How to choose your hair developer.
An important part of coloring your hair yourself is figuring out what volume developer you should use. Developer, also known as activator or even peroxide for short, is mixed with bleach or dye to lighten or color hair. It’s a creamy product that contains hydrogen peroxide, and the amount of hydrogen peroxide is what determines developer volume.
Developer helps the color penetrate the hair shaft and become permanent. Hydrogen peroxide developer lifts the cuticle layer of the hair and depending on the strength of the activator the cuticle will lift more or less.
Hair developer levels refer to their oxidizing potential, or how much hydrogen peroxide they have. Most bleach and hair color formulas use developer at either 10, 20, 30 or in some cases 40.
Choose developer strength according to how many levels you need to lift.
Use 20 Vol developer for 1-2 levels, 30 Vol for 2-3 levels & 40 Vol for 3 levels. If you are going more than 3 levels lighter, you will need to use bleach first. Stick to the recommended color and developer mix rules.
10 Volume Developer
If you are applying permanent, no-lift hair color. It won’t lift your base hair color significantly, so you should use it when you want to add a tone or tint to the hair, but keeping it at the same color level. Many toners work with 10 vol developer as it’s the least damaging to the hair and all you want is to deposit a tone to cancel unwanted color in your hair. 10 volume developer is only used to open the hair cuticle layer so the color molecules can deposit in the cortex for long term results.
20 Volume Developer
When you want to achieve a lift of one o two levels of hair color. If you have more than 50% grey hair you will need to use 20 volume developer for 100% gray coverage with permanent hair dye. Less than that and you may be able to get away with 10 volume developer, and your grey hair will look like highlights.
You can use 20 volume developer with bleach to lighten hair that is naturally blonde in a more gentle fashion.
30 Volume Developer
30 volume developer allows you to lighten the hair while coloring by two or three levels, and allows more pigment to embed into the hair shaft. If your hair is not very damaged and you want a lighter and more long-lasting color, 30 volume developer can be a great option. If your hair is low porosity hair you may find that 30 volume developer works better as your hair is naturally more resistant to color.
40 Volume Developer
When you are looking to create highlights without bleach using high-lift hair color. This is because it will lift your hair up to four shades. If you are bleaching dark brown or black hair you may also need to use 40 volume developer, but keep in mind that this will be the most damaging for hair. It has 12% peroxide, and that can cause burns on sensitive scalps.
If you are bleaching your hair at home it is much better and safer to do several rounds of bleaching with 30 or even 20 volume developer, and use loads of conditioning treatments and protein builders in between.
Developer helps the color penetrate the hair shaft and become permanent. Hydrogen peroxide developer lifts the cuticle layer of the hair and depending on the strength of the activator the cuticle will lift more or less.
Hair developer levels refer to their oxidizing potential, or how much hydrogen peroxide they have. Most bleach and hair color formulas use developer at either 10, 20, 30 or in some cases 40.
Choose developer strength according to how many levels you need to lift.
Use 20 Vol developer for 1-2 levels, 30 Vol for 2-3 levels & 40 Vol for 3 levels. If you are going more than 3 levels lighter, you will need to use bleach first. Stick to the recommended color and developer mix rules.
10 Volume Developer
If you are applying permanent, no-lift hair color. It won’t lift your base hair color significantly, so you should use it when you want to add a tone or tint to the hair, but keeping it at the same color level. Many toners work with 10 vol developer as it’s the least damaging to the hair and all you want is to deposit a tone to cancel unwanted color in your hair. 10 volume developer is only used to open the hair cuticle layer so the color molecules can deposit in the cortex for long term results.
20 Volume Developer
When you want to achieve a lift of one o two levels of hair color. If you have more than 50% grey hair you will need to use 20 volume developer for 100% gray coverage with permanent hair dye. Less than that and you may be able to get away with 10 volume developer, and your grey hair will look like highlights.
You can use 20 volume developer with bleach to lighten hair that is naturally blonde in a more gentle fashion.
30 Volume Developer
30 volume developer allows you to lighten the hair while coloring by two or three levels, and allows more pigment to embed into the hair shaft. If your hair is not very damaged and you want a lighter and more long-lasting color, 30 volume developer can be a great option. If your hair is low porosity hair you may find that 30 volume developer works better as your hair is naturally more resistant to color.
40 Volume Developer
When you are looking to create highlights without bleach using high-lift hair color. This is because it will lift your hair up to four shades. If you are bleaching dark brown or black hair you may also need to use 40 volume developer, but keep in mind that this will be the most damaging for hair. It has 12% peroxide, and that can cause burns on sensitive scalps.
If you are bleaching your hair at home it is much better and safer to do several rounds of bleaching with 30 or even 20 volume developer, and use loads of conditioning treatments and protein builders in between.