From formulating color on virgin hair to solving a tough color correction problem, everything you need can be figured out from knowing Sue Pemberton's eight basic rules of hair color, according to Sue herself. "If you understand these rules, you can do anything," says Pemberton, Joico/ISO color artistic director. "You don't have to memorize them, but you do have to understand them." They are:

1. Color wheel. Know what it is and what it means.

2. Color line. On the color wheel, locate the color line that's involved in what you are trying to achieve. For example, if a client comes in with orange hair, you have to find the correct level of blue on the other side of the wheel.

3. Remaining pigment contribution. When you lighten hair, you remove pigment. What pigment is left? All hair contains yellow, red and blue. So if you remove the blue pigment, which is removed first, you're left with yellow and red. Red is removed second, which leaves yellow. You must know what you're removing, where you're lifting it to and what pigment remains.

4. How peroxide affects timing. Timing of hair color is crucial; a timing error will produce undesirable results such as breakage.

5. Formulation. If a client has uneven hair, you must break down the areas of the head and formulate color for each individual area. Maybe the client has one inch of regrowth, four inches of colored hair and then her ends. Formulate the color accordingly for each section. The only time you can go with one color from scalp to ends is when you're going darker, and then only sometimes.

6. Color application. Even if you're formulating correctly, you cannot apply the color from scalp to ends and get even results. It will never, ever happen! Apply each section appropriately, and you'll get even results on uneven hair.

7. Repigmentizing. If the client comes in with blonde hair and you need to take it back to brown, you must know which colors to fill with. At Joico, we provide a guide that tells you exactly what you should use to fill the hair according to where you want to take the hair. If the hair is more than two levels lighter than you want-she's blonde and wants to go back to light brown, for example-you'll have to fill the hair.

8. Removing color. If the client has color on her hair and wants to go lighter, you must remove the hair color first and then go in with the desired color.

Pemberton says every question she's asked can be addressed within these eight categories. Her most commonly asked questions? How to cover gray, how to keep color from fading, why the result wasn't what was intended, why the color didn't mix properly, why the light colors didn't lift light enough and why the color didn't last very long.

"I get asked the same questions all the time," says Pemberton, "and they all go back to the eight rules."

Photo Credits: Hair by Cosmetologists Chicago