I'm a student and had been dying a client's dark brown hair with Redken Color Gels mixed as follows: 50% 5NA, 25%5N and 25%6gn with 20 Vol. The results were great - a medium to lightish brown hair (about a level 4-5). On the touch up, I used Redken Shades eq, mixed 50% 5N and 50% 6gn. THe results came out blackish brown, about a level 2. WHAT HAPPENED?

I'm not sure why Shades eq processed so dark. Shades EQ is quite a disappointment after all the accolades I've heard. Please help, and if there's any natural way to get the color out let me know. I'm not sure if I should just advise the client to let the color wash out or if I should try a semi-permanent color remover. Or even a diliuted bleach. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for helping this aspiring color student.

Done that.

If anyone else has a more useful opinion from your personal experience, please let me know.

Glad we have an open forum, pre-professional or not.

This could be where you went wrong.  With the Color Gels you used, 50% 5NA, 25% 5N and 25% 6GN.  Then with the Shades EQ, you used 50% 5N and 50% 6GN.  If we translate this into words, you have:

Color Gels:  50% light neutral ash brown, 25% light neutral brown and 25% dark neutral golden blonde.

Shades EQ:  50% light neutral brown and 50% dark neutral golden blonde.

Neutral is a darker color than ash.  With the Color Gels you used more Ash in the formulation, which explains why the hair color came out lighter.  With the Shades EQ you only used the neutral, and the neutral is darker, therefore, giving you a darker result.  If we think of these colors as number, we have:

5 - light neutral brown

5.1 - light ash brown

5.3 - light golden brown

I'm sure you know this, but as the number gets higher the lighter the color is.  Meaning, 5.1 is closer to blonde than a 5, and 5.3 is closer to blonde than a 5.1.  Had you only added the 5NA with the 6GN you probably would've gotten a slightly lighter color than you did with the Color Gels.  And by not adding any ash with the Shades EQ, you got a slightly darker color than you did the first time around.  Had you added the exact same shades, you probably would've gotten the same results.  If the shade you got is not too much darker, I suggest you use a color stripper first, you should be able to color over it with the first formulation you had before.  Remember though that your client's hair will be more porous, so that might make for less processing time.

Funnygirl,

Thanks for your insight. With the Shades EQ formulation, I was actually trying to mix a lighter shade of touch up color. Unfortunately Shades EQ doesn't have a 5NA, so I thought to use only 50% of the level 5n (light neutral brown) and increase the blonde shade using 50% 6gn (a dark cool blonde with a grey and yellow/green base, also ash).  I processed the color for 20 minutes, no heat. Note:

Color Gels - 50% 5na (neutral ash, light brown which has a blue/violet base); 25% 5n (light neutral, which has a grey/brown base) and 25% 6gn (which has a grey and yellow/green base). This formula is 3/4 Level 5, and only 25% Level 6, all ash or neutral colors.

Shades EQ - 50% 5N neutral ash light brown (blue/violet) and 50% 6GN (the grey and yellow/green based cool blonde). This formula is only 50% level 5, all ash colors. 

What was so surprising is that even at these levels (light brown and dark blonde), the end result would be a level 2 - literally brownish black. This person is now at least two levels darker than what we began with after the color gels application, and her hair is now slightly darker than her natural color.

What is your experience with color strippers? Will it damage her hair? The client's hair is naturally wavy and coarse, though in good condition. I'm tempted to tell her to continue using Prell and hot oil treatments, hoping that it will fade the color enough to touch up her roots using our original color gels formula. She has grays, so I doubt she'll want her roots to get very long.

Thanks again!