Hair Color Tips: How-to Ask For Hair Color

Hair Color Tips: How-to Ask For Hair Color

Hair color tips to properly ask for hair color are the topic of today’s Hair Police. All too often guests sit in the chair with a preconceived notion of what a particular shade is labeled. However, as hair professionals, we understand caramel could be perceived differently. Therefore, Ask the Pro Stylist has a few hair color tips when heading to the salon for a color service. Otherwise, you might end up with a violation from the Hair Police.

Happy Monday beautiful, and welcome to another weekly edition of Ask the Pro Stylist’s Hair Police. After witnessing a few guests that were unable to describe how they wanted their hair, I decided to post a few hair color tips when at the salon for a color service.

When heading to a salon for hair color it is always best to have a photograph of what you want. **Please note, your hair and face are most likely different than the picture. This is to be used as a guide to get the hair color you want, not to look exactly like what is represented online or in a magazine. Those photos are touched up and taken in optimal lighting. Unless you are in natural light, it will be difficult to gauge the shade.

Although salons are switching to bigger windows and natural lighting for optimal color selection, it isn’t always available. Most homes have incandescent lighting that produce an amber glow, which gives the hair a warm tone, and fluorescent lighting found in warehouses, offices, and department stores accent cool tones. The best lighting to determine hair color is in natural light.

Hair Color Tips – when you search caramel, an array of shades appear!

Hair Color Tips – when you search caramel, an array of shades appear!

Please don’t bring a dated picture from 1985. Your hair is different, as is your skin, and the photo could be faded.

Hair Color Tips – My idea of Strawberry Blonde

Knowing a general understanding of hair color isn’t required, but great if you do. For instance, while the Internet is a valuable source of information, if you search caramel highlights or strawberry blonde hair color, a vast array of different tones and levels appear. Strawberry blonde could mean one thing to you, and an entirely different thing to the colorist. Caramel is a whole different animal, and one of the most used terms to describe a variety of shades when asking for highlights. Understanding that is key in color selection. Bring your photo and then select a shade with the colorist and the swatches available in the salon.

Hair Color Tips – My idea of Golden Blonde, although it appears under a search for strawberry blonde as well.

I do hope my hair color tips to choose the best hair color service for you is useful during your next visit to a salon. Until next week, happy styling!

©Deirdre Haggerty, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this article may be reproduced without prior written permission and consent from the author.