Color and its symbolism

At the origin

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Three so-called “ primary colors ” or “ binary colors ” colors are the basis of all compositions, in 1750 the engraver Jakob Alleant the Blon shows the relationship between the components of the light and color pigments used in painting.

In fact, any color can arise from these three primary pigments:

  • blue or cyan, blue overseas
  • yellow or cadmium yellow
  • red or purple or magenta

The color has no existence by itself, it is simply created sensations in the brain from stimulus detected under a special light by 3 pigments in the retina: cones.

These colorful sensations always have the following characteristics:

  • the geometry of observation, according to the brightness, lighting and vision angles.
  • the physical characteristics of the subject according to the brain of the observer and his discernment of colors and the eye of the observer has its own qualities related to each individual.

The most dynamic and diverse combinations are rooted in opposition cold colors and warm colors.


Symbolism of colour

Blue

This is the cool color par excellence, the ocean depths and the cosmos, it promotes inner peace, spirituality, the search for truth and understanding.!In the hair field blue is represented by gray, the desire to get ashy shades highlights a need for discretion ( to blend into the crowd, anonymous and so serene... ).

To neutralize a shade of red ( hot ), the reflection will be used essentially consists of blue and purple. For those with “ blood ” complexion prone to rosacea, it is recommended to use these cool shades. It symbolizes serenity, depth, freshness and discretion.

Yellow

Color of the sun, soothing and comforting warmth, it symbolizes the joy of life and reflects a frank and determined attitude.

Culturally, it is the color of betrayal, sentimental deceit, adultery.

Red

This color captures attention, the eye is attracted by the violence of its color ( limit of aggression by measuring the intensity ).

Red brings some dynamism to the image, the color of blood, so of life, do not we say “ see red ”. Red is also the color of war and fighting ( Spartan warriors were of a red uniform, the matador uses a red cape ).

Red is the color of passion and sex ( excitation sense ) women redheads tend to have lots of character and very often show great dynamism « I’m red and then… ».

With this slogan redheads wanted to assert their choice and upgrade a cursed color in the Middle Ages, a decree imposed on prostitutes and the women accused of witchcraft to dye the red ox blood to mark their condition.

( Thanks to Anna Tognetti and Editions Assouline )


Symbolism of colour in the World

In China

In the Chinese Opera Theatre, the symbolism of the colors is widely used to allow viewers to recognize the functions of each character.

  • White symbolizes treachery and duplicity
  • Blue symbolizes the strength and cruelty
  • Yellow symbolizes intelligence and kindness, he is the emperor and the Imperial Family
  • The Black represents the characters of lower rank
  • Red symbolizes faithfulness and courage, he represents the people of high rank and nobility
  • The Violet represent officials

In Far East

  • Blue symbolizes the sky and depth for millennia.
  • Red symbolizes religion, mourning ( the body of the deceased is laid to rest covered with a red cloth ).

In India

  • White: color of mourning and sadness.
  • Blue: it is related to religion, poetry as well as music, blue develops the musical sense, calms the nervous system acts favorably on eyes ( ref: “ Blue ” by Yves Klein ).
  • Yellow: the spirit of wisdom, it refocuses us to reflection and the meditation.
  • Orange: color of faith, that color improves health but also can mean pride and arrogance.
  • Red: it has many shades, both positive and negative. It is the color of virtue and truth, love and sensuality ( as in the West ), dynamism, drunkenness and anger.
  • Pink: color of selfless love and tenderness, this color is the intellect sublimating worries and dark thoughts.
  • Green: spirit of evolution and eternity is the color of growth and magnetism is a constant sign of wealth and also positivity of evolution.
  • Violet: color of any power, spiritual love, it is the spirit of sacrifice and self-giving, it is a powerful and mystical that protects human color.

Colour and women

From antiquity

Aphrodite

In mythology, Aphrodite, goddess of love and fertility was shown with a blond / gold color, the color of the sun.

It is interesting to note that the blonde is the color that refers to this valuable material that is gold, strongly influencing brunettes to discolor their hair.

One of the first dyes, sapo, was made on the basis of fat goat and ash beech, purists then added to this bird droppings to accentuate the power of discoloration due to natural ammonia contained in their droppings.

Romans used wigs whose hair was recovered from the Germanic prisoners.

During her nocturnal escapades, Messalina had long blonde hair and used a wig to accentuate her seductive power with men.

Christians debunked all the statues of the pagan goddess Venus to replace Eve, biblical character: she is blonde.

The Virgin Mary is brown until the 14th century and later artists will transform her blonde.

In the Middle Ages, Iseult is shown with blond hair gold which has a positive image with its miraculous braids.

Note that in medieval society, the blonde woman is the legitimate wife, the mistress and the brown haired devil.

During the Renaissance, Italy, and especially Venice became the home of the dye, it was common to compare the Venetian women to those of ancient Rome.

