Developer 101: What is Developer and How Does it Work?

Developer, what the heck is that? Besides being the liquid that you mix with your bleach to lighten your hair. Also, why are there so many different volumes of it, and why did we choose the volume that we did for our Lightening Kit?

What does Developer do?

Developer opens the cuticle of the hair and activates the bleach so that it can lift pigments from the hair. The stronger the developer, the faster it opens the cuticle of the hair. I mentioned volume. That's the number on the bottle, like 10, 20, or 30. The volume relates to the strength of the developer!

Common Volumes of Developer

10 volume: This is a mild low-level of developer. This is useful if you only want to slightly change the color of your hair. It's also a good volume to use with a lot of toners. 

20 volume: This is stronger than 10 volume and it's commonly used for lightening hair at home as it lifts 1 to 2 levels. 

30 volume: This is stronger than 20 volume. It can be useful if you have dark hair and you're looking to lift several levels, but it's on the stronger side, so it can be trickier to work with because of its strength. 

40 volume: This is commonly the strongest level of developer and we do not recommend it for at home use. If you have dark hair, it is easier and safer to do several rounds of lightning with a lower volume developer rather than try to lift your hair an extreme amount in one go with something really strong like 40 volume. 

In our Lightning kit we chose a 25 volume cream developer to protect the integrity of your hair while also ensuring a strong enough lift to prep your hair for our ultra vibrant color. Our Lightning kit also contains soy protein to strengthen and protect your hair while lightening, as well as coconut oil to keep the hair from drying out during the process.