Your Top 8 High Lift Hair Color Questions Answered

I’ve recently made several pieces of content on high lift hair color. On my Youtube channel, I did 2 separate demonstrations of coloring my own hair platinum blonde utilizing high lift color. Now I want to answer some of the most common questions that I received. This post is mostly going to be answering your questions rather than giving a thorough explanation of what it is and how to use it. See this post here for my post on exactly how high lift hair color works!

Below, you can watch my Youtube video where I talk about these questions:

1. Can I use high lift to remove hair color?

Unfortunately, high lift color will not lighten through permanent color. If you have colored your hair using permanent color in the past, the only thing that will lighten that out is bleach. This is because the permanent color molecules are deposited deep into the cortex (middle layer of a hair strand) and bleach is require to strip those permanent molecules out.

This is essentially why we call permanent color, permanent! It’s not because the color won’t fade, it’s because the hair has been permanently altered inside of the cortex.

Bleach is different than permanent color because it is a stripping agent. It is literally removing pigment from the hair, and does not deposit pigment at all. The chemical composition is completely different, so there are different rules for bleach vs. hair color.

Now, if you have used a demi permanent or a semi permanent color on your hair, high lift may lighten through that. This is completely dependent on the brand that was used and how deep into the cortex the color was deposited. I have personally lifted demi permanent color out of the hair with high lift, but it’s not technically supposed to work. In this case, I recommend performing a strand test to see if it will work for you before going all in.

If you’d like to learn more about permanent hair color and the differences between demi and semi, see my post here.

2. Can you intermix regular color with high lift?

This is a great question! I love mixing colors together to really customize your results. However, mixing high lift with regular color will likely hinder your results. The traditional color will likely decrease the lightening power of the high lift, thus leaving you with a warmer and brassier shade.

Now, you can mix different high lift tones together for a more customized color. High lift has color built into it, since it both lifts and deposits. So your best bet is to mix these tones together to get the color you’re desiring.

Another option is to use high lift to get the level you want, and then tone the hair afterwards. This is what I did in my Youtube demonstration above, and I always have great results with this method. We’ll talk more about this below, as this was a separate question!

3. You did this wrong, you should have added a booster

Gotta love the comment section on the internet, am I right?? Now, boosters are dependent on the brand of color that you’re using. The brand that I used in my video demonstrations was Wella. I used this hair color the way that it was designed to be used, and that’s not with a booster.

There are some brands that do make boosters, but not all of them need to. I’ve found that the brands that require an additional booster, don’t lighten nearly as much on their own.

For the most part, high lift color already has a “booster” included in it. The reason it gets more lift than regular hair color is because of the extra ammonia added, or “booster”.

I use on my hair what works for me, but that’s not to say that you may prefer another brand that has a slightly different process than other brands. I do always recommend trying different brands out until you find the product that works best for you. This will be different for everyone, as we all have different hair!

It took me several failed attempts at using high lift until I found one that worked for me. For a while I thought that high lift just wasn’t going to give me the lift that I needed, but I was proved wrong after experimenting with other lines.

4. I thought you couldn’t use 40 volume on the scalp?

This comment came up several times, so I definitely wanted to address it here! There is a huge difference in what chemical you’re using with your developer. If you are using bleach, you should never use 40 volume on the scalp.

But if you’re using high lift or permanent hair color, you’re totally game to! This is what is recommended by the manufacturer. If you don’t and use a lower volume, your results will be hindered.

If you’re looking for maximum lift, then you should definitely use 40 volume developer.

5. Will heat help my high lift lighten more levels?

This is a great question, and the answer is yes! Heat does help color lighten quicker and give you more levels of lift. This is because the heat helps to open the cuticle (outer layer of a hair strand) wide to allow the color to fully penetrate to the cortex.

Because of this, the root will often lift lighter than the rest of the hair. This is because of the heat coming off of your scalp. This is why bleach root touch-ups must be done within 4-6 weeks. Otherwise, you’ll end up with banding and a corrective color service on your hands.

