Can you mix 20 and 30 volume developer? What is the mixture for?

 

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Mix, mix, and mix.

People love to mix things up.

However, some combinations can be explosive.

 

 Mixing a 20 and a 30-volume developer is possible. You only have to know why you need to do that. 

 

I’ll start with the following assumption.

Your hair is damaged, but you still want to lighten it with a developer.

The other option is that you want to use a lighter hair color, but you feel that your hair is fragile.

 

In these two scenarios, the 20-volume developer won’t be strong enough to lighten the hair. However, the 30-volume developer could cause havoc on your damaged hair.

Then, what did you come up with?

 

 To mix the 20 with the 30-volume developer to reach a middle ground. 

Let me tell you that your intuition wasn’t wrong. In fact, usually at the salon, I mix these two developers according to the needs of the hair I’m working on.

However, I have plenty of coloring experience.

 

Therefore, intuition has to be combined with respect for these chemical elements.

Then, the answer to your question is definitely YES. However, everything in the right measure to avoid damaging your hair fiber. Let’s dive right into the chemical formulas to get what you want.

 

 

The perfect formula for mixing 20 and 30-volume developer

Mixing different developer volumes has a specific formula:

 

DEVELOPER VOLUME + DEVELOPER VOLUME = /AMOUNT OF DEVELOPERS = VOLUMES OF THE RESULT.

 

Yes, I know. It sounds like basic Chinese. It sounded like basic Chinese to me when I was a student in hairdressing school. But you’ll understand it with a few examples:

 

In the salon, we mix developer volumes following this same formula. For example:

These last two examples should only be used by professionals.

 

The formula is simple because it’s basic mathematics.

However, many women don’t respect the proportions. Alternatively, they may make a mistake in some instance of the process and damage their hair.

 Do you have any idea of the number of women who visit me in the salon weekly because they tried things inspired by some YouTube guru? 

 

They visit me to fix some disaster, not because they want a new hair color.

That’s what I mean when I tell you to be careful. When you mix developers, you’re mixing chemicals that will inevitably produce permanent hair changes.

 

There’ll be consequences, especially if your hair already has some signs of damage.

Although these are cosmetic products sold at any store, they’re dangerous and can cause skin irritation to skin burns. Therefore, handle the developer with gloves and don’t expose your eyes to it.

 

How to use the 20 and 30-volume developer mixture

If you mix a 20 and a 30-volume developer, you’ll get a 25-volume developer. It’s the perfect amount to lighten your dry hair without damaging excessively.

 

If you’re thinking of lifting a few levels without bleaching, you’ll need to apply the color with more than a 20-volume developer.

Permanent hair colors are usually applied with a 20-volume developer. But if your hair is extremely light, or if you want to lift several tones, you should use a 30-volume developer.

Now, what if your hair can’t handle the 30-volume developer?

 

That’s when   the 25-volume developer will be very helpful. 

Remember that the hair dye to developer ratio over 20 volumes is 1 to 2.

 

It means that you should add twice as much developer for every part of hair dye. When I say double the developer, I mean the sum of the two developers together.

In other words,  for one part of hair dye, you must add twice the mixture of the 20 and the 30-volume developer. 

 

Once you chose your hair dye color, you’ll need these materials:

 

Step by step:

 

Once you have the mixture, you can apply it from the roots to the ends to achieve an even color.

 

Conclusions

If your hair is damaged, don’t experiment with mixing developers even if you know it can be done as I told you in this article.

If I were you, I’d visit a trusted salon. If your hair is damaged, you can damage it further if you apply a 25-volume developer.

 

You must have your hair evaluated by a professional to assess the degree of damage. Do you think you can assess your hair before applying the 20 and 30-volume developer mixture?

As always, the final decision is yours. But remember, the health of your hair depends on that decision.