# Where MakeupMe's box-code meanings come from

The box-code reader on [the mirror](/) reads the code printed on a hair-colour box as a level and one or two tones. The meaning of each digit and letter comes from the brand's own page below, read on 4 November 2026. Only those meanings were taken: no colour value, picture, shade list or product data from any brand. The colour the mirror then shows is the mirror's own, worked out from the level and the tone with the same colour words it uses for any colour you pick.

## Digits after a dot or comma: the international chart

- Source: L'Oréal Professionnel UK, "What do the numbers in hair colour mean?", https://www.lorealprofessionnel.co.uk/what-do-the-numbers-in-hair-colour-mean (read 4 November 2026).
- The number before the point is the level: 1 is black, 5 light brown, 6 dark blonde, 7 blonde and 10 the lightest blonde.
- After the point, the first digit is the main tone and the second the secondary tone: 1 ash, 2 iridescent, 3 golden, 4 copper.
- That page names no other digit, so the reader leaves 5 to 9 unnamed on this chart and says so.

## Digits after a slash: Wella Professionals

- Source: Wella Professionals, Koleston Perfect usage booklet, https://wella.com/professional/m/_master/products/koleston_perfect/pdfs/koleston-perfect_usagebooklet.pdf (read 4 November 2026).
- Depth before the slash, then the major tone and the minor tone: 1 ash, 2 matt, 3 gold, 4 red, 5 mahogany, 6 violet, 7 brown, 8 pearl, 9 cendré. The charts run to 11 and 12 (high-lift blondes).
- A 0 before a tone (/07) is a diluted tone (/7).

## Letters: Madison Reed

- Source: Madison Reed, hair colour chart, https://www.madison-reed.com/hair-color-chart (read 4 November 2026).
- The number is the level, from 2 (black) to 10 (light blonde). The first letter is the main tone and the next letters the undertones: N neutral, A ash, V violet, G gold, C copper, R red, M mahogany.
- Letters on other brands' boxes are read with this key, and the page says so: other brands may use letters differently.

## What the reader does not know

- Other brands number tones their own way. Read the chart on your box, and do a strand test.
- A tone the mirror has no colour for (iridescent, matt, pearl, cendré, brown) is shown as the nearest the mirror has, and the page names it.
- The same digit or letter twice is shown stronger: that is our reading, not a brand's.
- What a colour does on your hair depends on your starting hair. The mirror cannot bleach.

## Boxes sold now

Under a result, the mirror lists box hair colours sold now at about the same level and with the same main tone, each linked to the brand's own product page. The list was read from these brand pages on 5 November 2026; only the shade name, its code and the page's link were taken, never a price, stock, colour value or picture, and no shop's page was read.

- Clairol (United States), permanent hair colour, all eight pages: https://www.clairol.com/en-US/products/collections/permanent. Kept: Nice'n Easy, Nice'n Easy10, ColorStrong and Textures & Tones. Left out: root touch-ups (roots only), and lines whose codes are not a level (Bold & Bright, Natural Instincts Bold).
- Madison Reed, permanent hair colour: https://www.madison-reed.com/shop/brown, /shop/blonde, /shop/red and /shop/black, read with its letter key at https://www.madison-reed.com/hair-color-chart.
- Garnier (United States), Nutrisse Ultra Crème: the shades shown on https://www.garnierusa.com/about-our-brands/hair-color/nutrisse-color-creme. Garnier's full shade list sits behind a security check we do not pass, so only those shades are listed.

How a box is placed: the level is the number at the start of its code (a half level counts for the level on either side). The tone is the one the brand's own shade name gives (golden, honey or caramel is golden; ash, cool, smoky or silver is ash; copper, marigold or chestnut is copper; auburn, reddish, red, ruby, crimson, scarlet or garnet is red; mahogany; burgundy, berry, plum, violet or mauve is violet; a name with none of these is neutral). For Madison Reed, its own letters are used, and the tone a shade leans to is the first letter that is not N. Clairol's letters are not read with Madison Reed's key: Clairol's page calls 5C "Medium Cool Brown".

MakeupMe is not connected to these brands and earns nothing from these links. Brands change their ranges; the shop's page has the price and stock.