6. With bleach we apply to zone 2 first so that the roots don’t process lighter than the rest of the hair. Should we do the same with hi lift?

As we just mentioned, the hair at the scalp will process lighter and quicker than the hair throughout the rest of the head because of heat. When applying bleach applications, we often apply the bleach to “zone 2” (the hair away from the scalp) first. After that section has lightened, we then go back and apply the bleach to zone 1 (the hair at the root). This gives us an even result.

And while this works well with bleach, it unfortunately doesn’t with high lift. The reason is because hair color lifts and deposits during its processing. It has a timeframe where it just stops processing when time’s up (the timeframe is dependent on the brand).

The difference is that bleach will continue processing. Eventually it will stop, but it’s not as controllable as hair color is. As I mentioned before, bleach is a completely different chemical, so the rules are very different.

Now there are a few ways to ensure even processing in this situation. First, you can use a lower developer on zone 1 as you do for zone 2. For example, use 30 volume on your roots, and 40 volume on the rest.

Second, you can use foils on zone 2. Foil will help hold the heat in, the same way it cooks a baked potato!

Third, you can add additional heat to the hair during processing. I always recommend covering the hair in a plastic cap and then wrapping the hair in a towel turban to help hold the heat in. You can then sit under a hooded dryer or even just outside in the sun to help with processing.

7. Can I use a toner after I use hi lift to reduce brassiness?

As I mentioned earlier, yes you definitely can and I recommend doing this if necessary! Especially when lifting a significant root like I did in my Part 1 video above, a toner is going to help you wipe out some of the extra brass.

If I have more than an inch of color that I’m lifting with high lift, then I always use a toner afterwards. This is to help blend out and even the results since the hair is grown out further from the scalp.

It’s also helpful for those with naturally darker hair that need some extra toning to avoid being too brassy. Sometimes we need a “pre-tone” to help us achieve the exact results we’re looking for when doing corrective color services. And this is exactly what toning after high lift does. The tone deposited with high lift is your pre-tone, and the tone you deposit after will be your desired shade.

You may also want a different tone than what’s available in high lift shades, so this allows you to use whatever tone you want after the desired level is achieved.

8. Can I use high lift if I have been bleaching my hair platinum blonde?

The answer to this question depends on your natural level. If your natural color is a level 6 or lighter, then yes you can! But if you’re naturally a level 5 or darker, then unfortunately you won’t be able to get to a platinum color with high lift. To learn what level your hair is, see my post here.

I am naturally a level 6 and I get my hair platinum with high lift! I used to not think it was possible because I hadn’t experimented with enough brands. Some brands can only reach 4 levels of lift, while others can get you 5 levels.

I’m allergic to bleach, so this was really hard on me for YEARS. I placed every hair into a foil as close to my scalp as I could get it without touching. I would risk my life of going into an anaphylaxis reaction (I had several close calls) until I finally tried a few other brands.

My hair is a level 6-7 and I haven’t used bleach on my hair for almost 2 full years, and my hair is PLATINUM. See the pic below, I just colored my hair this weekend and did not even use an additional toner afterwards. These results are strictly from high lift color!

Conclusion

High lift color is a phenomenal alternative to using bleach to lighten the hair for a bright blonde hair color.

Here’s a recap of the questions we talked about today:

1. High lift will not remove or lighten permanent hair color
2. Regular color is not intermixable with high lift
3. Some brands recommend using boosters, while others don’t
4. You can use high lift with 40 volume on the scalp
5. Heat will help high lift process lighter
6. Applying to zone 2 first will not help the color process evenly
7. You can use an additional toner after using high lift
8. You can get platinum by using high lift if your natural color is a level 6 or above

I hope this cleared up some confusion you may have had regarding high lift color! If you have any further questions, leave them for me in the comments! And make sure to subscribe if you want to make everyday a good hair day!