Duchess of Ferrara and Lucrezia Borgia kept for 24 hours on their head decoctions cabbage stalks and straw ash to bleach hair.

Botticelli enhanced the fairness.


To present day

Marylin Monroe

Jean Harlow was especially marked in history for being the first to wear the platinum blonde hair film, this color will have an effect on her game as an actress playing “ femmes fatales ” and earned her the nickname bomb platinum, thus creating the erotic modern myth, a cult for fairness.

Hollywood producers were the first ones to understand that this platinum blond was the ultimate male fantasy: a fragile woman, vulnerable and representative of the man’s virility.

In 1946, Marilyn Monroe’s platinum blonde is the icon of the modern woman who remains accessory to the fantasy of man and it is this new attitude that will help this iconic star we know today.

On film she defended herself to be the only blonde and ironically at her death the director of Columbia said « find me another blonde… ».

In the 1930, the United States, comparative advertising was lawful and unfortunately racial segregation in its heyday, advertising uses the negative image of black minorities to discredit competitors.

It was in the 60s, thanks to the anti-racist organizations that it is now forbidden to use the negative image of black in advertising.

To replace black, advertising then use brown women, black people and metaphor to represent Caucasian, blond women.

This is to divert this phenomenon long before internet anti-racist and feminist associations launched the first “ buzz ” stories to caricature image of the blonde to divert advertisements of the time.

This is the origin of blonde jokes.

Yesterday and today history coloring

The hair colouring history

In ancient Egypt to Roman men had “ magic ” recipes for dying or bleaching hair.

The colorations were first based powders, mixtures of different colors, simply applied to the hair directly creating discolor.

But these silver powders, felt more like makeup than a color. For a more lasting result it was necessary to use herbal products and derivatives of animal material, such as henna, chamomile for bleaching, chestnut for brown or walnut.

In 1863 Hoffmann launches oxidation dyes, using a new molecule the phenylenediamine. Discovered in 1818, hydrogen peroxide is used to bleach hair from 1872 ( English blonde dye ) to obtain the famous “ Hollywood blonde ”. But these chemical dyes often caused severe allergies and gave coloring a rather negative reputation.

In 1909 the work of a French chemist Eugène Schueller allowed to modify the formulas and stabilize the products, he created the first dye-based minerals, harmless dyes and founded the French company for hair that became in 1910 L'Oréal.

In 1927, the invention of Imedia, tincture made from organic dyes, revolutionized the art of hair by providing a variety of natural shades whose main objective was to cover gray hair.

In 1935 appears the shader that would work as hair make up and could be removed at will.

The way of staining was thus opened.

Until the mid-20th century color was only used to cover gray hair. Color is now a fashion accessory, men and women no longer hide to color the hair because the color has become a way of expression, a socio-cultural code, belonging to a clan or even a religion.

The colorist is now a professional hair painter.

The color field is constantly changing and requires cosmetic techniques increasingly sophisticated whose priority is given to fully respect the hair.


The different types of stains

Natural hair color is determined by the presence of melanin granules, their abundance, their sizes and their distribution.

Melanin is a natural pigment found in the cortex, it consists of two kinds of pigments.

There are different types of staining with different characteristics in terms of results:

  • the level of coverage of white hair
  • duration in time (root)

Temporary staining

It is used to make a temporary change that will disappear in the first shampoo.

The advantage of this type of coloration is that it can be used test a new shade and why not subsequently adopt it with an oxidation color.

But it is actually the natural nuances of your hair that will be determining the final color.

Coloring is an act of beauty, but it requires regular maintenance because its action fades with shampoos and it becomes less bright, colored hair is more fragile, it tends to become dry and difficult to disentangle.

When hair is colored, they undergone a transformation, it is necessary to apply additional specific treatments to:

  • compensate for the effects of oxidation
  • set keratin
  • hydrate the hair
  • protect from external aggressions

Permanent dying or oxidation

It is used to make reflections, lightening the natural shade of several tones.

This technique allows to radically change color with an advantage of a full coverage of white hair.

This staining involves oxidation of melanin. It penetrates the heart of the hair fiber and causes “ agression ” plus selected shade is removed from the natural color, the more the hair will be discolored and depigmented so pigmented with the desired shade.

This delicate operation causes fragility of the hair shaft. The fact that its action is sustained resulting in the phenomenon of root ( which in fact is the result from the growth of natural hair and the formerly colored part, creating a symmetry ).

The tone on tone coloring ( semi-permanent )

Artificial coloring pigments penetrate under the scales of the cuticle, gather them to give birth to new reflections without lightening the base color.

This color covers on average 60 percent of white hair. The tone on tone coloring is rootless effects.

