The Developer Decision: 10, 20, 30 or 40 Volume

Four bottles, four jobs, and the wrong one undoes an otherwise correct formula. This is the developer table for Life Color Plus, what each strength is actually for, and the arithmetic that explains why "I always use 20 vol" is not a portable instruction between colour lines.

The table

The manufacturer's own published guidance. All four strengths are stocked at £3.65.

Why higher is not stronger

The instinct on a stubborn head is to reach for 30 volume. It is almost always wrong, and the reason is worth understanding rather than memorising.

Developer volume controls lift, not deposit. A higher volume removes more of the client's own natural pigment; it does not push more dye into the hair. So on a head that is largely white — which by definition has very little pigment left to remove — all you gain is a lighter, warmer result that reads as poorer coverage, not better.

If coverage is failing at 20 volume, the things worth changing are the shade (a .00 intensified natural rather than a .0), the ratio (1:1 rather than 1:1.5), or the timing — not the developer. Those options are in the naturals article and the grey protocol.

The arithmetic nobody explains

Here is why a rule learned on another colour line does not transfer. The mixing ratio dilutes the developer, so the same bottle behaves differently depending on how much colour it is mixed with:

Two useful consequences fall out of that:

• The 1:1 grey formula is gentler than it looks. Twenty volume at 1:1 behaves closer to a 10 volume in the bowl — which is why the protocol compensates with a longer development rather than a stronger developer.
• A colourist arriving from a 1:1 line will find their usual 20 volume runs slightly hotter here, because the standard 1:1.5 puts more developer in the mix. Expect a touch more lift on the first few heads. That is covered in the switching guide.

Three questions that pick the volume

Rather than reaching for a habitual bottle, run these in order. They resolve the choice every time:

1. Am I lifting at all? If no — refreshing, toning, changing tone at the same depth — it is 10 volume, and nothing else. This question alone prevents most of the slow darkening that afflicts long-term colour clients.
2. Am I covering white? If yes, 20 volume, and the full 45 minutes. Not 30 — a higher volume lifts the client’s remaining pigment rather than depositing more dye.
3. How many levels am I lifting? Up to two, 20 volume. Two to three, 30. Four to five, that is the superlightener series at 1:2 with 40 — a different product and a different ratio, not simply a bigger bottle.

Ten volume is under-used

Most salons buy 20 and 30 and treat 10 as an afterthought. It is the strength that does three jobs nothing else does:

• Refreshing lengths and ends at a regrowth appointment, without adding depth. This is the step that stops a level 7 client becoming a level 5 client over two years — see refreshing mid-lengths and ends.
• Toning pre-lightened hair, where any lift is actively counterproductive.
• Tone-on-tone work on a client who wants a change of tone with no change of depth.

There is also a dedicated Life Color Tone on Tone cream developer at £3.56 for this work.

What to keep on the shelf

At £3.65 a bottle there is no argument for rationing:

• 20 volume — the workhorse. Coverage plus modest lift. Buy the most.
• 10 volume — refreshing and toning. Buy more than you think.
• 30 volume — genuine lift work.
• 40 volume — only for the superlightener series, at 1:2.

Running out of 10 volume on a Saturday is what causes someone to "just use 20" on a set of ends — and that decision is invisible on the day and very visible a year later.

Formulating — part 3 of 5.
Previously: ← Formulating from the base up
Next: Mixing ratios in practice →

The developer table and timings are the manufacturer's own published guidance. Prices correct at the time of writing. Professional product for salon use only.