Redken to Matrix Color Conversion Chart (With Formulas That Actually Work)
You have the formula. You just do not have the brand.
Every colorist runs into this. A formula you trust, written in Redken, and a Matrix shelf in front of you.
Maybe the salon switched lines. Maybe you picked up a shift somewhere that stocks something different. Maybe a new client came in with her old stylist's formula written on a card, and it is in a brand you have never carried. Maybe your distributor is out of the one tube you needed.
The instinct is to grab the same number off the Matrix shelf. Redken 6N, Matrix 6N, close enough. Sometimes that works. Often it comes out warmer than you wanted, or flatter, or it grabs at the ends.
This guide covers how both brands number their shades, where the two systems actually line up, and what you need to change once you switch. Use it as a starting point, then adjust for the hair in front of you.
How Redken numbers its shades
A Redken shade code is a level, then letters for the tone. In 6NW, the 6 is the level and NW is the tone.
The level is the standard 1 to 10 depth scale, 1 being black and 10 being the lightest blonde. That part is industry-wide and it is the part that travels cleanly between brands.
The letters are where it gets brand-specific. Redken builds tones out of a handful of single letters and then stacks them, with the dominant tone listed first.
| Letter | Tone |
|---|---|
| N | Natural |
| A | Ash |
| B | Blue |
| V | Violet |
| G | Gold |
| C | Copper |
| R | Red |
| M | Mocha |
| W | Warm |
Stacked codes read left to right by strength. In 6NW the natural leads and the warm supports. In 6WN it is the other way around. Reading that order correctly matters more in conversion than the level does, because it tells you what the tone is actually doing.
Also worth knowing which line you are converting from. Color Gels Lacquers and Shades EQ both use this logic, but Shades EQ is demi-permanent and deposit-only. A Shades EQ formula is a toner. Converting a toner to a permanent tube is not a conversion, it is a different service.
How Matrix numbers its shades
Matrix works the same way on the surface. Level first, tone letters after. SoColor 6NW is a level 6 with a neutral warm tone.
Same 1 to 10 depth scale, same left-to-right dominance in stacked codes. If you can read a Redken code you can read a Matrix one.
| Letter | Tone |
|---|---|
| N | Neutral |
| A | Ash |
| V | Violet |
| M | Mocha |
| G | Gold |
| C | Copper |
| R | Red |
| W | Warm |
| B | Brown |
Two differences that catch people out.
First, N does not mean quite the same thing in both lines. Redken's naturals tend to sit on the cooler side of true. Matrix naturals tend to sit a touch warmer. On a level 6 or below that gap is usually invisible. On a level 8 and up, where you are fighting underlying warmth anyway, it shows.
Second, Matrix splits its neutrals more finely across the line, with extra-coverage and blended options that do not map one to one onto a Redken code. If you are covering resistant gray, you are often better picking the Matrix shade built for coverage than hunting for the exact letter match.
The level converts straight across
This is the easy half. Both brands use the same 1 to 10 depth scale, so a Redken level 6 is a Matrix level 6.
| Level | Depth |
|---|---|
| 1 | Black |
| 2 | Darkest brown |
| 3 | Dark brown |
| 4 | Medium brown |
| 5 | Light brown |
| 6 | Dark blonde |
| 7 | Medium blonde |
| 8 | Light blonde |
| 9 | Very light blonde |
| 10 | Lightest blonde |
Keep the number. Change the letters. That is the whole shape of a brand conversion, and the rest of this guide is about the letters.
Redken to Matrix tone conversion chart
Match the tone family first, then pick the Matrix shade at the same level. Hold the level, swap the letters.
| Redken tone | Matrix equivalent | What you are going for |
|---|---|---|
| N | N | True to level, no push either direction |
| NA | NA | Natural with ash to knock back warmth |
| NW | NW | Natural with a soft warm lift |
| A | A | Ash, cool, neutralizes orange |
| AB or ash blue | A with a blue additive | Killing orange at mid levels |
| V | V | Violet, neutralizes yellow |
| AV or ash violet | AV | Cool blonde toning, pale yellow |
| M | M | Mocha, cool brown, neutral to slightly ash |
| G | G | Gold, warm, buttery |
| GI or gold iridescent | GV or gold with violet | Warm but softened, not brassy |
| C | C | Copper, orange-forward |
| R | R | Red, true red |
| RV or red violet | RV | Red pulled cool, plum direction |
| B or brown | B | Depth and neutral brown, often for coverage |
| W | W | Warm, broad warmth with no single direction |
A few of these are tone-family matches rather than exact product twins, because each brand builds some of its codes differently. Start where the chart points you, then judge the swatch.