From Salt and Pepper to Shatoosh highlight

Salt and pepper by Rodolphe

Poivre et sel

Like a blonde in black and white on white hair or gray hair, Salt and Pepper is a real attitude corresponding to a real intellectual approach, representative of a certain modern and confident woman, but the appearance of Salt and Pepper “ uncontrolled ” can be interpreted as a sign of aging and some neglect.

Some of these greying women then sometimes resort to subterfuge ( conventional oxidation coloring ). Unfortunately the irremediable aspect of “ root ” due to hair growth ( about 1 cm per month ) brings these women to organize their time and invest regularly to achieve their color, then a ritual that brings these women to become “ slaves ” to hair coloring.

By cons, a Pepper woman is aware of her strengths and Salt will not seek to conceal her natural hair.

Thus assuming her color will give her an attitude of strength and consistency which is no way a renunciation of her youth or the power of her femininity, on the contrary it is a very intellectual approach, based on emotion: the woman thus assumes and no longer suffers.

For those women who decided to accept their Greying, there are several opportunities to enjoy their color, for example by recreating hair peppers ( scanning microscopic hair with darker hair ) while interspersing white hair.

These techniques will help professional women to realize that they can be themselves, different and in a less restrictive way, to have the feeling of freedom recover their white hair making friends accomplices a strong and sharp style, without diving into an aging image or neglected, now women no longer suffer from white hair but will make an asset of seduction and not enemies always sources of regular maintenance due to the action of hair growth or some preconceived ideas carelessness.

Who are Women Salt and Pepper?

Salt and pepper the color can be broken down and match different styles of women with regard to the nature of the hair, it is better to have a structure of thick hair and a bob, but I also recommend certain women avoid Greying style:

A woman having a structure of fine hair or very curly could give a picture of shaggy hair and unkempt.

Similarly, a woman with very contracted style is fond blends bright colors which would tend to give a hippie look that harkens back to a loss of style and unwanted as denial or neglect effects.

In these cases, I think we should avoid this approach does not lead to my amazement Greying chic trendy style.

Glamour woman
In very sharp style with clothes for structured cuts such as human and a very light makeup that accentuates her eyes with neutral colors tailored.

Avoid: classic accessories such as pearl necklace, silk scarf on shoulders.

The chic ethnic woman

Style “ Japanese designer ” as the main color with black or white.

Avoid: accessories and gold jewelry.

I will promote silver, white gold and black ebony wood.

The ultra-chic natural woman
A bob diving ( slightly shorter neck ), right-legged pants high waist with a hint of color with a gem such as earrings.

In conclusion is not Greying wants, this approach is indeed a sharp attitude and some research feminine perfection…

Pepper and Salt, I love it!


The blond with Shatoosh effect

Shatoosh blonde

Shatoosh shawls were once created by extremely skilled craftsmen weavers because they were able to weave with these extremely fine hairs.

Indeed, the outcome of hair down the chest and neck of the Tibetan antelope ( now protected species since 1979 ) are between 9 and 11 micrometers while a human hair is between 50 and 75 microns and 14 to 18 the hair of the goat Chang-ra used for weaving Pashmina.

The highlights Shatoosh is the signature of an attitude, a style of extreme refinement and femininity code. It allow to create from dark blond to light ( natural or colored ) light effect around the face and in relief cut blond hair. The paste is a mixture of light bleaching associated with Rituel ( valuable dry oil ) and fine sand. Hydrogen peroxide was is dosed according to the desired shade. This paste is usually applied with a fine brush and all realized by 4 hands.

The development of highlights Shatoosh is to select the extremely thin transparent hair strands on the most exposed parts to reproduce the subtle effect of Shatoosh comparable to a deep and subtle light material.

Results: A slight natural color and with a constant feeling of vibration reflections depending on the light while maintaining the hair material which is not sensitized.


My first time with Peggy

Ma première fois avec Peggy

The colouring of the hair is THE code of femininity, this first time is very often born in a bathroom, with the assistance of a girlfriend, and this experience can unfortunately turn catastrophic with an indefinable colour orevenworse it may sensitise the hair…

Never the less the first highlights, or first colour are acts impossible to circumvent in the coming of age of awoman, for this reason we imagined an original concept to assist these young women take their first steps in the world of colouring, by offering our expertise so that this experience is the source of emotions.

Peggy has been my assistant for over 10 years,she will become your valuable ally and the best friend of your hair, finally this significant moment will be quite naturally done in the intimacy of Rodolphe’s VIP cabin.

“ My first time with Peggy ” is defined around a dialogue and personalised attention:

  • An expertise on hair
  • A creation of the right colour in all quietude
  • The insurance of an ideal departure for the young woman
  • A set-price agreement tailored to a Jr budget

“ My first time with Peggy ” includes a colour, a shampoo, a hair treatment 180€ *

* Offer valid only to young women from 16 to 25 years that have never chemically coloured their hair.

Colour Coloré par Rodolphe