2.3 Hair Color, Pigment, and Melanin in Hair
Key Takeaways
- Eumelanin yields brown-to-black color and pheomelanin yields red-to-yellow color; both are deposited in the cortex by melanocytes in the hair bulb.
- Gray hair is reduced melanin production in the follicle — not a disease, not contagious, and not by itself a reason to refuse a cut or shave.
- ORS 690.005(2) barbering does not include bleaching, coloring, permanent waving, or relaxing; those chemical services sit in hair design under ORS 690.005(10).
- The HLO bulletin still lists hair color under histology of the hair and scalp, so pigment science is tested even though chemical coloring is outside barbering scope.
- Darker natural levels contain more eumelanin and show more remaining warm pigment if a hair designer later lightens — know the histology without performing the chemical service.
Open the HLO Barbering Examination Information Bulletin to Anatomy & Physiology. Under histology of the hair and scalp you will see hair color listed with structure, growth, trichology, and diseases. That is deliberate. Pigment is part of hair histology. It is also a scope trap. Candidates who trained in a dual program, or who watched "barber color" content from other states, try to answer as if an Oregon barbering certificate included bleaching and coloring. It does not.
This section teaches the pigment science the bulletin lists, then draws the ORS 690.005 line so you do not walk into the Laws & Rules paper — or an HLO inspection — treating color as a barbering service.
Why "hair color" is on a barber exam that does not authorize coloring
The 100-question Barbering theory paper tests what hair is. Natural color is a cortex fact: melanin granules sit in the cortex beside the keratin fibrils you already studied. Gray hair is a melanin-production fact, not a disease fact. Those items belong with trichology.
The 90-question Oregon Laws & Rules paper tests what you may do. ORS 690.005(2) barbering is shampoo, style, cut, singe, condition; tonics, dressings, and rinses; cosmetic massage and facial/scalp treatments without galvanic or faradic current; and shave, trim, or cut the beard or mustache. It does not list bleaching, coloring, permanent waving, or relaxing.
ORS 690.005(10) hair design does list those chemical services: styling, permanent waving, relaxing, cutting, singeing, bleaching, coloring, shampooing, conditioning, and applying hair products, plus beard work and scalp/neck massage in conjunction with those acts. Oregon issues separate field-of-practice certificates. There is no umbrella "cosmetology license" that quietly adds color to barbering. If you hold only barbering, you do not chemically color. If you also hold hair design, you color under that certificate, not under barbering.
Learn both sentences. The histology item asks eumelanin versus pheomelanin. The law item asks which certificate authorizes bleach.
Melanin: two pigments, one location
Melanin is the pigment that gives hair (and skin) its natural color. In the follicle, melanocytes in the hair bulb / matrix package melanin into granules and transfer them to the keratinocytes that will become the cortex. Natural hair color is therefore a cortex property, not a cuticle stain and not a medullary dye. The cuticle is generally transparent. You see cortex color through it.
Two types matter on the exam:
Eumelanin
Eumelanin produces the brown-to-black range. More, larger, or more densely packed eumelanin granules read as darker levels (black, dark brown).
Pheomelanin
Pheomelanin produces the red-to-yellow range. Hair that reads red, ginger, or strawberry blond is pheomelanin-dominant. Blond hair is typically a small amount of melanin, often with a pheomelanin contribution, not "no pigment."
Most natural hair is a mixture. The ratio, granule size, and distribution — not a single crayon — set the level and the tone.
| Pigment | Color range | Where it sits | Exam implication |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eumelanin | Brown to black | Cortex (placed by bulb melanocytes) | Dark natural levels; more pigment to overcome if a hair designer later lightens |
| Pheomelanin | Red to yellow | Cortex | Red/gold natural tones; more resistant, "warm" remaining pigment during lightening |
| Reduced / absent melanin | Gray to white | Same follicle, less product | Not a disease; not an Oregon barbering color service |
Natural levels
Barbering and hair-design textbooks describe natural hair color levels on a scale from about 1 (black) through 10 (lightest blond). Level is depth (how light or dark). Tone is the warm/cool/red/gold quality sitting on that level. You need the vocabulary because analysis questions will say "Level 3 natural brown" even though you will not apply lift-and-tone chemistry under a barbering certificate.
As a histology fact, darker levels contain more eumelanin in the cortex. Lighter levels contain less. Red natural hair is not "light brown with a rinse"; it is pheomelanin-rich cortex. That is why, in a hair-design chair, red natural pigment is stubborn during lightening — a fact you must be able to state without performing the bleach.
Gray hair is not a disease
Gray hair (canities) is reduced melanin production in the follicle. White hair is effectively the absence of melanin in that shaft. The cuticle and cortex are still keratin. The follicle is not infected. Gray is not contagious, not a reason to refuse a haircut or shave, and not by itself a physician-referral finding.
Clients will ask you to "get rid of the gray." An Oregon barber with only a barbering certificate does not apply oxidative color, deposit-only chemical color, bleach, or a progressive metallic dye to blend gray. That is hair design. You may cut, blend gray visually with a fade, use authorized tonics, dressings, and rinses that do not chemically alter pigment, and refer color work to a practitioner who holds hair design.
Do not tell the client gray hair is "dead hair" or "diseased hair." It is a pigment change. It may feel coarser or more wiry because of related cuticle and cortex changes with age, which is a texture/porosity observation, not a diagnosis.
How natural color would affect lightening — know it, do not do it
Hair-design chemistry lightens by oxidizing melanin in the cortex. Eumelanin is generally easier to break down than pheomelanin. That is why a dark brown (eumelanin-heavy) client can show warm red-orange contributing pigment as eumelanin lifts and remaining warm tones show through. Red natural hair (pheomelanin-dominant) stays stubbornly warm. These are standard textbook lightening facts, and they appear in mixed programs.
On the Oregon Barbering exam they are histology-plus-scope: you should be able to say where the pigment lives and which certificate is allowed to oxidize it. You should not describe yourself performing a bleach-and-tone in a barbering-only chair in Bend.
If a facility employs both certificates, the hair designer — not the barbering-only practitioner — runs the chemical color. Sharing a booth does not share a field of practice. Natural Hair Care is a still narrower field and also excludes chemical coloring and bleaching.
Oregon shop scenario
A client in a licensed Portland facility asks for a skin fade and "just a quick gray blend on the sides, like the barber in Vegas did." You hold an Oregon barbering certificate only. You complete the cut and shave. You do not mix oxidative color. You explain, in plain language, that Oregon barbering under ORS 690.005(2) does not include bleaching or coloring; those services are hair design. Gray hair is reduced melanin in the cortex, not something you "have to dye to keep healthy." If the facility has a hair-design practitioner, you offer a referral. If it does not, you do not improvise with a box dye from a bag. That answer is worth points on both written exams: pigment location on the theory paper, certificate scope on Laws & Rules.
Under ORS 690.005, which service is authorized by a hair-design certificate but is NOT included in the statutory definition of barbering?
Natural brown-to-black hair color is produced mainly by:
Gray hair, as tested in Oregon barber histology, is best described as: