Kathy Partin, owner of Haircolor Experts & More in Troy, Michigan, created Color Concentration, a method of formulating that “concentrates” the color, peroxide and ammonia for each individual. It allows her to banish gray root-to-end without banding, or hot roots, she says. Here’s how it works:
“The combination of different product types fills in all of the color receptors and allows for a fully developed, natural-looking color,” says Partin. “The small amount of higher-volume peroxide eliminates excess water in the formula and develops the color efficiently. Developers are acidic; color is alkaline. So, less developer equals better color and coverage.”
The Formula: Redken Color Fusion, ¼ oz 7GB and ¼ oz 7NN; Matrix SoColor, ¼ oz 6W; Mastey Color Instantane ¼ oz 6.0 and 1/2 oz 7.23; Wella Color Touch (demi) ¼ oz 6/77 and ¼ oz 7/73; Wel la Color Touch Demi Developer, ¼ oz 1.9%; plus 1/2 oz 50-volume peroxide.
Application: Apply roots to ends with a scrubbing motion, process for 40 minutes, rinse, shampoo and dry the hair.
Highlights: Artego Lovely Light bleach with 20-volume developer. Apply woven foils from a center part to just past the parietal, spacing them about ¼-inch apart. Position foils in the crown and near the face on an angle. Process for 20 minutes, rinse and shampoo.
Modern Salon, March 2011
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The point of color is to create vertical lines where horizontal ones exist, says Kathy Partin (ABCH), owner of Kathy Partin Haircolor Experts & More in Troy, Michigan, and an independent educator.
"Avoid getting to technical in perfectly matching a cut," she advises, "A lot of color placement works for almost every cute. If you try to work with a 'designed' cut the client doesn't like or can't style at home, she won't like the color, either."
Big for graying boomers, says Partin, are various techniques that place lighter shades on top and darker ones nearest the face or under the fringe where their shadowing effect slims the face and adds a youthful feeling.
"Sculpting with color creates optical illusions that work with any cut," asserts Partin.
Process, November/December 2005, p24.
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How do you touch up dimensional color with ease? Kathy Partin, BCH, owner of Hair Color Experts and More in Troy Michigan, has the answer. She breaks up her formula and puts it together again in a process that's cost-effective for the client and easy for the colorist.
"Today, background colors are richer and deeper; the more intense the better," notes Partin. "To add dimension and touch up the color with ease, I started with a custom formula that’s created with quarter or half-ounce portions of different shades. Then I break that formula into three different formulas, bases on the individuals shades."
Using the three "break-out" formulas, Partin alternates colors in sliced sections that are sealed in foils. She also adds a few woven, bleach foils for extra intensity. However, she does no foil the entire head. At the back, from below the crown to the nape, she re-joins the colors into the single, initial formula and applies the "unbroken" formula to the roots. Two and even three months out, she can re-touch the roots with the unbroken formula. The third or fourth month, she breaks the formula down again, applies it in foils, adds a little blonding and re-touches some roots with the unbroken formula.
"You can always emphasize one color over another," adds Partin. "If you take paper-thin slices all over and weave in the blonding, you can use the unbroken formula for the roots. When you break the initial formula into three, you can also add more depth by customizing those formulas. You don't have to make all the formulas 20-volume or lifting colors. Try it out with deposit-only shades for fun."
Modern Salon, October 2000. p120.
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Kathy Partin, a board certified master haircolorist who owns Haircolor Experts & More in Troy, Mich., believes stylists should use hair dryers and brushes to create volume.
Her drying technique is unconventional. Partin says, "I choke up on the dryer and hold it by the nose for more control, and I scatter-shot dry. I don't dry by sections. I dry underneath from the sinuses to the brow, then work around the head until hair is about 10 percent dry. Then I use three different sizes of round brushes to create volume while I finish drying."
Partin urges stylists and clients to invest in brushes with natural or high quality plastic bristles, or a combination of both. She breaks in a new brush prior to use by soaking it overnight in a solution of hot water and one tablespoon of household scouring powder.
"The cleanser breaks down the ends of the bristles, making them gentler on the hair. You'd get the same effect after a few weeks of use; I just speed the process up with my kitchen sink concoction and start out with the brush in that sort of used state," she said.
HairColor & Design, September/October 1999. p60.
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TV stars and anchorwomen hold the clues to the spring trends your clients will rally around, anticipates Kathy Partin, owner of Haircolor Experts & More in Troy, Michigan. She reports that, in the Midwest, what appeared to be a flash-in-the-pan has become a full-fledged trend.
"Color chinking can be either bold or subtle and sophisticated when you use mini-foils to create a sunburst around the face," says Partin. "It's the look you see in corporate America and on anchorwomen like Maria Shriver. We like pinpoint foiling to blend blonde and red or to add red tones to a level five brunette. This will be big, because the new technology delivers: colors don't fade like they used to. Before, if we added subtle red tones to blonde, they turned blonde in a month. Now, the red lasts for three months. All shades of red are popular, from deep red-gold to Irish setter."
For true craftsmanship, Partin places the foils in the area above the temples and the lower crow, using triangular sections.
"With today's layered cuts, the color cascades over the darker, lower portion," she explains. "For something new, we also add blonde and red bits on the ends."
Modern Salon, April 1998. p120.
