Why We Use Redken Shades EQ and What That Means for Your Color
— in Behind the ChairOur color results depend significantly on the system we use to achieve them. Here is what we chose and why.
Shades EQ is our primary toning system at Fettle and Mane. We use it on every guest who receives a color service involving a gloss or toner, which is almost every color guest we see.
What Shades EQ Is
Shades EQ is a demi-permanent, acidic color system. Unlike permanent color, which uses hydrogen peroxide to open the cuticle and deposit pigment inside the cortex, Shades EQ’s Processing Solution keeps the pH low, which allows the cuticle to close as the formula deposits tone. The process is gentler than permanent color and does not lift the natural pigment. Read the full explanation of what a gloss does and why it produces such visible results
Why the Acidic Formula Matters
When the cuticle closes, the hair’s surface becomes flat. A flat cuticle reflects light evenly, which produces the glassy, reflective shine that guests notice immediately after a Shades EQ service. An open cuticle scatters light in multiple directions, which reads as dull hair even if the color itself is correct.
Formulation at Fettle and Mane
Before any stylist at Fettle and Mane tones a paying guest, they pass a written assessment on Shades EQ. We test on the level system, the tonal family logic, corrective formulation scenarios, and the specific application techniques we use in our shadow root, root smudge, and gloss blending work. Read about why brassiness happens and how Shades EQ formulation addresses it
A stylist who does not understand how to neutralize warm tones, how to formulate for gray blending, or how to build a lived-in result with multiple shades applied in sequence is guessing. Our stylists are not guessing.
Curious about the toning approach we would use for your hair? Let’s talk at your consultation.