Why the same code does not give you the same result
If conversion were just a letter swap, nobody would search for a chart. Three reasons it is not.
Pigment load is not standardized. Nothing says a 6G from one brand carries the same amount of gold as a 6G from another. The letter tells you the direction of the tone. It does not tell you the concentration. Two brands can both call a shade gold and land in noticeably different places.
The base under the tone differs. Every permanent line is built on its own base. Those bases carry their own undertone before you add anything, which is why the same tone letter can read warmer in one line and cooler in another. You are not just swapping a tone, you are putting that tone on a different foundation.
Lines are built for different jobs. Within one brand there are permanent, demi, high-lift and extra-coverage lines, and they do not behave the same. A conversion that ignores which line the original formula came from is going to miss. Match the line type first, then the shade.
The practical version: treat the chart as the first draft of your formula, not the final one. You are landing in the right neighborhood and then adjusting.
Four things to check before you mix
The chart gets you the shade. These four decide whether it lands.
Porosity. Porous hair grabs tone fast and grabs it cool. If the ends are compromised, the ash you converted over will go further than it did in the original formula. Fill, or soften the ash, or shorten the time on the ends.
Existing artificial color. A conversion chart assumes you are coloring the hair you have. If there is old box color, a previous dark deposit, or banding, the brand swap is the least of your problems. Solve the existing color first, then formulate.
Gray percentage. This is where conversions break most often. The original formula may have leaned on a specific coverage shade from its own line. The letter-equivalent in the new brand may not carry the same coverage. At 50 percent gray and above, pick the new brand's coverage shade and add your tone to it, rather than converting the tone shade and hoping.
Developer volume. Carry over the volume from the original formula, but check the new brand's mixing ratio. Ratios are not universal across lines, and a formula converted at the wrong ratio will process differently no matter how good the shade match is.
And the obvious one that people skip when they are busy. Strand test. A brand conversion is exactly the situation a strand test exists for.
A worked example
Say the formula you have is Redken 6NA, permanent, mixed with 20 volume, on a client who is roughly 30 percent gray at the temples with no previous color.
Step 1. Identify the line. Permanent, not demi. So you are looking at Matrix SoColor, not a demi line. This step alone fixes half of all failed conversions.
Step 2. Hold the level. Level 6 stays level 6.
Step 3. Translate the tone. NA converts to NA. Natural with ash support, same intent in both lines.
Step 4. Adjust for the client, not the chart. At 30 percent gray the natural in a 6NA is doing coverage work. Matrix naturals read slightly warmer, which actually helps coverage here, so the straight swap is reasonable. If she were 70 percent gray, you would move to the coverage shade instead and add your ash on top.
Step 5. Check the ratio. Confirm the mixing ratio for the Matrix line before you squeeze the tube. Do not assume it matches what you used in Redken.
Step 6. Strand test the ends if there is any history of lightening, since the ash will grab there first.
The starting point is Matrix SoColor 6NA with 20 volume. Everything after step 3 is the part the chart cannot do for you.
When you do not have a chart in front of you
Most conversions do not happen at a desk. They happen with a client in the chair and a formula card you are squinting at.
When that happens, work in this order. Match the line type. Hold the level. Match the tone family. Then adjust for porosity, existing color and gray before you commit. If you only remember one thing, remember that the level travels and the tone does not.
Save this page. The chart above covers the tones you will hit most often.
Formula Finder was built for the other half of this problem, the part where you are not converting an existing formula at all but working from an inspo photo a client pulled off her phone. You upload the photo, upload her current hair, pick your brand, and get a full formula with mixing ratios, processing and application notes. Any brand you carry, including when the look you are chasing was created in a different one.