- If you want to darken your hair two or three levels or, as we stylists say, lower two or three levels, you should use a 20-volume developer. It’ll darken your hair without ruining its color or health.
- Therefore, you should never use a 30-volume developer to darken your hair.
- I only advise against a 20-volume developer to darken your hair if it’s brown 4 and you want to darken it to black.
- In this case, you should use a 10-volume developer. I’ll tell you why below.
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You’re planning to darken your hair and, suddenly, you’re overcome with an existential doubt: “Can I use a 20-volume developer to darken it?”
Let’s leave existential doubts for the philosophers and get down to business:
A 20-volume developer is always used to darken hair with only one exception:If your hair is dark brown 3, and you want to darken it to black 1, you should use a 10-volume developer.
Why is a 20-volume developer used to darken hair? Because lowering numbers on the color chart is quite direct. The complications, instead, arise when scaling up to lighter colors.
So, for example:
- If you want to darken your extra light blonde 10 to light blonde 8, you should use a 20-volume developer.
- If you want to darken your medium red hair 6.6 to a dark red 3.6 , you should use a 20-vol developer too.
- If you want to darken your blonde hair 7 to a brown 4, the 20-volume developer will work perfectly.
- If you want to darken your brown hair 4 to black 1, you should also use a 20-volume developer.
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You’ll be darkening your hair by two to three tones in all those cases. That’s why we stylists say that the 20-volume developer is universal. It’s always included in dye kits.
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When should I use a 20-vol developer to darken hair?
The 20-volume developer works to darken hair two or three levels in one application. Also, if you want to achieve a natural and subtle color, the 20-volume developer is ideal.
The developer opens the cuticles for the dye to penetrate your hair fiber and lodge inside the hair. But don’t forget that the developer also lightens the hair.
The higher the developer, the more lightening power it’ll have.
- A 10-volume developer can lighten up to one level. That’s why it’s used to go from dark to very dark hair.
- A 20-volume developer can lighten up to two levels. It’s the universal developer and works with all hair dye colors.
- Finally, the 30 and 40-volume developers lighten three to four levels without bleaching powder. These developers are used in high-lift dyes.
As you can see, the strength of the 20-volume developer is ideal for darkening hair without ruining your hair color.
For example, if you apply a 30-volume developer to your blonde 7 hair, your roots will be lighter and orange, and the rest of your hair will be dark orange.
But every rule has its exception. What I’m going to tell you next is for you if you want to darken your dark brown hair.
What hair developer to use to darken dark brown hair?
The 10-volume developer will open the hair cuticles and the black 1 dye will quickly penetrate your hair fiber and cover your dark brown hair.
Alternatively, if you used a 20-volume developer to darken your dark brown hair 3, your mane would be reddish dark brown or reddish black 1.
How many levels can your hair darken in one session?
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In other words, you can’t go from platinum blonde 10 to black 1 in a single session because your hair will be brassy red after three washes.
Why?
Every time you lighten your hair, you take color out of it. But when you darken it, you add color, and that new pigment has no base to stand on.
For example:
Let’s say your hair is a very light blonde 9 and you want to darken it to a brown 4.
Your very light blonde 9 hair is almost White. You’re two levels away from having no color in your hair.
Brown 4 has brown, which contains red, some orange, and therefore yellow. They’re too many colors for your hair fiber.
So, since all those colors can’t settle inside your hair, the brown 4 will start to fade and leave your hair dark reddish orange.
So, if your hair is very light, and you want to darken it more than three levels, you should do it gradually.
First, you can go from very light blonde 9 to dark blonde 6. Then, you’ll darken it with a brown dye 4 in the following application.
This is called a color filling. It’s what colorists do in the salon to darken hair on more than three levels.
Conclusions
If you want to darken your hair, use a 20-volume developer. The exception to using a 10-volume developer is if you want to darken your dark brown hair to black.
