Valentine’s day hair: tips for the perfect red

It’s Valentine’s Day and what better day than to perfect your red hair colouring skills? Pulp Riot Artist Liz Hewitt loves playing with the red shades and offers her top tips for creating the perfect red for your clients just in time for Valentine’s Day.

“As a hairdresser, red offers so much creativity and clients love it because it’s so versatile; it has an ability to change and adapt to each person. Whether it’s bright pillar box red or a deep wine colour, there is a red that suits everyone,” says Liz.

Top tips for the perfect red

Tackle the fade

The struggle with red hair is mainly the fade. Although it’s improved over the years, red hair is the quickest to fade out of most shades, so it’s really important that clients have the correct aftercare as well as top up pots to use at home.

Consultation is key

To avoid problems with colouring reds, ensure a thorough consultation is carried out to evaluate what depth and tone the client is wanting to achieve. Clients can use the term red or copper, so making sure you’re on the same wavelength is a must.

Chunky sections

When placing different red, pink, and purple shades, make sure your sections are chunkier so the colours don’t mix into one another and get lost.

Avoid base

Try not to add base into red toned colours when using permanent colour, it will dull down the red and make it look muddy.

Red refresh

To refresh over existing reds, using a semi, direct dye, or a demi will make the colour pop a lot more. Overlapping will make it become duller. Pulp Riot Semi-Permanent Fireball is perfect for this.

Look at your client’s skin tone

Make sure to choose the correct tone for your client’s skin tone, either an orange based red for clients who suit warmer tones, or a violet, undertone red for clients who suit a cooler tone.