Elumen FAQ

[K_Angel]

Guide to understanding the Coloring system?

What do the Elumen hair color codes mean?
~The meaning for the codes of the colors is as follows:

A = Ash
B (Pure) = Blue
B = Beige/Brown
G = Gold
K = Copper
N = Natural
R = Red
V = Violet
Gn = Green

The first letter gives the dominant tone, the second letter the secondary tone, the number gives the level (level of darkness). So RV@all is red violet, and you can use it for all levels of darkness.

Visual color chart here.

Elumen colors and their results explained:

UNNATURAL
GK@all - Gold Copper (Yellow) on any hair level
KK@all - Copper (Orange) on any hair level
RR@all - Red on any hair level
Pk@all - Pink on any hair level
RV@all - Red Violet on any hair level
BB@all - Blue on any hair level
Gn@all - Green on any hair level


Deep
NA@2 - Natural Ash on a hair level 2
NB@4 - Natural Beige/Brown on a hair level 4
NB@5 - Natural Beige/Brown on a hair level 5


Bright
AB@6 - Ash Beige/Brown on a hair level 6
BV@6 - Beige/Brown Violet on a hair level 6
NG@6 - Natural Gold on a hair level 6
BG@6 - Beige/Brown Gold on a hair level 6
BK@6 - Beige/Brown Copper on a hair level 6
BR@6 - Beige/Brown Red on a hair level 6


Light
KB@7 - Copper Beige/Brown on a hair level 7
BG@7 - Beige/Brown Gold on a hair level 7
BG@8 - Beige/Brown Gold on a hair level 8
BK@9 -Beige/Brown Copper on a hair level 9
GB@9 - Gold Beige/Brown on a hair level 9
AB@9 - Ash Beige/Brown on a hair level 9


** Note: PK@all = Pink - Iris: It really is as strong as they say it is. One drop is enough.


Elumen's Visual color chart: here.

Natural Hair color levels number system visually explained:
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/...ad.php?t=33667

Elumen Creative Colors recipes:

~Rini: If you click "Go Creative" in the menu, then click "Creative Mixing Recommendations" down the bottom a little box comes up with a lady with yellow stripey hair. If you then click the little red arrow down the bottom left corner of that box, it will show you some mix suggestions/recipes and their resulting hair colours on various levels. I found this VERY useful! I quite like the "Brown Sugar" shade which is 5 parts of AB9 and 1 part BV6. I also like "Burned Copper" which is 1 part BV6, 3 parts GK@all and 1 part KK@all. I think I could get a nice variation of the "Burned Copper" result by substituting the 3 parts GK@all with 3 parts AB@9 .....hmmm..... It does get one thinking creatively!

Interesting tidbits about the colors you need to know before using:
~ AB@6 is much darker than you'd think.
~AB@9 and AB@6 are really not that different, the 6 is more concentrated but they're both the same basic tone, - gray, basically. (Which is what ash-colored hair is, if you look at it as just a color)
~Iris: The BR@6, and I really find the red part of that pretty darn red. I use only a little bit of it on my hair, but I've tried it pure on white wool and it is brown with red, but a LOT of red.
~Iris: Elumen can stain your scalp something fierce though, more than henna. I try to apply it a millimeter away from the scalp for that reason.
~The pink bleeds more than the AB colors. Strangely enough the ashy component of the AB colors does fade more than the pink does, but it bleeds less. I mean, I don't see any blue/purple/gray color come out in the rinse water when I wash my hair, but I do see that component fade from my hair over time.

What is the color "Clear" used for?
~The clear is just for mixing lighter colors. It is not advisable to use it for anything else (so, not like a gloss treatment for instance), because it is a little drying (due to the alcohol). So if you want just the conditioning, no color, then I'd just use a deep treatment full of cones to get the same effect but without the bit of dryness that Elumen gives.


Elumen Colors and their tendency towards permanency
~Apparently the Elumen reds especially are really quite permanent.
~For Iris: BR@6 seems to be holding up a lot better than AB@6 and/or AB@9.

Bright Color Family:
~Iris remarked: 'bright' color family, and my understanding of the bright family is that they are meant to give sort of brownish naturalish shade with a twist. So, I think the idea behind that group is that they don't give you bright pink or blue or red hair, but brown with a clear pink or blue or red shade.



Recipes/Formulas: Colors/combinations
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/...31&postcount=4
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/...3&postcount=10
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/...5&postcount=21
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/...8&postcount=23
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/...0&postcount=25
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/...1&postcount=31
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/...&postcount=124
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/...&postcount=158


Coloring gray/white/silver:

~While Elumen is not recommended to cover gray, it has been known to cover gray. Again, it depends on your hair, but many people have had success in using Elumen to cover or blend their gray/white/silver hair.
~Iris: It covers my grays permanently I'd say (well, I've only been using it for 4 months but in that time I haven't had any fading on the grays). I also have some super coarse wirey white hairs, I think the color fades a bit more from those.
Of course, the whites turn out lighter than the rest of the hair, which is an effect I like a lot. I hate one-dimensional color.
~Iris: As my hair dries, I'm seeing rather disappointing root coverage. I applied to clarified, bone dry hair this time, and it looks like that did not make the dye take better - in fact, I got much better coverage on my whites with my old method of applying watered-down elumen with a tint brush, and used only half the dye that way, too. I think that next time I'm going to apply to wet hair, with the applicator comb. Wetting hair is a well-known trick to getting better coverage on grays with regular oxidative dyes, so it may indeed help with elumen, too. Looks that way to me.


Covering Henna/Hendigo/Cassia/Chemical dye:

~See this section here.



Tips to adjusting color(s):

~ Nellen's Tip: At first I colored my hair once in two weeks to really make the color to stick. So you don't have to suffer very long if the color turns out to be not quite right in the first coloring time as you can color the hair again quickly and change the mixture to a more appropriate direction.


Removing Elumen stains from face and hands:
~Crysania: I had a product that was helping with the stains a lot its called CO Bigelow lemon hand wash. I applied it to my hair line where the stains were , left it for a few hours and when i washed my hair they were gone!


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~The RR@all is - very red.

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