Hair Color Levels 1 to 10: A Cosmetology Student's Guide
By the Formula Finder teamUpdated 6 min read
The short answer
Hair color levels run from 1 (black) to 10 (lightest blonde) and measure only how light or dark hair is, not its tone. Find a client's natural level at the root, on dry hair, in good light, against the natural swatches in the brand's swatch book.
On this page
A level is how light or dark hair is, on a scale where 1 is black and 10 is the lightest blonde. Every formula you write starts with two levels: where the client is now and where the client wants to go. Get those two numbers right and the rest of the formula gets much easier.
What a level is
Wella's Color Charm education workbook says it plainly: a level describes how light or dark a color is regardless of its tonal character. Level says nothing about warm or cool. It only measures depth.
Natural depth comes from melanin in the cortex. Darker hair holds more of it, and Goldwell's All About Color manual notes that the darker the natural color, the more intense the pigment and the harder the hair is to lighten. That is why lifting a level 3 takes more work than lifting a level 7.
Shade codes put the level first. In Wella Koleston Perfect, the 7 in 7/0 is the level. In Schwarzkopf IGORA ROYAL, Schwarzkopf states that the number in front of the dash indicates the depth of the shade, so 7-0 is also level 7. Learn to find that first number on any chart and you can read most of the color world.
Levels 1 to 10 and their underlying pigment
Underlying pigment is the warmth hair shows as it lightens. Redken describes undertones as the unrefined warm tones exposed during the lifting process. Every level has one. When you lift, you do not erase that warmth. You uncover it.
This table follows the level system chart in Redken's Color Fusion shade chart:
| Level | Name | Underlying pigment |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | Lightest Blonde | Pale yellow |
| 9 | Very Light Blonde | Yellow |
| 8 | Light Blonde | Yellow/orange |
| 7 | Medium Blonde | Orange/yellow |
| 6 | Dark Blonde | Orange |
| 5 | Lightest Brown | Red/orange |
| 4 | Light Brown | Red |
| 3 | Medium Brown | Red/violet |
| 2 | Dark Brown | Violet |
| 1 | Black | Blue |
Read the table from the bottom up. Dark levels sit on red and violet, the middle levels on red-orange and orange, and the light levels on yellow. The target level tells you which warmth will show up, so it also tells you which warmth you need to control.
Some lines go past 10 for high lift blondes. Matrix SoColor lists shades up to level 11, and Wella's workbook places a high lift category above level 10. Treat those as extra-light blondes built for lift on top of the same 1 to 10 scale.
How to find a client's natural level
Finding natural level is a skill you will use on every new client. Do it the same way every time.
- Use good light. Daylight from a window or a bright, neutral bulb works best. Warm, dim lighting makes hair read darker and warmer than it is.
- Look at the root. Check the first inch of growth at the scalp. Mid-lengths and ends are often lighter from sun, heat and old color, so they lie about natural level. Check the crown and the front hairline, since these areas can differ.
- Work on dry hair. Wet hair reads darker.
- Hold it against a swatch. Lift a thin section and lay your natural level swatches right against the root. Wella's workbook tells you to use the swatches in the Natural Shade Family, and Redken's Color Fusion chart points to the natural level finder in the swatch book. Use natural swatches only. A gold or ash swatch pulls your eye toward tone instead of depth.
- Find the blend. Slide the swatch along the section until the edge between swatch and hair seems to disappear. That swatch is the natural level.
- Write down the rest. Redken's formulation steps pair natural level with gray percentage, texture, condition and density. Record all of them on the client card.
Level vs tone
Level is depth. Tone is the color you see. Wella's workbook defines tone as the overall character of the color result that you will see.
Same level, different tones:
All four are level 7. Only the numbers after the slash change. IGORA ROYAL works the same way after the dash: Schwarzkopf says the first number after the dash is the primary tone and the second is the secondary tone. So 7-1 is a cool level 7, and 7-55 is a gold level 7 with extra gold. Goldwell uses letters for tone, like N for natural, A for ash and G for gold, so 7N in Goldwell Topchic is a natural level 7.
