immunotoxicity (high) • Neurotoxicity (low) • Endocrine disruption (low) • Non-reproductive organ system toxicity (moderate) |
| LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS INGREDIENT | |
CETRIMONIUM CHLORIDE
Data Availability: Fair
| FUNCTION(S) | antistatic agent, cosmetic biocide, surfactant – emulsifying agent, antimicrobial, antistatic, emulsifying, preservative, surfactant |
| CONCERNS | • Developmental/reproductive toxicity (low) • Allergies/immunotoxicity (high) • Use restrictions (high) • Neurotoxicity (low) • Endocrine disruption (low) • Non-reproductive organ system toxicity (moderate) • Irritation (skin, eyes, or lungs) (low) |
| LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS INGREDIENT | |
CETEARETH-20
Data Availability: Limited
| FUNCTION(S) | surfactant – cleansing agent, surfactant – solubilizing agent |
| CONCERNS | • Enhanced skin absorption • Use restrictions (low) • Irritation (skin, eyes, or lungs) (low) • Contamination concerns (ETHYLENE OXIDE and 1,4-DIOXANE) |
| LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS INGREDIENT | |
GLYCERYL MONOSTEARATE
Appeared as: GLYCERYL STEARATE
Data Availability: Limited
| FUNCTION(S) | fragrance ingredient, skin-conditioning agent – emollient, surfactant – emulsifying agent, emollient, emulsifying |
| LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS INGREDIENT | |
CITRIC ACID
Data Availability: Good
| FUNCTION(S) | chelating agent, fragrance ingredient, ph adjuster, buffering, chelating, masking |
| CONCERNS | • Use restrictions (moderate) |
| LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS INGREDIENT | |
BASIC RED 51
Data Availability: Limited
| FUNCTION(S) | hair colorant, hair dyeing |
| CONCERNS | • Cancer (low) • Use restrictions (low) |
| LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS INGREDIENT | |
BASIC BLUE 99
Appeared as: BASIC BLUE 99 (C156059)
Data Availability: Limited
| FUNCTION(S) | hair colorant, hair dyeing |
| CONCERNS | • Cancer (moderate) • Allergies/immunotoxicity (moderate) • Use restrictions (low) • Persistence and bioaccumulation (moderate) • Irritation (skin, eyes, or lungs) (moderate) |
| LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS INGREDIENT | |
HC YELLOW NO. 2
Data Availability: Limited
| FUNCTION(S) | hair colorant |
| CONCERNS | • Cancer (moderate) • Allergies/immunotoxicity (moderate) • Use restrictions (high) |
| LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS INGREDIENT | |
BASIC YELLOW 40
Data Availability: Limited
| FUNCTION(S) | hair colorant, hair dyeing |
| CONCERNS | • Cancer (low) • Use restrictions (low) |
| LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS INGREDIENT | |
CI 42520
Appeared as: BASIC VIOLET 2 (C142520)
Data Availability: Limited
| FUNCTION(S) | hair colorant, cosmetic colorant |
| CONCERNS | • Cancer (moderate) • Allergies/immunotoxicity (low) • Use restrictions (low) • Persistence and bioaccumulation (moderate) • Non-reproductive organ system toxicity (low) |
| LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS INGREDIENT | |
BASIC ORANGE 31
Data Availability: Limited
| FUNCTION(S) | hair colorant, hair dyeing |
| CONCERNS | • Cancer (moderate) • Use restrictions (high) |
| LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS INGREDIENT | |
EXT. D&C VIOLET NO. 2 (CI 60730)
Appeared as: EXT. VIOLET 2 (C160730)
Data Availability: Limited
| FUNCTION(S) | colorant, hair dyeing |
| CONCERNS | • Cancer (moderate) • Allergies/immunotoxicity (moderate) • Use restrictions (high) • Non-reproductive organ system toxicity (moderate) • Irritation (skin, eyes, or lungs) (low) |
| LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS INGREDIENT | |
HC BLUE NO. 15
Data Availability: None
| FUNCTION(S) | hair colorant, hair dyeing |
| CONCERNS | • Cancer (moderate) • Persistence and bioaccumulation (moderate) |
| LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS INGREDIENT | |
HC YELLOW 4
Appeared as: HC YELLOW NO 4
Data Availability: Limited
| FUNCTION(S) | hair colorant, hair dyeing |
| CONCERNS | • Cancer (moderate) • Use restrictions (high) |
| LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS INGREDIENT | |
BASIC VIOLET 16
Data Availability: Limited
| FUNCTION(S) | hair colorant, hair dyeing |
| CONCERNS | • Cancer (low) • Use restrictions (low) |
| LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS INGREDIENT | |
CI 42090 (FD&C BLUE NO. 1 OR D&C BLUE NO. 4)
Appeared as: BLUE 1 (C142090)
Data Availability: Fair
| FUNCTION(S) | colorant, hair dyeing |
| CONCERNS | • Cancer (moderate) • Use restrictions (high) • Neurotoxicity (low) • Endocrine disruption (low) • Persistence and bioaccumulation (moderate) • Non-reproductive organ system toxicity (moderate) • Multiple, additive exposure sources (low) • Irritation (skin, eyes, or lungs) (moderate) • Contamination concerns (ANILINE and CADMIUM (pyrophoric)) |
| LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS INGREDIENT | |
Ingredients from packaging:
AQUA (WATER), CETEARYL ALCOHOL, DISTEAROYLETHYL HYDROXYETHYLMONIUM METHOSULFATE, CETRIMONIUM CHLORIDE, CETEARETH-20, GLYCERYL STEARATE, CITRIC ACID. MAY CONTAIN: BASIC RED 51, BASIC BLUE 99 (C156059), HC YELLOW NO 2, BASIC YELLOW 40, BASIC VIOLET 2 (C142520), BASIC ORANGE 31, EXT. VIOLET 2 (C160730), HC BLUE NO 15, HC YELLOW NO 4, BASIC VIOLET 16, BLUE 1 (C142090).
