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3 Questions to Ask Your Hair Colorist to Avoid a Hair Color Horror Story

Posted by on Dec 19, 2014 in Blog, Colour Analysis, Hair | Comments Off on 3 Questions to Ask Your Hair Colorist to Avoid a Hair Color Horror Story




Originally published in The Huffington Post at this link – http://www.huffingtonpost.com/carol-brailey/3-questions-to-ask-your-h_b_6354930.html

Do you color your hair or are you thinking about coloring your hair?

Do you know if the elements reviewed during your consultation with your hair colorist are either setting you up for OR avoiding a potential hair color horror story?

Many consultations with hair colorists include some or all of the following…

  • Reviewing hair color swatch books
  • Pulling out pictures of celebrities
  • Discussing what untrained individuals have recommended for you (e.g. friends, family)
  • Reviewing current hair color trends
  • Assessing your greys and determining blonde is the best coverage plan

There is a major gap in all of the above scenarios if you are not discussing your skin tone, your skin undertone and colors that look best on you (example – your color analysis results including your color season and flow of color season). All of these elements are key requirements in determining what your optimal hair color(s) are. Colors that look good on someone else, don’t necessarily translate into those colors looking good on you. Everyone is perfectly unique.

Why should choosing your optimal hair color(s) matter to you?
Your hair is one of the first things people see when they look at you and it also frames your face. If you are not wearing your optimal or correct hair color, or, are wearing too many colors in your hair you are distracting others from seeing you. This therefore may limit the expression of your personal power, your influence, charm, and overall authentic personality. As a result you could look dull, worn, outdated, odd, unbalanced, and even older.

If you are skeptical on why you should care about the hair colors you select for yourself, I highly recommend you take a look at this great pictorial published on The Daily Mail Online titled “What a difference a dye makes! Yes, changing your hair colour DOES transform your looks”. The pictorial includes computer manufactured images of celebrities in various hair colors to illustrate the importance of hair color selection.

All hair colorists are trained on how to formulate and apply hair color. You want to also ensure your hair colorist is trained in and/or has significant experience determining what your optimal hair color(s) are.

I was an Image Consultant before I completed my hair training. Once I found out that my color season is True Summer, I knew my hair color at the time was completely misaligned to where it needed to be for me to give off my best. So I went to an upscale hair salon and visited a hair colorist with over 10 years of experience. This colorist had even completed training and worked in Europe for a few years.

I told this hair colorist that my skin undertone was cool and my color season was True Summer. They looked at me with a blank look when I said these key pieces of information about what colors are best for me. I then explained that my hair color needed to have an Ashy look to it. They then said to me that they knew exactly what to do and they were going to add in some elements that they thought would look great.

I left the salon with warm brown hair that faded to orange within 2 weeks. Oh my! I was a True Summer (needs Ash with no warm undertones) walking around with orange hair. It looked horrid and took several visits to another hair colorist to correct.

I have my own hair coloring horror story.

To avoid your own or another hair coloring horror story, I recommend you ask your hair colorist these 3 questions before you make your next hair color appointment or select them to be your hair colorist.

1) How do you help me determine what my most optimal hair color(s) are? — at minimum you should hear the words “skin undertone”.

2) Are you trained in color analysis or what other training / experience do you have to help me determine the hair colors that work best for me?

3) If you have had a color analysis consultation ask — If I told you my color season and flow of color season, could you translate this key information about colors that are best for me into my optimal hair color(s)?

If you are not happy with their responses to the questions above, it may be time to find a hair colorist to work with you to ensure you are wearing your most optimal hair color(s).

Your hair is one of the first things people notice about you and it also frames your face. Is your hair color choice distracting from your personal power?

By making hair color choices that give off your best energy, you are allowing the world to see the authentic you and rather than looking worn or old, you will instead look more elegant, refined, and vibrant.

I hope this blog post inspires you to wear your authenticity!

Carol Brailey Image Consulting
Inspiring Individuals to Wear Their Authenticity