UGH!! Highlighted hair with goldwell & toned but

it's still orange.  My natural hair color is about a 7 with various old platinum highlights. I have been reading and asking questions on this forum for past several months to learn how to highlight my hair and avoid cost of hair salon.  You all have been very helpful and I thought I understood everything but having trouble. I used 1 part Goldwell 11P permanent topchic color with 2 parts Goldwell 40v dev. with a squirt of Goldwell ash blonding cream. This is after various strand test experiments with 30v and 10P/10A with orange results.  I wanted to avoid bleach and didn't want to tone.  I left this mixture on for 45 minutes then shampooed. It ended up pretty orange but only at my roots(the new growth) which surprised me. I used 1 part wella color charm in princess blonde (ash tone)with 2 parts 20v and left it on for 30 minutes.  I thought it would only take a few minutes but it took the entire 30 minutes and was still a little orange. It looks ok but is still orange on the top and crown of my head, not really anywhere else(weird).  I really wanted platinum high lights and my hair is lighter, just not what I expected.  Why didn't the toner work better? Did I do something wrong? How can I take remaining orange out? Regarding my hair color am I mixing the color up wrong? Do I need to resort to bleach? I'm really sorry this is so long.

Sackpac:  You really need to use a blonde shade that has a blue base to counter orange.  Don't go by the word "ash", because that can mean violet on blondes, and violet does not counter orange.  I'm not using the Topchic stuff, so I don't know it personally, but it sounds to me like you are using a violet base to get so much orange from level 7 hair.  If your topchic stuff doesn't say what base is in it, you may want to consider switching to another brand that does say.  The base color is information you need to know if you're going to get predictable results.

Using 2 parts 40 volume with a light blonde ought to do it.  If you aren't using a high lift shade, you may want to consider doing so since you want white hair (I use Clairol 12 high lift with a blue base to get mine to a nice yellow blonde.  If I wanted white, I would then do it again with a high lift that has a violet base to lift a little more and counter the yellow.  This is done only after every speck of orange has become yellow.

  A violet toner can also be used instead if you get it a light enough yellow for you and you just want it more ashy.  Toners are not permanent however and doing a high lift a second time, while damaging, probably isn't going to be as damaging as repeated toner use every couple of weeks to keep countering the yellow that reappears).

Edited to add:  Doing what I said above will give you all platinum hair if you're doing your whole head. Just pull out pieces and do it to only them if you want it to look like highlights. 


Edited by Susan W - August 18 2008 at 8:31am

Sackpak,
Using the 11P with double 40 volume is correct.  The ash blonding cream is extra ammonia that usually gives extra lift.  Did you highlight your whole head?  Did you start your timer after you finished applying all the color?  Did you use heat to help process the color?  I know that some colors say not to use heat, but the ends of your hair do not have the benefit of body heat to help them process at the same rate.  Did you saturate the hair with the color?  I could scold you for not doing a strand test first, but that wouldn't fix the problem.    This should have worked, and I feel bad for you.  I have used this formula time and time again.

What I am wondering is why you would use 20 vol. with the toner.

I would hold off on the bleach until after a good protein treatment followed by moisture.  The stuff you used was pretty strong, and you wouldn't want to damage it by putting bleach on it right away. 

It could also be that you had previously colored your hair.  There is truth to the rule that color cannot lift color. 

Sackpac:  You can see my natural haircolor in my link (click on hair journey on the menu at the bottom of that page).  I haven't done highlights on the back of my head, just a few in the front is all I do anymore. Maybe I'd call it a level 7, but either way, it is dark blonde.

At the Sally where I shop, there are only 2 Clairol high lift platinum shades.  One has a blue base, one has a violet base.  Just doing the highlift with the blue base and 40 volume is enough for my hair to get to blonde.

Maybe you're right Ally, bleach would be quicker, but I like getting there with high lift dye because the blue base color counters my orange and gets me to a nice blonde shade that isn't too yellow, that way I don't need to tone.  I usually don't even bother with using violet over that, as it doesn't come out too yellow for me, so I get there in only one process with permanent results.

Sometimes I do go out in the sun on a summer day with my dye on, it does help with the lifting, but it seems to do something to the blue base too. It doesn't counter the orange and yellow as well when I use the heat of the sun to speed up the lightening.  Sometimes I don't mind that, because yellow is a good color on me and I just do a few highlights on mine, so I keep it golden.  If a person was going for an ashy shade though, definitely going in the sun (or using heat) may not be the best idea.  You may get enough lift but you would need to do another step afterward to counter the yellow.





Edited by Susan W - August 19 2008 at 8:40am

Ifixbadhair: I pulled strands through a cap and highlighted those and I started the 45 minutes after I applied all color. I did not use heat since it was 108 degrees and my scalp was very warm with the cap.  The ends of my hair are fine, it's my 2 inches of new growth at my scalp that is orange. I did saturate my hair, so much so that some of the color leaked through the cap holes for an extra special effect of tiger striping on my scalp.   I also did do a strand test which I really couldn't tell a big difference but did not notice any orange.  Also I used 20 vol with the toner as instructed on the toner box. My hair was highlighted (foiled) about 6-7 months ago using Goldwell 10 series with 30V. These highlights looked great (almost white blonde) so I know it can be done but apparently I can't figure it out.   

I agree with Susan; you just may need a higher volume. It can be soooo frustrating trying to formulate colour! I think you're doing a great job. You're also doing a good thing by giving your hair/scalp a rest in between trials!

I did the highlift 11 series with blonding cream with 40v as I thought that would eliminate any orange. I don't understand how my hairdresser didn't pull orange. I left the color on for 45 minutes as it was my understanding that it stops processing after that amount of time.