Situation:
Opening up someone's scalp and putting color in there so it stays longer
The majority of my clientele are mostly color services. I love doing color and I love experimenting with it. I push the limits with it and I make discoveries that help future situations. There are a lot of things that can affect how color turns out such as the original tone and level of hair color. A thorough consultation is absolutely necessary to make a color turn out the desired end result. Most clients do not like red so I fight all sorts of red hues everyday. They want their highlights not too ashy but definitely not red. They want a beautiful chocolately brown but NO red. I consider myself a no red zone 90% of the time.
Others want their hair back to their "natural" color but the last time they saw their natural color was when they were 12 years old and now it's three shades darker but they swear there's no way that their hair is brown. "I'm naturally blonde!" Yes, I too was a towhead toddler but hormones hit me and then pregnancy and whatever else makes hair color change and now, I'm a brownhead. Did you know that medications can affect how color turns out? Yes, a lot of thyroid medication can hinder you from getting those cool tones and instead you get warm yellows because of the iodine that is in the medication.
Now, on to the fun stuff. