Pre-toning: what is it, what is it for, how and when do we do it?
Everything you want to know about this color technique from Color Expert Yiannos Mindilonitis.
What is pre-toning?
First of all, we should clarify what we mean by pre-toning.
This is the colouring technique we do in the salon before applying the toner to the hair.
It is the process that we have to follow to get the perfect colour result.
What good is it to us?
Pre-toning will ensure that we have a clean and even canvas on our hair before the toner is applied.
I know, you’ll tell me it’s time-consuming and expensive.
But it is what will guarantee that our toner will have fidelity and durability!
It will also neutralize any unwanted shades.
In addition, some underlying tones will not stand in the way of the desired end result.
And don’t forget: preparing the hair will save us time on any color corrections that may be needed in the bath!
When do we do it?
In the bath, on discolored hair, before we apply our toner we will do the pre-toning process.
If we were to contrast it with makeup, we would say it’s like a primer.
Like putting green primer on an overly red face before applying foundation.
This way we ensure a neutral finish.
The same idea applies to hair!
How do we pre-toning?
If we have to neutralize for example yellow underlying shades in the bath, we will use purple-violet pigments.
This can be achieved with a silver or no yellow shampoo.
Even better, we can neutralize them with professional chroma removers that exist for this purpose.
For even more persistent unwanted shades, we use ammonia-free emulsions.
But be very careful with the neutralizations you make: You have to keep in mind the color cycle.
For example, one mistake we can make is the following:
In discolored hair with yellowish tones we want to give cool-blue tones.
The result will be green, not blue.
Here pre-toning is a necessary process in order to clean our canvas and get the desired colour effect.
In the same way we will work with the rest of the neutralizations that will be needed before we apply the toner.
In addition, with pre-toning we will find that the duration of our reflexes increases and our client will be grateful!
I hope I helped you with everything to do with pre-toning and that you found the article useful.
For any other information, don’t hesitate to find me on social media and especially on Facebook.
With love,
Yannos Mindilonitis.
