Mastering Modern Hair Color: Redken's Shades EQ AOK, Blonding IQ 9+, and Halo Contouring

Redken's Shades EQ AOK Innovation

• 💡 Shades EQ AOK is a new liquid cream alkalinity demi-permanent color designed as a hybrid between gloss and permanent color.
• 🎯 It offers the power of a color with the care of a gloss, featuring key ingredients for next-level results.
• 🎨 This line includes 50 new shades, providing up to 50% gray coverage, with five superior shades offering up to 75% coverage.
• ⏱️ It uses a 10 volume developer and processes in just 20 minutes, significantly saving time behind the chair.
• ✅ AOK is ideal for gray blending, creating low-maintenance color transitions, and can be used for "bass bumping" to provide a slight lift.
• 🌱 The formula is creamy, fragrance-free, and developed with intentional, eco-friendly ingredients.

Advanced Blonding with IQ 9+

• ⚡ The Blonding IQ 9+ is a new oil-based lightener capable of lifting hair up to nine levels.
• 🔑 It effectively neutralizes stubborn undertones like orange and yellow, creating a clean canvas for subsequent toning with Shades EQ or AOK.
• 🎨 This creamy lightener stays precisely where applied, preventing unwanted color travel during foiling.
• ⚠️ Unlike some other lighteners, it does not contain a bonder, requiring stylists to be intentional with developer choice (10, 20, or 30 volume) and hair integrity assessment.
• 🚀 IQ 9+ is particularly effective for lifting gray hair and breaking through previous permanent hair color, even with challenging conditions like henna or metallic dyes.

Mastering Halo Contouring

• 💇‍♀️ Halo contouring is an innovative coloring technique designed to brighten the face and create a "halo" effect around the hairline.
• 🗺️ The technique involves specific parting from front to back, creating a circle at the apex of the head, and using zigzag foiling patterns.
• 🎨 It combines different Shades AOK colors (e.g., a 6 NCH in the back with a 7 or 8 NCH in the front) and Blonding IQ for strategic lightness.
• ✨ This method creates a horizontal color melt with dimension, focusing lightness in the front while maintaining depth and contrast in the back.
• 💡 Stylists use teasing and micro-weaving for a soft, lived-in look, with back-to-back baby lights in the front for maximum impact.

Essential Haircare & Protection

• 🛡️ The Acidic Bonding Concentrate (ABC) leave-in treatment is described as "insurance" for chemically processed hair, crucial for maintaining hair integrity.
• 💧 For optimal care, stylists should shampoo and condition with ABC, then towel dry and apply the leave-in treatment before styling.
• 🌿 One United leave-in conditioner is recommended as a first step, offering 25 benefits including moisture locking, detangling, and heat protection.
• 🩹 The Hair Bandage Balm is a lightweight, non-oily finishing product specifically designed to seal and protect the ends (zone three) of the hair.

Stylist Growth & Intentionality

• 🧠 The discussion emphasizes the importance of intentionality, innovation, and continuous education for hair stylists to flourish.
• 📈 Stylists are encouraged to work smarter, not harder, by utilizing techniques like express foiling to maximize time behind the chair and increase efficiency.
• 🏆 Redken provides high-energy educational events like Symposium and the Artistic Mentorship Program to foster professional growth.
• 🌟 Jonathan Savage highlights his participation in Redken's elite Artistic Mentorship Program, where he is one of 30 chosen globally for advanced training in hair color.