Photo courtesy of Elle.com

It’s not that easy! How about a little color theory first so you can start feeling more confident talking color?

Hair color is described in two ways, level and tone.

Let’s talk level first. Level 1 is Black and level 10 is lightest blonde. This color falls in the range of lightest brown or dark blonde. I would call it a level 7. The level system is used by all colorists and hair color manufacturers. If you understand level, you are well on your way to helping your colorist achieve the color you want.

The next factor is tone. This is a big deal so pay attention! In the color line I use, available tones are ash, blue, green, beige, gold, auburn, copper, red, and violet. Then to make it even crazier, some of my color have two tones in them!!!! And these tubes can be mixed together to get even more tones!

So let’s break it down. Tones fall into 2 categories. Cool and Warm. Think of the color wheel from art class, or just look at it right here!

Everything on the left side, Yellow-Green to Violet is considered cool and the right side, Yellow to Violet-Red is warm.

Easy so far?!

The problem arises when we use adjectives rather than real tones to describe color. Here are some examples I’ve heard: Honey, caramel, baby, frosty, chocolate and creamy. Too subjective, right?! Let’s give these adjectives real tones. Honey is yellow-gold and caramel is gold. Baby?! My baby’s blonde is super pale like the inside of a banana so pale yellow. Frosty would be a cool blue or blue-violet and chocolate a dark brown with a kiss of red. What the heck is creamy?! I think of butter so I would call that yellow.

So your stylist might look at you funny if you say you want a level 7 Orange (or copper), but you can’t really get any more technical than that!

Are you ready for the answer?

This gorgeous hair is dark blonde (level 7) in a beige tone. She has a few brighter (level 9) pale yellow (tone) highlights around her face.

Do you think you’ll be able to describe the next color photo? Do you have one you want me to describe? Email it to me at tera@teraraestephens.com! This is fun!