8th July 2025
Oh no, that’s never going to happen…. I can hear hairdressers up and down the country saying when asked, what if you changed your colour brand. It’s interesting the (misplaced) loyalty that some colour houses have from salons and their teams. I get it, changing colour feels like a big, uphill challenge when numbers are replaced with letters, and depths & tones are slightly different, and colour correction recipes, eek, that’s way too much grief to deal with. And let’s not forget, those colour companies that have been around forever and a day educate hairdressers to believe that changing colour is a bad idea …. I say educate, in actual fact it’s more like brainwashing.
I’ve been there, I’ve written education materials that subconsciously create a fear factor about change. But over the years the realisation that changing isn’t that difficult has helped my mindset accept that it isn’t as challenging as one might think.
Depth & Tone: The International Colour Chart (ICC), which is also known as the hair colour numbering system sets a benchmark that, at the absolute most differs company to company by approximately half a shade from a depth perspective, and tones can be different based on the blend of primary colours to create natural and fashion shades. Nothing to worry about there!
Pre-Mixed Shades: Every company strives to create unique blended shades and tones that make for ease of use, simply pick a tube and go! Nothing to worry about there!
Colour Correction recipes: Once upon a time there were very specific techniques for corrective work, but in todays world where colours are changed more regularly, new approaches to colour removal and replacement have become much easier to deal with, and with a wide array of wash in / wash out, semi, demi and permanent colours available, correcting colours has become a much more creative and simplistic aspect of colour work. Nothing to worry about there!
Add to that the amazing choice of colour brands now available, brands that offer something over and above those that have been around forever and charge over and above per tube and increase their prices twice yearly, then from a salon owners perspective, change is a positive step. From a colourists point of view, whilst the initial fear can kick in, the decision to move to a new range can lead to greater interest from clients and also inspire creativity from their hairdresser.
What if you changed your colour brand – the question should be, what if you didn’t? All that happens is you stay stuck in a rut and constantly pay more (twice a year) for something that doesn’t deliver anything over and above the multitude of fresh and exciting colour companies that could help you and your business increase your bottom line and generate a renewed energy from team members.
If you would like to talk about colour ranges that might fit with your salon ethos, get in touch.
