There are 2 types of melanin produced in the hair cortex Eumelanin blackbrown and Pheomelanin redyellow . The darker the hair color , the more Eumelanin exists in the hair . Most people have both pigments in their hair which is why when you lighten the hair with bleach for example , the hair starts turning red , then orange , then yellow . Lightener works by opening up the outer cuticle layers of the hair and allowing the natural pigment to be released from the hair cortex . When hair is resistant , the outer cuticle layer is so tightly packed down that it is difficult for any type of moisture or chemical to enter the cortex of the hair . In the hairdressing world we refer to this as the hair ' s porosity , or ability to absorb moisture . Really coarse , virgin hair hair that has never been chemically treated with color , lightener , relaxer , etc is usually going to be resistant , meaning it is going to take longer to open up the cuticle of the hair to allow whatever chemical service the client wants . So to answer your question in a round about way , only 2 types of pigment exists in everybody ' s hair in the world . How dark or light your hair is means you have more or less melanin . So somebody with very dark natural hair is going to take longer for their hair to lighten because they have more melanin to release from the hair cuticle , whereas somebody who is a natural blonde , isn ' t going to have nearly as much pigment to pull from their hair . But again , this varies widly among all ethnicity groups . One person may have black hair that is resistant so it ' s going to take longer to service their hair , while another may have black porous hair which will allow the pigment to release much easier . Porous hair is a whole other beast of problems though 😥