Colour change!

As we welcome springtime, after a long winter, it is often time for a change and clients ask for something new with hair colour. It’s a great time to look at a colour change but first – the facts!

As always, there are a lot of things to consider…

• Condition
• Style
• Maintenance
• Existing colour
• Lifestyle
• Cost
• Suitability

Condition:

Is the hair in a reasonable condition? Will it sustain a chemical change? Would a deep conditioning treatment help? Would a new colour be retained?

Style:

If your hair is cut short or in a precision style, colouring will be important. How will the hair sit with balayage for example? How will the hair look if it’s layered? Especially if it’s shorter at the back.

Maintenance:

If your hair colour is bold, or if it’s lightened and toned, this will impact on how often you’ll need to have the colour refreshed. Toners fade depending on how often you wash your hair or how porous it is.

Existing colour:

This is one of the most important factors.

If a box dye has been used recently at home, an incompatibility test would have to be carried out before any colour service in the salon. Home dyes are formulated differently to professional salon colour and the metallic salts are often not compatible.

Another factor to consider in this category, is how dark or light the existing colour is. If a client has blonde hair and wants to go darker or add more tone, a pre-pigment colour might be needed to replace the copper/red/gold tones that are removed during the lightening process, first. If this isn’t carried out, the hair can be left with a flat khaki undertone. Similarly, if hair is dark, anything less than a mid-brown, it’s not always straightforward to lighten the hair to the desired colour. This can impact on cost as it may be a work in progress and take a few attempts to get the desired effect.

Lifestyle:

A good example of this is whether someone swims regularly. This will always impact on hair colour.

Also, if someone works in a school or crown court for example, it may be inappropriate to dye your hair bright pink!

Cost:

A full colour change or colour correction needs to be discussed beforehand and this would include the cost. Will toners be used? How many applications of colour are needed? Will it need to be placed on the ends as well as root? Retail products which may help to retain colour, can impact the final bill.

Suitability:

This is a combination of all the categories. Plus other things, like skin tone, hair type, thickness and length.

A good consultation will usually answer most questions so customers can make a well informed decision.