The Silver Fox Formula.

Silver hair, it's everywhere. It's on the cover of every fashion magazine, it's on the runway, red carpets, and on instagram. I spent quite some time going to through a multitude of different color lines and products trying to find the absolute perfect color formulation for a silver that wasn't 'grey' or 'purple.' So eventually after a multitude of trial & error experiments I got down to the basic fundamentals, and followed the rule book (I am a man, therefore cannot simply follow instructions. I am a HUGE fan of the Redken color lines, and have strictly used Redken for every work endeavor, so I needed to find a formula that I could use to create my end results, whilst sticking to a color line I am familiar with. Toner, toner, toner, I use Redken's Shades EQ semi-permanent colors to tone 99.9% of every color service I use. In the past I'd used 09B from the Shades BLUE base collection, as a silver-esque toner, a lot of times to remove the orange tones from the lifting process. 09B was still a little on the grey/blue side to me, but the only other option in the BLUEs was 01b (Onyx-Deep blue-black.) And that would be insane right? WRONG. 01B is actually the PERFECT silver toner. BUT, for this formula the utmost caution must be taken, because things only take a few seconds for the ends to grab the depth of the blue-black based dye. Below you will find the proper instructions on how I achieved the color pictured below.

Above is a male client who I'd previous balayaged in three different processes (not in a row, good things take time.) 

HOW I LIGHTENED:
His base is Redken Cover Fusion 5NN with 20 Volume. Zone two/three were lifted with Redken's Flash Lift 40 Volume as well as everybody's new favorite addition Olaplex. Olaplex is a bond connecting agent that you can add to color services to help protect the hair from excessive damage and disruption. I carefully went about lifting the hair in the least-damaging was possible, and it felt silky smooth by the time we were done. There is little-no way to achieve a silver tone such as the one pictured above unless you can lift the client to where there is little-no pigment left in the hair. To do this safely do not attempt to get it done in one session, as stated above it took 3 to achieve this level of lightness. 

SILVER FOX FORMULA:
I went in with my formula after fully removing all of the moisture from the hair in order to get the most even coverage.

WHAT I MIXED:
2 oz of Shades EQ Clear
2 oz of Shades EQ Processing Solution
1 DROP of Shades EQ 01B. I emphasize the DROP, don't over estimate, that drop is all you will need. 

APPLICATION:
Using a bottle for application I began at zone 2 in the back and worked my way to the front, speed is of essence as the color begins to grab in a matter of seconds. I went back through and applied the color to the rest of the hair and as soon as I finished we made our way back to the shampoo bowl, emulsified the product a bit in the hair and rinsed immediately. The results above are my end result and I could not be happier to have finally found a silver that works for me. 

Any questions can be left in the comment section below! 

-Spencer Henry-

Redken

Instagram: @SpencerHenry
Twitter: @SpencerHenry