Mastering the Art of Hair Color: An Interview with Atlanta's Rising Colorist

Honestly, I perfected my craft by just doing it. My biggest lesson with color is simply that you have to do it. It doesn't matter if it looks like it may be too hard or if you don't even know the technique that was possibly used, it's all about creativity.

When I look at inspiration pictures, especially at the beginning when clients would show me stuff and I'd be like, "Girl, what is that?" I had to simplify it like a math equation. I'd think: "This is the tone, it's a little chunky, I see more blonde here." I would just compute it in my own mechanical way and go for it. I just tried it. It helped me learn from my mistakes and discover what came out prettier. From there, I kept mixing and matching until I got a technique that I really loved.

Ever since I was a little girl, I've always been obsessed with hair. When social media started becoming big and I'd see things like the Versatile Vixen sew-ins on Instagram, I'd think "I love that, but it's missing something. It needs some color."

When Justine Skye came out with that purple hair, I swore up and down that when my mom let me get my hair dyed, I was going purple. So when I finally got my first quick weave, I was determined to go purple. My mom was already paying for the install and bundles, so she said, "Girl, you gotta figure it out and do it yourself."

We came out with plum—that's what we got! We didn't get the Justine Skye purple, but seeing that I had made a hair color for myself from top to bottom was amazing. My hairstylist was like, "Girl, you didn't even do too bad," and she was one of the big stylists at the time. From there, it was over. I was always trying a different color.

I'm not going to lie—blonde is always going to have my heart. I love blonde, especially for our Black girls. I believe that as Black women, we often shy away from color thinking our skin complexions are going to clash with it, when in reality, our skin complexions look the best with color. Our chocolate, our melanin. It really enhances the color.

But I also love purple because it looks like such an easy color, but you actually have to lift hair very high. You have to be very technical with purple because you can't go too high; you need a certain pigment left in the hair. It's one of those colors that will take you for a spin.

The Yaki Straight wig was absolutely beautiful. For the color we were going for, the hair worked perfectly fine. I had no problem whatsoever, especially since a lot of times the lace and bundles can start to lift differently. With this unit, I didn't have that problem at all.

The tighter, kinkier, curly unit! Oh my gosh, I have to brag about that unit! It lifted very high for me. I'd say a lot of kinky curly units suck at lifting. Honestly, many vendors will cut corners when it comes to textures that mimic our natural hair more. With kinkier textures, there are often a lot of rinses and synthetic fibers mixed in. To be able to work with textured extensions that could still lift with me was quite a joy. If anything, those colors deserve to be on textured extensions for sure.

They were honestly about the same, but here's what's crazy. The curly lifted better than the yaki! That's why I was so impressed with that unit. Not only was it lifting better than the yaki, but it was giving me a high lift and it was the curlier, kinkier texture.

First and foremost, always consult with a professional. Do not DIY it. Extensions are very expensive, they are your investment. Make sure that either you or your friend has some background knowledge.

When it comes to lifting textured hair, you have to be very intentional. My top tip is saturation. When you're putting your bleach on, you want to make sure the hair is fully saturated throughout whatever strand you're doing, whether it's a highlight method or balayage method, to ensure an even lift. Nobody wants a blotchy lift, especially on curly hair, because we have those ringlets and waves. It can easily look saturated until you move something over and see a black spot.

A lot of people reach for permanent colors or high lift colors, and they dry your hair out. Everybody runs away from bleach when, at the end of the day, bleach is actually your safest friend. We know exactly what's included in it, we know how to process it, and we can control it using 10, 20, or 30 volume.

I always say go the bleaching route using 10 volume—go low and slow. Don't rush it. You have time. If you're rushing, maybe you shouldn't be doing it right now. Don't jump to the 20s, 30s, and 40s. Stick to your routine and get a reliable, high-quality bleach like Blondme.

If you can't access professional products, Sally's Ion products are very good. Just steer away from beauty supply store products like BW2 if you can. They're there for convenience, but they can be drying and damaging.

I color my extensions just like natural hair, literally the exact same process. Your extensions are an investment, so the same amount of care I'd use on your head, I'd use on extensions.

First and foremost: clean hair. Always do a patch test 48 hours before your full color application to check for allergic reactions. If your extensions just came from your vendor, wash them. If it's your natural hair and you just took down braids after a long protective style, do a good clarifying shampoo. Make sure you have a good detangle.

If the hair feels dry before you bleach it, you should do a treatment the day before your color service. Always start with freshly washed and moisturized hair. It leads to the ultimate color outcome.

For a beginner doing a full wig with three bundles and a closure, it could take a full eight hours from beginning to end, including a second round of bleach, washing, toning, and drying.

For me, because I've been doing it for so long and simplified it into a technique, my maximum turnaround time is two and a half hours, including dry time. That helps me have the flexibility to service more women.

People think colored hair is so much maintenance, but it's really not. I recently went fully blonde with my own natural hair, and I have blonde extensions too. You can have it all, it's so easy. All you have to do is keep up with your moisture.

Color only takes away moisture from your hair. As long as you're adding back moisture with deep conditioning and leave-ins, that's all you need. It's not a treatment every week or a trim every two weeks.

Use color-safe products! I can't stress that enough. They protect the vibrancy and tone while providing the extra vitamins that color-treated hair requires. And always use heat protection. I've had clients' tones turn yellow because their stylist's curling iron was too hot.

Break your base before you go in and color. If your client wants a chocolate brown base instead of the natural level 2-3, I'd go ahead and lift that hair to at least a level 5 or 6. That way, your bleach only has to break through three to four more levels instead of five levels from the original base. It makes the process safer and more controlled.

Always make sure you have the right texture and a perfect texture match. If you're going blonde, here's a good tip: always try to go up a curl pattern from your desired curl pattern. When you bleach hair, your curl is going to drop a little bit. It's natural, even with expensive hair. Your curl gets relaxed a bit.

The only texture that doesn't loosen up is kinky curly. That's why I was so impressed with that unit, it held up beautifully even after lifting and toning to a nice chocolate blonde.

No! I genuinely believe every woman should try color one day. I don't care if it's just a simple chocolate brown to accentuate your eyes or going full blonde to bring out the melanin in your skin.

We're born with these natural bases. There are literal natural gingers, people with ashy brown hair, people who look dark brown but are actually dark blonde. The Lord wouldn't have put all these beautiful hair colors in the world if we weren't meant to explore them. I love when girls go full out and even do their eyebrows to match!

I've worn clients down over time. I've had clients go from simple honey blonde to white blonde with chocolate lowlights because once you go, you're going to be far gone.

Always popular are what I call "skunk highlights", which are black and white that give a salt and pepper effect. But a technique I'm seeing a lot on curly units is a very lived-in balayage in different tones.

My favorite tone right now is chocolate blonde because it compliments curly hair so beautifully. You can always do blonde highlights, but something about those chocolate highlights, the girls are loving them right now.

Yes! I just blended someone's gray recently. Every gray woman is different. Some have gray tones, some are pitch white like my mom. It's all about what the client sends me.

I just added gray highlights throughout bundles to match a client's sparse natural grays so when her leave-out lays on top, it blends perfectly. That's the beauty of color, you can blend out anything. Don't be scared of grays; we can always blend them.

I'm in Atlanta, Georgia, and I work right in Buckhead. My suite will be opening on Roswell Road in Sandy Springs, where I'll be taking color walk-ins and same-day appointments. You can find me on all social media platforms @thegirlboxx (with two X's).

Not yet, but you can reach me through my social media for now. I'm always available to answer questions!