Daniela is 44 and has run her salon in Lugano for twelve years: four chairs, a window onto a narrow street of the old town and, if you lean out of the door, a strip of lake. In November the fog settles on the water in the morning, the first lights go up in the streets and her diary changes shape. From the middle of the month, every free slot becomes a regrowth to cover before the holidays.
The client who always said no
Gabriella, 62, has been coming every five weeks for ten years, for a cut and a blow-dry. Her natural base is a dark blonde, and over the years the white hair has crept in, from the temples to the parting: today, Daniela estimates, about half. Every time Daniela suggested a colour, Gabriella shook her head. "I don't want to look like someone else."
This time she spoke before she had even taken off her coat. "On the Sunday before Christmas my first grandson is being christened. In the photos I want to look like myself, just without the white." Then she added: "My sister says I should ask for a colour without ammonia. Do you have one?"
Daniela smiled. In autumn it is one of the questions she hears most, in the same words her clients type into Google before they come in: "tinta senza ammoniaca capelli bianchi".
The question behind every bowl
Daniela already worked with NIKA Grace Color, the ammonia-free permanent colour cream by NIKA. But a first colour on natural hair that is half white is not a formula to improvise between two appointments. From this base, with this much white, how do you get to that colour? Which shade, which Activator volume, how many minutes?
That week cliCHair had announced a new tool in her PRO area, the Colour formulator. In the evening, with the shutter half down and the tablet on the reception desk, she tried it with Gabriella's case:
- Range: Grace Color by NIKA, with NIKA Activators.
- Starting hair: natural, level 6, about 50% white hair. She had read the level with the colour chart next to a lock from the cut, not on the screen.
- Desired colour: Grace Color 7.03 Medium Natural Gold Natural Blonde, the warm medium blonde with a golden light that Gabriella had pointed to on the chart.
- Length: up to the shoulders.
On the screen came an indicative preview of the strand, with a cooler and a warmer variant, the mix with doses, volume and processing time, the protocol step by step and the To order list. Daniela checked it against the product page, as always. Her case was there: a level 6 base with white hair, Activator 20 vol, 40 minutes, the 5 extra minutes for white hair included. All the shades, volumes and quantities of the range are in the NIKA Grace Color guide.
Why Grace Color, for Gabriella
- Without ammonia, as she asked. The alkaliser is ethanolamine, and the INCI lists no ammonium hydroxide.
- It covers grey hair. On white hair the product page adds 5 minutes to the processing time.
- Dermatologically tested. Epicutaneous tests on volunteers with sensitive skin showed no signs of irritation.
One choice stayed with her, as the formulator says: the share of natural shade in proportion to the white hair. Among the expert colourist tips on the page of Grace Color 7.0 Medium Natural Blonde she found her case: with 50% white hair, half Grace Color 7.0 and half of the reflect shade of the same level, still mixed 1:1.5. Half and half, then.
A strand on Wednesday, the colour on Friday
On Wednesday morning Gabriella stopped by for five minutes on her way back from the market, and Daniela tried the mix on a lock at the nape: on a new base, the result is seen first on a strand. On Friday at nine, with the coffee machine still warming up, she followed the protocol:
- The bowl: gloves, a non-metal bowl, 25 ml of Grace Color 7.0 and 25 ml of Grace Color 7.03 with 75 ml of NIKA Activators 20 vol (1:1.5), on dry, unwashed hair.
- Lengths and ends first: on natural hair, at the first application, 15 minutes.
- Then the roots, and the whole head for 40 minutes: 35 minutes for a level 6 base with 20 vol, plus 5 for the white hair.
- Rinse until the water runs clear, then a shampoo for colour-treated hair and a nourishing conditioner or mask.
The Sunday before Christmas
When Gabriella looked in the mirror, she said nothing for a moment. The white at the temples and along the parting was covered, and the blonde was the warm one she had chosen on the chart. "That's me," she said at last. "Just a little more rested."
Daniela booked her regrowth for mid-January: the product page gives a touch-up every 4 to 6 weeks. Before leaving, Gabriella wrote the name of the colour on the back of her appointment card, "for my sister".
That evening, from the To order list, Daniela put the two shades in the cart, with a few more tubes of the natural shades for the December regrowths. The 20 vol was already on the shelf.
On the Sunday before Christmas her phone buzzed: a photo from the church steps, Gabriella with her grandson in her arms, and three words. "It's still me."
Daniela's tools
- Colours: Grace Color 7.03 Medium Natural Gold Natural Blonde and Grace Color 7.0 Medium Natural Blonde by NIKA: ammonia-free permanent colour cream, 100 ml tube, covers grey hair, dermatologically tested, for professional use.
- Developer: NIKA Activators, oxidising cream in 1000 ml bottles, 5, 10, 20, 30 and 40 vol. On a level 6 base, 20 vol lifts 1 tone in 35 minutes; 5 minutes more on white hair.
- Mix: 1:1.5, that is 50 ml of colour and 75 ml of Activator per service; one 100 ml tube is enough for two services.
- Application: gloves, dry and unwashed hair. Natural hair, first application: lengths and ends for 15 minutes, then roots and the whole head for the time in the table. Coloured hair with regrowth: roots for the time in the table, then emulsify through lengths and ends for 5-10 minutes.
- Colour chart: Grace Colors Chart, the 50 shades of the 100 ml range on real hair strands. On a new base, a strand test first.
- Colour formulator: a free tool in the PRO area for verified PRO accounts, with Grace Color by NIKA and Vibrant Color by Code Zero: mix, doses, protocol and To order list. How the Colour formulator works.
- Where to buy: on clichair.ch, with delivery in Switzerland. Salons see their PRO prices with a verified PRO account; registration is free and with no obligation to buy.
Quick questions
Is NIKA Grace Color ammonia-free?
Yes. The alkaliser is ethanolamine, and the INCI lists no ammonium hydroxide.
Which Activator for Grace Color 7.03 on a level 6 base with white hair?
Activators 20 vol, mixed 1:1.5, for 40 minutes, the 5 extra minutes for white hair included. It lifts 1 tone and covers the white hair at level 7.
The characters and situations in this story are fictional. The experiences described are an example and may vary from salon to salon.
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