The Shade’s colour range includes cool ash tones at all colour levels (from black to lightest blonde). We also offer intense (double) ash colours in our dark brown to dark blonde colour levels.
Colours with ash tones have cool secondary tones which reduce unwanted warmer tones, such as copper, reddish or orange tones and help create a tonally balanced finish.
- ‘Warm tones’ or ‘warmth’ refers to visible warmer colours such as copper, brassy and red tones in the hair.
Unwanted warmth is a key concern for many clients and colours with cool tones are among our most popular colours.
Reducing Unwanted Warmth
All hair contains warm (red/brassy) natural colour pigments. Natural warmth is revealed whenever you lighten your hair, which is why we almost always recommend colours with cool tones after any lightening or colour pigment removal process. Some people’s hair throws more warmer tones than others.
Warm tones can be reduced by adding cool tones. Cool tones are on the opposite side of the colour wheel to warm tones. Warm tones have a red, brassy colour. Cool tones have a blue, violet, green base and they counteract and reduce warmth.
The best approach to reducing warmth is to add cool tones and/or add depth to your colour.
Colours & Toners:
Our ash and intense ash colours can be applied as either permanent colour or as a toner, depending on the developer you blend with the colour (20 or 27 vol for permanent colour and 5 or 10 vol for semi or demi-permanent toners).
Cool Tones:
- Neutralize Warmth: The blue/green undertones counteract brassiness, creating a cool, matte, smoky effect.
- Ideal for achieving silvery, smoky browns or cool, intense blondes.
Colours with beige and ash secondary tones both have cool tones. Beige tones are predominantly cool, but they have a creamier finish and they have less cool tones than ash tones.
If you want to reduce unwanted warmth, a colour with ash tones will be more effective than a colour with beige tones as there are more cool tones in ash colours.
Ash tones
In ash hair colors, the secondary tones are cool pigments like smokey grey, blue, green and violet. Ash colours are designed to counteract warmth and create a muted icy finish. These undertones help neutralize brassiness, giving ash shades a sleek, cool, and balanced look.
In terms of colour numbers, ash colours all have a .1 after the colour level number, eg. Trento 5.1 Ash Brown, Montecristo 6.1 Light Ash Brown, Bellaria 7.1 Dark Ash Blonde, amongst others.
Intense Ash Tones
Intense ash colours have double ash tones. The ash tones in intense ash colours are more prominent as compared to a regular ash colour. Intense ash colours will reduce more unwanted warmth than a regular ash colour.
Double ash colours have a .11 after the colour level number, eg. Perugia 4.11 Intense Dark Ash Brown, Livorno 5.11 Intense Ash Brown and Bergamo 6.11 Intense Light Ash Brown.
Caution:
- Visible green tones can be seen when there are excessive cool tones in the hair. If you are adding ash or intense ash tones to hair that either already contains cool tones, or is very porous and over-absorbs colour, or hair which lacks warm pigments, the blue/green undertones in ash tones may result in an unwanted green hue.
- Caution for Bleached Hair: Applying intense ash directly to porous, highly bleached hair can result in a greyish or slightly greenish cast. Mixing it with a “neutral” base shade (e.g., 7.0) can prevent this.
Our Recommendations:
If you want to use ash tones to reduce warmth we recommend starting with a regular ash colour. If you still see some unwanted warmth after using an ash colour, you could then change colour to an intense ash colour.
Our colourists are always available to provide personalised advice and we recommend consulting with our colourists before trying intense ash colours.
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