How to Read Wella Koleston Perfect Codes Like 7/43

Every Koleston Perfect code is a number, a slash, then one or two more digits. The number before the slash is the depth. The first digit after the slash is the main tone, and the second digit is the secondary tone. So 7/43 is a level 7 medium blonde with red as the main tone and gold as the secondary tone. Wella names it Medium Blonde Red Gold.

Learn that one rule and the whole Koleston Perfect chart opens up. If levels and tone are new to you in general, start with how to read a hair color chart, then come back here for the Wella specifics.

The number before the slash: depth

Wella calls level "depth," and it tells you how light or dark the shade is. The main chart runs from 2/ to 10/. Wella's own shade leaflet points out that lighter depths show brighter tones, while darker depths show tone more subtly. A /43 at level 8 reads far brighter than the same /43 at level 5.

Doubled depth numbers mean intense

When the depth is written twice, like 77/ or 66/, the shade is the intense version of that level. 77/43 is Medium Blonde Intense Red Gold, a stronger take on 7/43. 66/0 is Dark Blonde Intense Natural. You read the depth as a single 7 or 6. The doubling tells you the result is more saturated, not darker.

The digits after the slash: main and secondary tone

Wella's education is direct about this. With one digit after the slash, that digit is the major tone. With two digits, the first is the major tone and the second is the minor tone.

Order matters. 7/17 is Medium Blonde Ash Brown: mostly ash, a little brown. 7/71 is Medium Blonde Brown Ash: mostly brown, a little ash. Same two digits, two different shades, and they even sit in different families on the chart.

A zero in front of the tone

A 0 as the first tone digit puts natural in the lead. 7/03 is Medium Blonde Natural Gold, a natural base with a touch of gold. 7/3 is Medium Blonde Gold, where gold is the whole story. Reach for the /0x shades when the client wants warmth or coolness that still reads soft and believable.

Doubled tone digits

When both tone digits match, that tone is pushed harder. 44/44 is Medium Brown Intense Red, 6/77 is Dark Blonde Intense Brown, and 12/11 is Special Blonde Intense Ash.

What each tone number means on Wella

Here is the full tone key, with the color direction from Wella's toning education and real codes from the chart.

The color wheel explains why the cool tones work. Wella's leaflet pairs yellow with violet, orange with blue and red with green, and opposite colors neutralize each other. That is why /6 handles yellow, /1 and /8 handle orange, and /2 handles red.

Reading 7/43 and its neighbors

Put the rule to work on the red golds, since this is where stylists most often grab the wrong tube.

• 7/43: medium blonde, red first, gold second. A warm copper red.
• 7/34: medium blonde, gold first, red second. Medium Blonde Gold Red, so gold leads and the result leans more golden copper.
• 77/43: the intense version of 7/43.
• 6/43 and 8/43: the same red gold one depth darker or one depth lighter.
• 5/43: Light Brown Red Gold, where the tone reads more subtly against a deeper base.
• 0/43: the Red Gold Special Mix, pure tone with no depth, added to a formula to boost that red gold.

Flip the two tone digits and you change the shade. Change the depth and you keep the tone but move the level. That covers most of what you need to read any code on the chart.

The Koleston Perfect families

Wella sorts the chart into six families. Knowing which family a code lives in tells you what job it was built for.

Pure Naturals

The /0 shades and the /0x shades, plus the intense naturals like 88/0 and 55/02. Wella requires a Pure Natural shade in the formula for sufficient gray coverage, so this family does the heavy lifting on gray.

Rich Naturals

The cooler and golden tones: ash, matte, gold, pearl and cendre, such as 9/16, 8/38 and 6/91. This is where most blonde and brunette tonal work happens.

Deep Browns

Shades with brown (/7) as the main tone, like 6/7, 7/75 and 4/71. Good for rich, dimensional brunettes and bronde results.

Vibrant Reds

Red, mahogany and violet led shades, plus the gold reds: 7/43, 66/46, 44/65 and 33/55 all live here.

Special Blonde

The 12/ shades, such as 12/81 and 12/61, are high-lift blondes. They mix 1:2 (60 g color to 120 g Welloxon Perfect). With 9% (30 vol) they lift 3 levels, and with 12% (40 vol) they lift 4 to 5 levels. Processing is 50 to 60 minutes without heat, or 25 to 35 minutes with heat. They do not cover gray.

Special Mix

The 0/ shades are pure color with no depth. Add them to intensify or correct tone, and 0/00 is clear with no pigment. Wella's rule: the lighter the shade, the less mix tone is needed. Special Mix shades mix 1:1 with developer, except 0/43, which mixes 1:2.

Mixing ratio, developer and timing

Standard Koleston Perfect shades mix 1:1 with Welloxon Perfect, for example 60 g color to 60 g developer. Pick the developer by the job:

For glossing and lowlighting, mix 1:2 with Welloxon Perfect Pastel 1.9% (6 vol). Standard color processes 30 to 40 minutes with no heat, or 15 to 25 minutes with heat. Apply right after mixing.

For gray, the amount of Pure Natural depends on the percentage:

• 30% to 50% gray: at least 1/3 Pure Natural. Wella's example: 15 g 7/0 + 45 g 7/75 + 60 g 6%.
• 50% to 100% gray: 1/2 Pure Natural. Example: 30 g 7/0 + 30 g 7/75 + 60 g 6%.

Apply first to the areas with the highest percentage of gray.

From inspo pic to code

Once you can read the slash, matching an inspo pic becomes a two-step call: pick the depth from the result you see, then pick the main and secondary tone that describe it. A bright copper at medium blonde is a 7/43 conversation. A softer, golden copper is 7/34. A cool, smoky light blonde points you toward the pearls and cendres in Rich Naturals. You can see every code on the Wella charts side by side when you want to compare.

Formula Finder builds formulas from real shade codes in your brand, starting from the client's inspo pic.