Some cosmetics companies have taken People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and Leaping Bunny animal-testing pledges. For consumers who are concerned about companies’ policies on animal testing, Skin Deep reports this information.
Unknown
Leading international certifiers PETA and Leaping Bunny have no information concerning this company’s use of animal testing.
Cosmetics and personal care products are not required to be tested for safety before being allowed on the market. The Skin Deep® scoring system was designed to help the public understand whether a product is safe to use or whether it contains ingredients of concern.
Every product and ingredient in Skin Deep gets a two-part score – one for hazard and one for data availability. The safest products score well by both measures, with a low hazard rating and a fair or better data availability rating.
Hazard score
The Skin Deep ingredient hazard score, from 1 to 10, reflects known and suspected hazards linked to the ingredients. The EWG VERIFIED ® mark means a product meets EWG’s strictest criteria for transparency and health.
WEIGHT-OF-EVIDENCE APPROACH
A product’s hazard score is not an average of the ingredients’ hazard scores. It is calculated using a weight-of-evidence approach that factors in all of the hazards or health impacts associated with the ingredients.
Data availability
The Skin Deep data availability rating reflects the number of scientific studies about the product or ingredient in the published scientific literature.
Level
To create an optimal toner formulation, you will need to determine what level the hair has lifted to. This is crucial for a couple of reasons:
- Underlying pigment is different at each level of lift, which means the neutralizing or enhancing tone will also be different at each level.
- When choosing the toner level, it is always best to tone on-level (or slightly darker if a deeper tone is desired).
Let’s take another look at the underlying pigment chart:
Refer to the chart, and compare the neutralizing base at a level 8 to a neutralizing base at a level 7. At a level 8 yellow, the recommended neutralizing tone is violet:
Whereas at a level 7, only one level darker, the recommended corrective tone for the yellow-orange underlying pigment is a blue-violet:
This visually explains why it is so important to tone on-level.
For example, if the hair is lifted to a level 7 and a level 8 violet-based toner is applied, the violet will tone out the yellow but leave the orange, which will make the orange stand out even more against the neutral background.
Look at it this way:
The violet will neutralize the yellow, and you will be left with an unwanted brassy tone.
Note: The exception to this tone on-level rule applies only if you should choose to use an oxidative toner. Oxidative toners have the ability to shift your pre-lightened hair by approximately ½ to 1 level or so, allowing you to use a slightly lighter level to tone. However, please be aware that an oxidative colour should only be used on hair that can cope with additional swelling!
When performing a bleach and tone service, you should avoid lifting past the target level, as this will put undue stress on the hair.
Another scenario to consider: The client was lightened in the past and would now like to be a bit darker. When toning in order to deepen the level, think of the above scenario reversed.
For example, it is not ideal to use a blue-violet-based level 7 toner on pale yellow level 8 pre-lightened hair. This will give us a bluish over-toned result.
The violet will neutralize the yellow, and you will be left with a bluish tinge.
A better approach would be to use a violet-based toner mixed with some natural to create your deeper target level.
Consider this example formula to be used on existing level 8 pre-lightened hair where the client would like a neutral level 7:
40ml Semi Activator + 10ml 6N + 10ml 8V
This formula would create a natural violet level 7 (by mixing level 6 and level 8), which will neutralize the yellow and darken the level, without creating an over-toned result.
Note: Remember that anytime you colour hair more than 3 levels darker, you will need to fill the hair with the missing underlying pigment! More on this in Chapter Chapter 7 – Corrective Colour.
Texture and Porosity
When assessing the hair structure and integrity, there are some considerations to keep in mind:
Medium textured hair that has been lightened without any resulting porosity concerns can be formulated using the colour wheel according to basic colour theory. A semi-permanent toner that has been formulated with a complimentary colour tone will generally neutralize effectively. When enhancing, choose the warm tone that will give you your desired result and mix according to manufacturers guidelines.
Fine Hair
Fine hair will generally be more porous after a lightening service, especially when lifted to the lighter levels 8–10. Porous, fine hair is at risk of soaking up cool tones and over-toning to a grey or muddy appearance. A good tactic to combat this is to add a little gold to your formula, even when neutralizing. Although this may seem counterintuitive, porous hair will reject warmth and absorb cool tones, so adding that bit of warmth will help to balance out the end result. Let’s look at this example:
If the client has level 9 pre-lightened hair, the underlying pigment will be pale yellow. The natural instinct to neutralize this would be to tone with violet, right? After all, the colour wheel shows that Yellow + Violet = Neutral.
But, if the hair is porous, it is like a sponge, ready to soak up that violet in a much greater concentration. So what you are left with looks more like this:
You may end up with a violet-tinged neutral, which will look drab and darker than a level 9, since cool tones do not reflect light and they tend to look darker to the eye.
Adding a bit of gold to our formula will give us:
The extra gold will balance the extra violet that will be absorbed by the porous hair and you will be left with a brighter, more neutral level 9 result.
Alternatively, if you want your result to be refined without complete neutralization, you can add a small amount of natural or a small amount of clear to your formula. Both of these options will dilute the violet pigment. The natural will create more of a beige result, while the clear will create a more translucent outcome.
If your goal is to enhance the underlying pigment for a warm result, formulate with the assumption that hair with high porosity will not absorb warmth as easily and may need a bit more of your enhancing tone to achieve the ideal result.
Note: Whether you are neutralizing or enhancing fine/porous hair, remember to formulate 1 level lighter than the desired result due to the tendency of fine hair to process darker than intended.
