- The 10 volume developer can only be used with permanent dye in two cases.
- If you want to touch up your roots when the color difference between the dye and your natural color is only one level. For example, you want to touch up your roots to a medium blonde 7, and the rest of your hair is dark blonde 6.
- You can also mix the 10 volume developer if you want to dye your hair with a black 1 or brown 2 permanent hair color.
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You should use the correct developer when permanently coloring your hair.
Why?
The resulting color and even coverage of the dye will depend on it.
The developer opens the cuticles for the dye pigments to penetrate and color your hair.
That’s why, usually, a 20-volume developer is used with permanent hair dyes for a strong chemical reaction.
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The strength is the power of the developer according to its volume to open the cuticles of your hair.
The higher the volumes of the developer, the stronger the reaction will be.
- The 10-volume developer has a standard oxidizing strength. It produces minor damage to the hair. It’s only intended for special cases, which I’ll tell you more about in a few moments.
- The 20-volume developer has medium oxidizing strength. It’s commonly used with permanent dyes to lift the color up to two levels.
- The 30 and 40 volume developers have a very high oxidizing strength, which is why they are used for bleaching hair or high-lift dyes. They lift up to four levels.
So, to know if you can use the 10-volume developer with a permanent dye, you need to take two things into account:
- The hair dye color you’ll use.
- Your objectives.
If you want to go from brown 4 to dark blonde 6, you can’t use the 10-vol developer with the permanent dye.
In that case, you need to move two levels on the color scale.
Instead, you’ll need a stronger chemical reaction. You’ll only achieve it evenly with a 20-volume developer.
In short, you should only use the 10 volume developer with a permanent hair color when you don’t need to generate a very strong chemical reaction.
Let’s see one of the most common cases.
Tabla de Contenidos
If you want to touch up your roots, and the color difference between the growth and your natural color is one level, you can use a 10 volume developer.
However, if the color difference between the roots and your natural color is greater than one number, you should use a 20 volume developer.
A 10-volume developer won’t generate the necessary chemical reaction to penetrate the cuticles and deposit the pigments.You won’t notice any color difference. It would be as if you hadn’t colored your hair at all.
For example, if your natural color is brown 4, and you want to go for blonde 7 with a 10 volume developer, you won’t get any result.
The difference between those shades is more than one level.
When can you use the 10-volume developer?
- When the color difference between the dye and your natural color is only one level. For example, if your natural hair is a dark blonde 6, and you want to dye it a light brown 5.
- When your roots are gray or white, and you want to apply an extra light blonde 10 or a very light blonde 9. Gray hair doesn’t contain melanin and is fragile. So, you’ll protect it by applying a 10-vol developer.
If you want to touch up a black 1 or brunette 2 permanent hair color, you can use a 10-volume developer.
Dark dyes such as black 1 and brunette 2 contain a very strong and persistent pigmentation.
Even if you wanted to remove them from your hair, you’ll need to bleach your hair at least three times.
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Also, if you’ve been coloring your hair with either of these two colors for a while, your hair strands will be infused with this strong pigmentation.
So, you don’t need to mix your permanent hair color with a 20-volume developer.
You can, instead, use the 10-volume developer to fix the dye and even out your hair color.
Your cuticles don’t need to completely open for the dye to set because those colors have a very strong pigmentation and intense covering power.
A mild chemical reaction produced by the 10 volume developer will even out your color, and your hair won’t be damaged by the developer.
Remember that the 10-volume developer doesn’t lighten the hair as other developers do.
Therefore, if you color your hair with brown 2 or black 1 with a 10 volume developer, no reddish or orange unwanted undertones will appear.
Conclusions
Only use a 10 volume developer with permanent color if you color your hair black 1 and brown 2. Also, if you want to touch up your roots, and the color difference between the growth and the base color is subtle.
Otherwise, you’ll need a 20 volume developer to achieve proper pigment hold and even color.
