Making your salon visit the best ever!

Most important step to a great hair salon service

The truth is that the most important tool at your stylist's hands when doing your hair is honesty between the two of you. It is a tempting thing if you know you are going to get preached to from your stylist to lie about what you did to your hair, but if your stylist scares you that much… CHANGE STYLIST!

It is not our job to preach it is our job to teach, work with you and create trust so that we can accomplish amazing healthy, beautiful hair. Deep breath, I am about to make some in my industry mad when I say, “I am not a hater of box color”. It’s not the best and it will never have the impact or pop that sitting in my chair will create. However, before becoming a stylist I was a DIY at home girl and so I understand how you followed that path. But when it comes time for a beautiful change, you have, to be honest with me.

The one thing I truly wish you would never do at home is bleach your hair. Do you want to do your own fashion creative color? (Avoid Splat but that is the whole different conversation.) Great make an appointment with a stylist and ask them to get your hair blonde, super blonde depending on what color you are wanting. Talk to your stylist. Then go home and create your colors or let your friend have some fun coloring. But start at the salon with a trusted stylist.

The truth is that although you can give yourself a chemical haircut with box permanent hair color the risk is normally small if you follow directions and don’t play chemist over and over. However, almost weekly there will be someone walk into the salon with bleach damage either from DIY at home, lying to a past stylist about hair color history or from a poor salon service when the client was searching for a bargain.

That gets us to the important part of your relationship with me HONESTY. Too often clients sit in my chair and say, it has been years since they colored their hair and I can see looking at their roots versus ends that it is not the truth. Often after digging it is because another stylist scolded them about box color. I’ve had clients say their last color was at a salon, but after digging I learn their last color was DIY. Be honest and I promise, to be honest, and not try to scare you with some lie about metallic salts, or the dye is the same found in carpets. Let’s agree, to be honest with each other.

So, why does it matter what you did in the past with your hair?

If 4 months ago you had Splat hot red and you covered it with black and now you want highlights if you are not honest what you get is one hot mess and although you will blame the stylist the problem is YOU! Because if we know under that black that you had Splat we are going to have a talk about the long painful process of getting you out of the mess. What you did in the past is important no matter how many layers of other color you put on top. If you were previously super blonde and now you are box black we need to know about that blonde. If not when we go to take you blonde you will loss hair!

There are some boxes out there that use ingredients that if we are not careful when we go to remove, or change we can create a bad chemical reaction. Often times this is where DIY tragedies happen. Last month you used this box, this month a new box and then BAM bad chemical reaction. If you are going to play DIY… stick with one line and one color and keep track of what you do each time. Honestly, most great stylist have a client card for most of their clients or they stick to one line so they know everything about their client’s history.

Lastly, there is often a difference in how a professional will color your hair and what you pull out of a box. A box is designed to get you there no matter what method if possible so they will often use much harsher levels of developer then a stylist might choose. The more you open your cuticle the more damage you put your hair at risk for split ends, breakage and weakening the hair. If I know your hair history I am going to be able to create a formula, and plan to help put you on the road to healthier, more beautiful hair.

How to pick the right stylist for your next hair adventure.

One mistake many DIY clients make when looking to go to a stylist to help them make a major change or fix a DIY disaster is to ask who can do their hair on the cheap and in the end what they get is a stylist still early in their education, or with a slow or empty book that doesn’t have the experience of a busy stylist. If you are going to go to a salon don’t look for the cheapest, look for one with a reputation of creating beautiful healthy hair. If you like to change your color a lot your best investment is a stylist who will walk beside you in your hair adventure even if sometimes you see them and sometimes you DIY.

If you do want to DIY then my biggest suggestion is that any time you want to make a major change in hair color visit a stylist first and let them prepare your hair for the change to make the switch much healthier. The more faithful you are to your stylist the easier it is to walk hand in hand in all your hair color adventures no matter if they happen in my chair or your bathroom.

Want to see me?

If you live near Dalton, Georgia and you are looking for a change or ideas of what to do next and you like to DIY I can’t tell you what box to use (I really only know professional color) call or text to get a FREE consultation with me and I can help you with ideas and let you know the boxes that I know are the worst on the market. You can also book online at http://www.hartlinehair.com

Don’t live in Dalton, but still have questions you can follow me on facebook, instagram, twitter or pinterest by looking for @HartlineHair. Visit my website at http://www.hartlinehair.com

Please don’t ask the Sally’s employees very few of them have any experience in day to day hair chemical services. They are amazing people and will try to help, but their knowledge is limited and who is going to say, “I don’t know go ask a stylist” and risk their job?