Hair Color Terms That You Should Know

Have you ever walked into a salon and felt like a total foreigner when your hair colorist talks about hair terms and phrases that you have no clue whatsoever about. Or watched a YouTube video in which the youtube talks about denim, nude, metallic hair etc and you don’t even know what they mean. New hair color trends are popping up in the media like never before. From balayage to baby highlights there are way too many trends and if you want to know them then read down below as we’ve listed the top hair color terms and what they mean.

Hair color terms

Baby lights: as the name suggests, they are highlights that are often found on a baby’s hair which are formed by the sun.

Balayage: balayage is similar to an ombre except in a balayage the colorist colors the strands in a natural way and is often done by people who want a low maintenance hair color.  

Base color: base color is the starting color that is applied all over your hair.

Chocolate Mauve: this hair color is similar to a strawberry blonde hair color except as a brunette version. Brown is paired with pink in a balayage technique.

Contrast: contrast, as the name suggests, is the difference between the base color and the color of your highlights. High contrast means that the highlights are lighter and more noticeable whereas low contrast means less visible highlights

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Cool tones: if you are familiar with the color wheel then you would know that cool tones range from indigo-blues to blue-greens. It’s the tonal value of the color. Platinum, bluish blacks, and ash browns are examples of cool colors for hair.

Denim hair: Denim hair is all over Instagram. It Is similar to the fabric denim and involves the same hue as the hair color. 

Dimension: dimension is adding depth to the hair by adding highlights and lowlights. Flat hair is the opposite of dimension.

Double process: involves two coloring techniques. for example, you get a base color and then get highlights.

Foiling: foil is usually used to cover strips of hair that have hair dye on them, usually done for balayage, highlights, and streaks.

Full High Lights: full highlights means that you will have highlights throughout your head, not just the topmost layers.

Jewel-toned hair: pastel-colored hair that is brighter and has bolder hues.

Lowlights: lowlights involves darkening strands to add dimension into the hair.

Nude hair: neutral hair

Ombre: similar to a balayage that involves a gradual transition of colors from the mid-shaft to the ends.

Partial highlights: usually done for adding volume and dimension, and involve highlighting the top layer of the hair.

Pastel hair: pastel rainbow colored hair.

Pintura: it requires the colorist to hand color strands of hair in a pattern to create a one of a kind dimensional look. Its done for curly hair to give a hair dimension and volume.

Platinum: the lightest of blonde hair, similar to platinum blonde.

Pumpkin spice hair: this hair color is similar to the hues of a pumpkin with beautiful orange and strawberry colors.

Rose gold hair: rose gold is everywhere, from laptops to mobile phones, the metallic rose gold hair color has reached the salons as well.

Single process: processing hair color only ones, for example, getting an ombre without a base color. 

Soft jet hair: it's exactly as the name suggests, a slightly toned downed version of jet black hair with bluish tints.

Sulfate-free: everyone should know this term. Sulfates are found everywhere, from detergents to shampoos, these aren’t healthy for your hair. Make sure that the dye you use is sulfate free.

Tigers eye: hair color done in balayage technique that is similar to the colors of the popular stone.

Tone: black, brunette, red, blonde are all tones of hair color. It is basically an adjective that describes the hair color. More examples include strawberry blonde, platinum etc.

Tortoiseshell: it is similar to the tiger’s eye as it involves the same hues and colors from the tortoiseshell done in a balayage or ombre technique on the hair.

Warm tones: these are the other side of the color wheel and range from red to yellow-green.