Page 2 - HAIR COLOUR

Preface

My hairdressing career spans 66 years (45 years Hands On behind the
chair). I am still current and still learning today and hope to do so as long
as possible into the future. Being practical I understand a lot of what I
learnt no longer applies, because we are in a fashion business and things
move on very fast. I have condensed what is and always will be relevant
into this book. It is not a photo book of hair colours that I have done over
the years. It is a technical explanation of how humans see hair colour.

The first three chapters cover the three sciences Physics, Biology and
Chemistry, subjects I thought I would never use after leaving school and
becoming a hairdresser. I have since learnt these are fascinating subjects
that affect all life. Chapter 1 refers to the physics of white light.
Without white light there is no colour, very important to our knowledge
of colour.

Chapter 2 refers to the biology of the human hair structure and how
colour is reflected by natural pigments. Also, the chemical formulations
required to change the hairs natural colour using artificial pigments.

Chapter 3 refers to the chemistry involved in permanently reforming the
hair shape from straight to curly.

Once the science is out of the way the remainder of this book covers hair
colouring techniques of today and how they work.

2