What do the numbers on the shade chart stand for?
The numbers on a hair colour shade chart represent the depth and tone of the colour.
Anything that appears before the decimal point is the depth (how light or dark a colour is). The Neal & Wolf colours go from 1 to 10.
- Black
- Darkest Brown
- Dark Brown
- Medium Brown
- Light Brown
- Dark Blonde
- Medium Blonde
- Light Blonde
- Very Light Blonde
- Lightest Blonde
The number that appears after the decimal point represents the tone (how the colour appears to the eye).
- .0 – Natural
- .1 - Green Ash
- .2 – Violet
- .3 – Gold
- .4 – Copper
- .5 – Mahogany
- .6 – Red
- .7 – Brunette (warm)
- .8 – Blue
- .9 – Sand (equal parts of gold & Violet)
For example a 6.7 in our shade chart is a dark blonde with a brunette tone.
You may also see colours with a double tone, for example 6.77. This a dark blonde with a double brunette tone. If you use a colour with a double tone the first tone that you see is the majority tone, around 70%, the second tone that you will see is called the secondary tone, around 30%.
You will also see some colours in our shade chart that contain a double number before the decimal point, for example 77.66. This is an intense medium blonde with a double red tone. This means that this colour is part of our vivid red range and gives a more intense result.
This colour numbering system also allows a colourist to neutralise unwanted colours. For example, to avoid a blonde hair colour from turning too warm you could add more .2 - Violet or .8 - Blue to counteract the yellow or orange tones.