Glossary of Buzz Terms for Hair Color and Care

How many times have you stepped into a salon and just heard a bunch of industry terms be tossed your way a mile a minute and suddenly, you’re no longer sure you know what is about to go down with your cut or color?

Listen, you are not alone. In fact, many people have mentioned that they feel anxious when talking to their stylist about what they want to do with their hair as they are not familiar with the industry lingo.

Never fear. We’ve got your back. We’ve compiled a glossary of key industry buzz terms that you should know before you go into the salon. But also, never be afraid to ask questions and get more information from your stylist before you start your session. At Hologram, we’re bonafide haircare, hair science, and hair styling nerds – ask away! That’s what we’re here for.

Glossary of Hair Color and Care Terms You Should Know

All Over Color: all over color refers to applying one single color dye to your hair. That’s it. Just one color – all over.

Balayage: from the French word meaning to sweep or to paint, balayage is a hair highlighting technique that involves free-painting hair with dye. The idea is to create seamless, natural highlights and is a very low-maintenance style.

Bleach and Tone: bleaching is a hair lightening process that involves using a chemical product to lighten hair. A toner is usually used along with bleaching to remove or add undertones.

Foils: foils or foiling is a technique used when giving highlights to the hair, it involves applying a lightener or dye to a section of hair and wrapping it with aluminum foil while the lightener or dye saturates the hair.

Glaze: a glaze is a non-permanent hair color treatment helps the color remain intact while reducing frizz and split-ends.

Highlights: highlights are a hair lightening treatment applied on sections of hair to make them lighter than your natural color. This process is done using foils.

Gray Blending: gray blending is a color technique used to help blend in gray hair with your natural hair color, creating a smoother transition.

Gray Coverage: gray coverage refers to the process of using dye to cover gray or white hair.

Low Lights: low lights are sections of your hair that are dyed a few shades darker than your natural hair color, in contrast to highlights.

Platinum Card: platinum card is a hair lightening technique in which every section of hair is placed in foils to create an all-over lightened look.

Toner: a toner is a hair-dye product typically used while bleaching hair – it contains little-to-no ammonia, so it is classified as a type of demi-permanent hair dye. A toner is used to add, remove, or neutralize undertones.

Have more terms you’d like to know more about – let us know and we’ll get a Glossary Part 2 up!