What To Expect From Your Hair Salon:
Getting Your Hair Colored

Your crowning glory – hair. As you get older, it betrays you and you have to color it to find your youth again. When you’re young, you wish it was anything but what you’ve got so you try all kinds of things to make it better. Whatever your reason, hair color can be your best friend or your worst enemy. The number one tip I have for you is if you have already had a color service (either a lighter or darker color) is to not try and redo the color yourself. Color theory is a crazy beast, and if you don’t understand it you could royally mess up your hair. I understand the cost and taking that into consideration, ask your stylist for their ideas about maintaining your color if you can’t afford to come in at the recommended time intervals for touch-ups. They don’t want to see you mess up their work, either! Buying a box of color off the store shelf and sticking it in your hair will not guarantee you get the same results as the model on the box. The model on the box is just a representation of what the color would probably look like on a person who had never colored their hair before. You can even try calling the company that manufactures the box color, but it’s hard for them to know what your hair’s been through and what condition it’s now in and how it will react to a color you’ve never used before on a color used previously by your stylist from a completely different manufacturer. Bottom line is they will make sure you know they can’t be held responsible for the results if you decide to use their stuff. If you do muck it up, it will probably cost you at least twice as much to get it fixed as it would have to just go to the salon in the first place. There are costs involved in color removal and toners and lighteners – and it may take several trips to fix your hair tragedy.
So you’ve decided to stick with your stylist to make sure you get the best color. Great! Why does it matter? Your stylist knows about hot roots and the mid-shaft to ends. They know about processing times and developers. They know how to do fillers if you are going from blonde to brunette or how to get a more vibrant red or copper by balancing the remaining pigments. They can do foils! They know where to place them on your head to get the best placement for light reflection and depth. All these things you might not know about and can’t do at home by yourself. This is why you go to a stylist and pay them four times or more than the price of a box color from the store. Because you know the results will be more fabulous than that random box color.

Am I bashing box color? Not at all! I’ve actually used it myself (yes, I’m a stylist) and gotten fantastic results. The difference is that I went to school and learned about color theory. I know what it takes to get to a level 10 and what the natural pigment is. I know I have to add certain pigments back in if I want to go darker so the color doesn’t look washed out or green or purple. Your stylist will know this too. The box won’t tell you.

The best tip I can give you about hair color application is to let a pro do it. It’s a lot less stressful for you and you are almost guaranteed great results. Yes, some stylists make mistakes, but they can generally be fixed quickly.
As for preparation, if you know what you are looking for in a color, take in a picture. This is the most thoughtful thing you can do for your stylist. If you go in and say “I want my hair to be copper,” the stylist may have a completely different concept of what that is. Same goes for caramel, honey, wheat, chocolate… There’s an endless list of misunderstood or miscommunicated color descriptions. Bringing in a picture will help you both feel better about the color process. Your stylist can also make any adjustments necessary to make sure the color looks good against your skin tone instead of washing you out or making you look too rosy. And if you know exactly what you want and don’t want their opinion, then tell them that ahead of time. Otherwise, most stylists will have some opinions on what should happen in your color process. The best tip I can give you when coming up with a concept for your hair color is to keep an open mind. Your stylist may have seen something new or been to a training class that will look fantastic on you and you don’t want to miss out on something that will make you look even better.

The trick to hair color is to know when to let someone else do the dirty work for you. Let your stylist – the trained professional – take care of it.