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Bleach Never Lies: Don't Do a "Bird Box" When It Comes to At-Home Color Removal
Hairdressers sometimes look away from the horrors of home hair color because they just don’t want to DEAL. Here's how to stop bird boxing and start removing.
February 14, 2019
Hair by Anthony Barnhill
@anthony.barnhill
2 min to read
On a diet and want to avoid looking at that case of donuts? Bird box it! Love your sweet co-worker but don’t have time to listen to her breakup story for the gajillionth time? Bird box her, too. The art of avoiding those things or people we don’t want to see by avoiding eye contact has been given a name, inspired by the Netflix film, “Bird Box,” in which people contract a horrible, self-destructive virus when they look at other people already infected…or something like that.
The title of this film has been used to describe so many things we want to ignore including how hairdressers sometimes look away from the horrors of home hair color because they just don't want to DEAL.
In a conversation with Malibu C’s Anthony Barnhill, digital education manager, and Missy Peterson, global education and artistic director, the two talked about how colorists sometimes want to ignore the unpleasant reality of what’s ahead of them.
“Stylists bird box box color because there is an intimidation factor around removing box color but it’s not really that different than removing professional color,” Barnhill explains. “Some box color will contain metallic salts which will always cause a reaction if you go straight to lightening the hair and you haven’t removed the minerals from the hair. Or you can be dealing with an oil delivery system in which the dye molecule deposits differently so you have to break the oil to get the color out of the hair. But it can be done with the right products."
A proper consultation is key, as with everything, and in this instance, using the right language is especially important because you can’t ignore the possibility that there is box color hiding in that head of hair.
“Instead of asking, ‘Do you have color on your hair?’ the important question is, ‘When is the last time you colored your hair’ because the client doesn’t necessarily think of box color as color,” says Peterson.
“Also,” Barnhill adds, “If you ask for the last time they colored their hair, sometimes they hear, ‘this is going to be more expensive' and they may not tell you. But you always do more time if you lie!"
For removing box color, minerals or medication, Malibu C offers professional salon service options including the Malibu Makeover, a two part, in-salon treatment that helps restore hair integrity and preps it for a color service; Crystal Gel removes the mineral and buildup from the hair and the Miracle Repair replenishes the protein the hair needs. Learn more here: www.malibuc.com
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