Colours

Colours –  anyone who knows anything about the world of hair colour and pigments knows that there are 3 primary shades, Red, Yellow and Blue, and 3 secondary colours, Orange, Purple and Green. Mix any combination of two primary shades and you create a secondary. Randomly mix primary and secondary shades together and you create tertiary colours. It’s as simple as that. Mix too many together and you will end up with a muddy brown. Product manufacturers understand the delicate nuances of creating multiple shades for you to choose from. There’s nothing easier than going into a dispensary and pulling a tube from a rack, squeezing it and applying to a client chair. It’s easy, it’s quick, but it’s most definitely not creative!

Manufactures naturally want salons to stock 100+ shades from their portfolio, why? because it boosts revenue for them. But if you really want to be classed as a true colourist, the choice of creating shades should be down to you, not a rack of tube after tube of ready mixed shades. In today’s current climate where salons are being stretched from every possible angle, money is becoming more and more relevant, stock control has to be tight and ‘dead money’ ie shades that don’t get used much need to be dropped.

It’s time for technicians and colourists to take a step back from ready mixed and look at creating bespoke shades that are much more personalised rather than generic. Using a range of colours that give the basics and most popular tones, and then adding to them to make individual colours has to be the way forward, from a specialised, creative, financial, environmental and enjoyable perspective, taking back control of the colours created adds layer upon layer of benefits to the stylist and client, to the salon and to the environment. plus, the skills that are so challenging to learn about creating colours remain sharp and fresh on a daily basis.

I firmly believe that as salon life changes with the shift from lots of manufacturers to mass market revenue streams, it’s time for salons to become more individual, more exclusive, more creative and much much more less reliant on behemoths who aren’t really that committed to salons anymore.

Watch this space as I delve into the world of hair colour that offers something special to salons, something that makes them feel valued and part of a ‘salon professional’ world, not an add on to the mass market, and most importantly, brands that don’t expect you to carry 100+ shades.