Tone is also how you handle underlying pigment. Redken's rule: to counteract an undertone, pick a shade with the opposite tonal value, and to enhance it, pick a similar one. Goldwell's manual uses the classic example that violet counteracts yellow. Lift to level 9, see yellow, and a violet toner such as 09V cancels it.
Why the same number looks different across brands
Every professional line uses the 1 to 10 idea, but the details are not identical. Four things change from brand to brand.
Level names. The same number can carry a different name:
| Level | Wella Koleston Perfect | Goldwell Topchic | Redken level chart |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 2/0 Darkest Brown | 2N Black | Dark Brown |
| 4 | 4/0 Medium Brown | 4N Mid Brown | Light Brown |
| 5 | 5/0 Light Brown | 5N Light Brown | Lightest Brown |
Goldwell's level table runs from 2 to 10 with no level 1, so its 2 is already black. A student who memorizes names instead of numbers gets lost fast.
How the code is written. Wella uses a slash, Schwarzkopf a dash, Goldwell a number and letters. Redken Shades EQ prints levels with a leading zero, from 010 down to 01, so 07N is a natural level 7 and 010N is a natural level 10.
How underlying pigment is described. Wella's workbook calls the contributing pigment at level 7 gold. Redken's chart calls it orange/yellow. They describe the same warmth with different words.
The base the swatch was made on. Schwarzkopf says the depth number tells you the ideal base for true-to-swatch results. Redken's Color Fusion swatches are shown on natural level 3 for brown shades and natural level 6 for blonde shades. Put a shade on a different base and it will not match the swatch.
Product type matters too. Shades EQ is a demi-permanent that does not lift, so its level is deposit only. A permanent like Koleston Perfect can lift and deposit in the same step.
The fix is simple: judge level with the swatch book of the line you are mixing, and read codes the way that brand writes them. For a full walkthrough of codes and layouts, see how to read a hair color chart. You can browse every Wella line on the Wella charts page.
Practice questions
1. A client's roots match the level 5 swatch. You lift to level 7. What warmth will you see?
Answer: Orange/yellow, the underlying pigment at level 7 on the chart above. Your formula needs a tone that controls it.
2. In Koleston Perfect 7/43, which part is the level and which part is the tone?
Answer: The 7 before the slash is the level, Medium Blonde. The 4 and 3 after the slash are the tones, red and gold.
3. The ends match level 8 but the root matches level 6. What is the natural level?
Answer: Level 6. Natural level comes from the root, because the ends have been lightened by sun, heat or past color.
4. Is IGORA ROYAL 7-1 lighter or darker than 7-55?
Answer: Neither. Both are level 7, because the number in front of the dash is the depth. They differ only in tone: 7-1 is cool and 7-55 is gold.
5. A client is a natural level 4 and wants level 8. How many levels of lift is that, and what tone family neutralizes the underlying pigment?
Answer: Four levels of lift. Level 8 exposes yellow/orange, so a violet or blue-violet tone neutralizes it, following the opposite-tone rule.
Formula Finder builds formulas from real shade codes in your brand, starting from the client's inspo pic.
FAQ
What is level 7 hair color?
Level 7 is medium blonde on most professional charts. When hair is lifted to level 7, it shows orange/yellow warmth, which is why many level 7 formulas include a cool or natural tone.
Is level 1 the darkest hair color?
Yes. Level 1 is black and level 10 is the lightest blonde. A few lines, like Goldwell Topchic, start their natural series at level 2, which they call black.
What is underlying pigment in hair color?
It is the natural warmth exposed when hair is lightened, from red and violet at dark levels to orange in the middle and yellow at the lightest levels. Toners and tones in a formula are chosen to cancel it or enhance it.
Do all hair color brands use the same level system?
They all use a 1 to 10 depth scale, but names, code formats and swatch bases differ. A level 4 is Medium Brown in Wella Koleston Perfect and Light Brown on Redken's level chart, so read each brand's own chart.
Sources
- Color Charm Permanent Liquid Haircolor Education Workbook (Wella Professionals)
- All About Color, Color Continuum manual (Goldwell)
- Color Fusion shade chart, Working With Undertones (Redken)
- IGORA ROYAL Permanent Color (Schwarzkopf Professional)
- Shades EQ Hair Gloss (Redken)
- SoColor Permanent Cream Hair Color (Matrix)