Consultations

If you ask me, I think a good, solid consultation is your key to hair happiness. Too many of my current clients complain of subpar communication between them and their previous stylist. You wouldn't ask me a question in French, and understand my answer in Spanish, right? Muddy communication is usually where I think stylists and clients go wrong.

Communicating and Cutting
When I was in middle school (the worst, most awkward years of life for me), I went to a salon with hair collarbone length. I instructed the stylist to take about an inch off the length.

Little did I know, an inch to me and an inch to this girl were INCHES apart. I came out of the salon with hair up to my jaw and tears in my eyes. How could this woman honestly think that she took off one inch??? Looking back, if would have shown her how much "one inch" is to me, maybe we could have avoided the whole thing!

I think that might be why I am such a conservative cutter. I would much rather have to take off more length than wish I would have left more length - and I think everyone would agree with me there! And I don't know about other stylists, but I don't mind at all if people ask me to explain what I'm doing! I figure that if a stylist doesn't want you to know what they are doing, it's probably because you won't like what they are doing. Just sayin!

Consultation and Colors
When I look back at pictures from middle school and high school, I am honestly horrified at what I see. I was so preoccupied with being the cookie cutter "pretty blonde" that I didn't even stop to think about whether my brassy blonde tone was good on me! I can barely stand looking at some of those pictures from my blonde phase. What I had at that time was everything I have come to hate: brassy, orangey blonde that's clearly unnatural; dark ashy roots; and yellowy color combined with the yellow undertones in my skin! It looked jaundice-y! I don't know if no one thought to gently guide me in the direction of the cooler blondes for fear of hurting my feelings, but it taught me the importance of understanding the effect different hair colors and tones have on skin tones.

Eventually I got it figured out. It may sound strange, but I figured out that I am a "cool," by taking note of which colored clothes I got complimented. Those colors are jewel tones. If you get compliments the most when you wear colors like oranges, earthtones, olives, browns or plums, there's a good chance that you are a "warm."

Understanding whether you are cool or warm is of utmost importance when deciding what hair color to go for. It's important to maximize what we have and can't change. To me, that means choosing a color that makes your skin glow, your eye color look brighter, and the whites of your eyes look whiter! Another reason to understand our skin tones - picking the right shade can potentially allow us to rely less on makeup, and more on the fact that we just look more awake naturally!

So I guess the point of this post is to stress how important it is to:
*understand our own skin tones, and work with them!
*understand the importance of crystal clear communication, and
*understand and really reflect on what you want as a client.

Just because someone really really really wants to be a certain color, doesn't mean that they want it for the right reasons. We should strive to find a color that you love for the right reasons, not something you want to love for the wrong reasons!