Wella Koleston Perfect Professional Hair Color 6/73

This is a light brown shade with a brown/gold base. Koleston runs a level dark because it's made in Europe where the level system is different so it's off by one level. So in reality this is a light brown not a dark blond. I use this shade on my level 4 brown hair with a 30 volume peroxide and I get a burnished golden light brown. It's really exceptional!! I found out about Koleston about 10 years ago and would never go back to awful drugstore color or the junk Sally's sells. Koleston color is translucent, not matte and flat. It leaves my hair soft and super shiny and the color stays true and rich. This color is not possible with drugstore or Sally's color, which both offer only four base colors: ash (which could be gray, green or blue, hmm), gold, neutral or red. The brown base is unique to Koleston and makes this shade exceptionally rich. The gold secondary base color delivers beautiful highlights. I use a 30 volume peroxide because incomplete lightening can cause brassiness. A 20 volume peroxide lifts only one to two levels and that depends on the nature of the hair. My hair is resistant to lightening so I need the 30 volume, which lifts a maximum of three levels. I'm about 40% gray and I leave the color mixture on for 45 minutes. I also mix 2 teaspoons of argan oil into the color for additional conditioning. When the cuticle is opened by the color chemicals, the argan oil penetrates the hair shaft. At no other time is this possible. The oil replaces the lipids lost during the coloring process and leaves my hair shiny and strong. My stylist taught me this little trick and I've used it every time for years. Some sellers on Amazon send the older formula of Koleston and truthfully, I've never noticed a difference between the old and new. For those who want to go red, I suggest using the newer formula (in the blue tube) because there have been advances in red pigments and the newer formula reflects these changes. I'm including a key to the Koleston numbers to the right of the slash mark. It will possibly help you choose a shade. 0=neutral-no base color, can be mixed in equal proportions with any shade for extra coverage of resistant gray hair, 1=ash-green (cancels out red tones), 2=blue (cancels out orange tones), 3=gold, 4=red, 5=red/violet, 6=violet (cancels out yellow tones in lighter shades), 7=brown, 8=blue (in lighter shades), 9=gold (in lighter shades). These should help you decide on a hue. I couldn't be more pleased with the results I get with Koleston. I would never, ever, go back to box color or Sally's stuff. There is simply no comparison. Koleston is a professional product, still one of the top selling professional brands in the world, and the results look like I just stepped out of the salon. I've actually had strangers stop me on the street to ask me where I get my color done. How surprised they are when I tell them I do it myself with Koleston!! One tip: use a sulfate free shampoo. Sulfates literally wash the color down the drain. A good sulfate free line is Shea Moisture, which has several different formulas, even a clarifying shampoo, for color treated hair. I like the raw shea butter formula shampoo, conditioner and mask. I also use the Jamaican Black Castor Oil clarifying shampoo with apple cider vinegar. I use a lot of styling products as well as hairspray and this shampoo leaves my hair shiny and bouncy and completely free of sticky residue. And my hair color glows! SM products are sulfate, silicone and cruelty free and leave my hair moisturized, healthy looking and strong. There is a formula for everyone. SM is sold in Walgreens, CVS, Ulta and Target, although none of these stores carry the full line but I think Amazon does, although the SM products are more expensive. SM products are about $11 in these stores and oftentimes they are on sale buy one get one free. The SM shampoos lather well, which is a problem with some sulfate free formulas, and smell wonderful. Your hair color will thank you. You can also refresh your color using Wella's Color Touch demi permanent color. It comes in many of the same shades as Koleston and can be used with any good 10 volume developer for 20 minutes. However, it runs about 1 1/2 to 2 levels dark, so choose a much lighter shade than your actual color. If you're using Koleston 6/73 I would suggest using Color Touch 8/73. Color Touch is as good as Koleston and lasts about 6 weeks if you're using sulfate free shampoo. I use CT 8/73 to refresh the ends every once in a while. It helps keep my color glowing and the shine is unbelievable!! It's so much better than using one of the commercial color glosses. And it's reasonably priced on Amazon too. There are two Color Touch developers, a 1/9% (6 volume) and 4% (13 volume). The higher the volume the longer the CT color will last. I absolutely love Koleston and Color Touch and couldn't imagine using anything else. I think I'm their best customer, lol! I highly recommend this Koleston shade as well as Color Touch.