Many of my clients are shocked to find out that they’re actually a natural Blonde and not a brunette. What most people refer to as “Mousey Brown” is in fact Medium Blonde and being a Medium Blonde myself I take umbrage to the term “Mousey” thank you very much!
So here is a list containing the numerical level of colour, what we hairdressers call it and a pic so you can see for your self.
Level 10 – Ultra Light Blonde
Level 9 - Very Light Blonde
Level 8 – Light Blonde
Level 7 – Medium Blonde
Level 6 – Dark Blonde
Level 5 – Light Brown
Level 4 – Medium Brown
Level 3 – Dark Brown
Level 2/1 – Black
These are refered to as “naturals” eg: 6N (dark blonde), 4N (medium brown).
Now that we have established what “level” of colour you are, let’s talk about the term “reflect”. Reflect refers to the actual colour, be it red, copper or gold. Each colour range has it’s own way of defining it’s reflects and most companies use a similar rating system, but not all. they can use a numerical system or Alpha-numeric one.
A classic example is Wella’s system vs. Goldwell. Here, two of the top products on the market use the two different systems to let you know what colour you are using, or getting. In Wella, the colour for dark blonde is 6/0, in Goldwell it’s 6N. If you wanted a golden tone at that level of colour, Wella would use 6/3 and Goldwell 6G.
Due to the fact that some numeric systems differ slightly it can be hard to explain reflect numbers, but generally /3 refers to a golden reflect, /4, red. It is much easier to decode the alpha numeric system, G=gold, R=red, K=copper, B=beige or brown (depending on the level of colour).
Now you’re armed with a bit more info you may be able to understand just what your Hairdresser is talking about and help you achieve the colour you want.
