I love doing major transformations of a client’s haircut or color, as it involves so much creativity. The key to successful major changes is a thorough consultation including pictures and a conversation about maintenance window of the changes, price and how the care routine will change at home. Additionally, it’s helpful to discuss the effect this requested change may have on how they are perceived. Sometimes, certain changes can draw attention to features we may want to downplay. Alternatively, maybe it’s sincerely a midlife crisis and we may actually want to take the change in stages and adapt to them over time. It’s the understanding of what is motivating us to drastically change that opens up the conversation as to whether or not a discussed option will likely make the client happy in the long term. Something else to consider is, if the client likes change often, there may be issues potentially with the condition of the hair in which case it would be advisable to consider different options. I consider it time well spent to gather as much information as possible to ensure an enjoyable and permissive transition into new looks where process and expectations are in alignment.
Part of creating alignment of expectations is creating a planned approach to changes. Often, this is achieved by a series of appointments where different aspects of a transformation are addressed. This could be reconditioning the hair prior to a color application to ensure a pallet is ready to accept a color application evenly. Another possible pretreatment is the removal of minerals that are built up on and in the hair to ensure that it’s not interfering with a chemical process or product penetration of the hair shaft. Ultimately, changes of hair color requires the fabric to be able to sustain whatever change we are heading toward. Thus, anything that needs to be removed or added to the hair structure to ensure success will be recommended. This includes after treatments such as Olaplex, which is at the top of the list for helping to prevent damage and to help to repair any current hair damage that could affect color uptake and shine.
In some situations, we need to ease into a new look by adding color or dimension a little at a time to find the sweet spot, as with adding dimension to platinum blonde hair. As much as we all want dimension once it’s icy blonde, we don’t always want the slightly darker pieces it near the face, and if we do want the dimension more noticeable, the placement has to be just right to enhance your features. Additionally, a client might need time to get used to their look rather and spring boarding back by taking the lowlights out again. So, a multipronged approach can ensure the chemicals can do what they are expected to, and ultimately the hair is better for it. This collaboration not only allows us to use our full capability as hairdressers, but it builds the trust with client that I will act within their best interest, and only with their permission to do so.