Color Correction: Box Dye Black To Beige Blonde
By Kristen Ewing
When she posted this omg transformation to her Insta, BTC Team Member Kristen Ewing (@kristen.lumiere) kept it real af in the caption, “Sixteen hours, 1 million foils, hundreds of bumps in the road, 1 fried brain and we are here.” Color corrections take WORK, but when a client walks in with at-home black box dyed strands with the desire to be blonde, you know you’re in for quite the journey. Keep scrolling to learn how Kristen tackled this corrective color in two sessions with six different formulas!
Total Chair Time: 16.5 hours
Pricing: “I charge hourly so it is not confusing adding up totals at the end of the appointment. Processing times are also included,” shared Kristen. “For the first initial color correction I did not double book so I charged hourly, but for the second session I charged by the service because I was double booking.”
Watch The Video How-To Below
Who Did It
Products Used
COLOR FORMULAS 
FORMULA STEPS
First Session
1. Start by cutting her hair as short as she’s willing to go. “Because let’s be honest, after years of box color pulling through to the ends, either I will cut them or they will cut themselves (aka break off),” shares Kristen.
2. Perform a strand test to ensure her hair can handle lightener. The test strand on this client revealed what Kristen calls her worst nightmare: one to four levels of lift only.
3. Then, apply Malibu C CPR and process under heat for 45 minutes. “It can remove one to three levels of color without touching the natural base,” shares Kristen. “It didn’t budge the color but what it did do was give me a perfect base for lightening.”
4. Rinse, then lighten using Formula A and process each foil for one hour.
5. Remove the foils once they’re done processing and pull on the hair to check its elasticity. No stretch = still intact!
6. Then, apply Formula B as a filler and process for 10 minutes. In the last 2 minutes, brush the formula down to even out the color. “The closest to the root lifted to a Level 10 so I needed to fill so I could drop it down to a Level 7,” shares Kristen.
7. Apply Formula C to the base and process for 10 minutes.
8. Next, tone the ends with Formula D and then brush it all together for a seamless blend.
9. Rinse, then apply your go-to conditioning treatment to add moisture.
10. Refine the cut while the hair is still wet, then style it smooth and finish refining the cut.
Second Session
“When my guest came back in for her second session four weeks later, her filler was still very pronounced so I decided to do a combination of highlighting and lowlighting,” shares Kristen. “This would break through her natural base and bring dimension down through the midlengths.”
1. Apply Formula E as a highlight and Formula F as a lowlight. “I used my #rocknsplitfoilage technique to create a seamless blend without needing to root shadow or tease the hair,” says Kristen.
Note: Because her client had short hair, Kristen decided on a partial application instead of a full. If her hair was past her shoulders, Kristen says she would have opted for a full and she would have added lowlights and highlights to the underneath to break up the previous lightener application.
2. Let process, then rinse, blow-dry and style as desired.
