Phoenix Rose is a professional loctician who specializes in dyeing locs or coloring locs. We teamed up with Phoenix to explore the best practices for loc color. Many people with locs are unsure about how to maintain their hair color while keeping healthy hair. In this article, Phoenix explains how to maintain healthy colored hair, coloring options, and trending color techniques.
Jump to Sections in the Article
- Dyeing Locs
- How Loc Color Works
- Loc Color Choices
- All-Over Loc Color
- Gray Coverage
- Root Touch Up
- Trending Loc Color Techniques
Dyeing Locs
Loc Genius: Why should people avoid coloring their own locs and book an appointment with a professional?
Phoenix: Aesthetically. Hair lifts at different levels. A professional would know how to color the hair to get it to the desired result. The same box color can look completely different on two different people. If the color doesn’t look right then people usually apply another box color because it didn’t take, and the hair gets over-processed.
LG: Do colored locs have higher maintenance?
P: It depends. It requires more hydration so add another step-in your regimen. It’s best to use a shampoo specifically for color treated hair. Color treated products usually have SPF. And in terms of lifestyle, for instance, when swimming in pools with chlorine you have to thoroughly wash out your hair as soon as possible.
How Do You Color or Dye locs?
LG: When you lighten your hair does it require more processing than darker colors?
P: Lightening (lift) or darkening (deposit) the hair impacts the chemical process you must take to achieve your color. When you color your hair, you must lift the hair’s cuticle to deposit or extract chemicals to the cortex. If you want to add a darker shade to your hair, you must add colors to the cortex. In lightening your hair color, you extract color from the cortex. Depending on your hair color and your intended color, the intensity of chemical processing varies. In general lightening hair may require more processing than darker colors. Achieving lighter colors can be difficult and potentially damaging to hair. Lighter colors require lifting the hair which removes pigment from the hair. Most permanent hair colors only lighten your hair 2-3 levels depending on the developer you use, while bleach can lighten strands up to 7-8 levels.
This table shows our hair coloring options, the time they deposit, how it is used, and its benefit.
| Loc Color Options and Their Characteristics | |||
| Type of Color | Lift or Deposit | How it is Used | Key Benefit |
| Semi-permanent | Deposit | Temporary colors hair and tones hair | Washes out easily |
| Demi-permanent | Deposit | Mixed with developer with low concentration | Last longer but washes out |
| Permanent | Deposit or Lift | Must be mixed with developer | Does not wash out |
Loc Color Choices
LG: What colors are easiest and most difficult?
P: Red and blue are extremely difficult colors to remove. Over time they tend to fade to lighter shades, for instance red to pink. Their presence can greatly affect the result of the new color you are trying to achieve, so it might be necessary to cancel them out with a complimentary color before proceeding with a new color. Orange is an easy color as its yellow base is easy to cancel. As a consumer it is hard to know how to change a color and how to cancel out a color. That’s why going to a professional helps.
LG: What is the most popular color?
P: Currently Copper (red), Orange, Ginger (orange), and Auburn. Warm colors compliment our melanin the best. Before, in the early 2000s for instance, it was burgundy.
LG: Stylists achieve various tones to add dimension to a hair color. Why are hair tones important?
P: It helps determine whether the color will look good on you or if it’s the wrong shade. Anyone can wear color, but the shade makes a difference. The tones create the nuances. When black people dye their hair blonde, we often have the wrong shade of blonde for their skin tone. Honey blonde is a warm blonde. Platinum blonde, close to white, is a cool blonde. Tones that are too close to the skin tone can make the wearer look washed out. In general, you want contrast.
- Warm Tones-Golden, bronze
- Yellow orange red (red base)
- Cool Tones-Ash, platinum, champagne
- Purple, Blue and green (blue base)
- Red Tones
- Mahogany, burgundy, violet
- Neutral-Not too warm or cool
- Gray, white, black and brown
All-Over Loc Color
LG: What are important things to know about all over color?
P: Processing Time- If you start applying color in the back and the instructions call for applying the color for 45 minutes, by the time you complete the entire crown, that time has potentially passed. If you wait 45 minutes from the last place where color was applied, then you lengthen the processing time for the back of head (the first section where colored was applied). You run the risk of over processing the hair, resulting in uneven coloring or damage. Sometimes if a client has a lot of hair you may have to color by section.
Hair at the scalp processes different than hair away from the scalp. Color is exothermic which means that it is heat activated. Because the scalp is warmer, the color will develop at a different rate than at the ends of the hair, so professionals may use a different level of developer on the hair that is hanging (away from the scalp) than at the roots to to ensure that the result is even.
Gray Coverage
LG: What are important things to know about Gray Coverage?
P: Use color specially formulated for gray hair- Gray Hair is a complete loss of pigment. The hair shaft is basically empty. Some colors may not stay, causing fast fading or no change in color at all. Color formulated “NN” are highly pigmented and will achieve grey coverage.
Root Touch Up
LG: What advice do you have for root touch ups?
P: Root touch ups are an important step in color maintenance. Wait until you have enough new growth to not overlap what has already been colored. Semi-permanent color is the exception because there is no chemical processing taking place. Whether lightening or darkening the hair chemically, root touch ups that are done too soon can cause overlapping damage and possibly breakage.
Trending Loc Color Techniques for Dyeing Locs
LG: What are some color techniques?
P: 1. Ombre is done by fade coloring into the next color. You can do it all in one setting. Transitioning your ombre from a natural hair color to another color is medium maintenance. Coloring your hair color from the roots is higher maintenance because root touch up.
2. Highlights for locs has a different effect. It ranges from high-medium maintenance.
3. Color blocked locs are hard stripes where the color changes.
4. Tips is when the ends of the hair are colored a different color (lowest maintenance).
5. Special FX colors (pigments that are not naturally occurring colors) need touch ups/refreshing color and more deposit.
Overview on Dyeing Locs
Coloring your hair adds interest and uniqueness to your crown. At Loc Genius we encourage you to develop healthy loc habits especially when processing your hair. We aim to provide all our readers with high-quality educational information to understand how hair color works on locs. To achieve the best results, we suggest consulting a haircare professional.
Where to find Phoenix Rose
Phoenix Rose is available for styling and consultation. To learn more about Phoenix Rose or to make an appointment contact her on her website or Instagram. You can also call to book her at Tru Rootz Salon in New Orleans, Louisiana at (504) 433-8198. Listen to Phoenix’s music on Spotify.