What is Developer?

We aim to enable others to love their hair by simplifying hair care. Hair care is so difficult but sooo simple. In this blog post we will explain Developer.

* If you prefer videos please check out this video on Developer!

What is Developer?

An oxidant cream product containing hydrogen peroxide. Ok, but what does that mean? Here we like to say developer is an activator.

What does Developer do?

Developer helps color penetrate the hair shaft and become permanent. Hydrogen Peroxide developer lifts. Depending on the strength it will lift more or less.

Hair Levels – Refer to the strength of the lift

The most common levels are 10, 20, 30, & 40. These can be brought at your local beauty supply store.

Lets breakdown each of the common levels and the ideal way to use them.

10: Use with a demi, it will not lift your base color significantly. It is great for tones and tints.

20: Awesome if you have more than 50% gray when paired with permanent dye. 20 will lift your hair one or two levels.

30: Lifts hair color by 2 or 3 levels and allows more pigment into the hair shaft. 30 volume developer will provide lighter hair and more long lasting color. Great for low porosity hair as it may have trouble lifting with anything less than 30. When paired with bleach it can lighten light brown to medium brown hair.

40: Lifts your hair up to 4 shades. It will bleach dark brown or black hair. Remember the higher the number the more damaging. Level 40 has 12% peroxide which can cause burns on sensitive scalps. It is much safer to do several rounds with 20 or 30 volume developer in addition to using conditioning treatments and protein builders in between applications.

Honorable Mention

50 and up: Will destroy your hair and burn it. Generally it is not a good idea to use anything over 40 volume developer.

I hope this posts helps you on your hair journey!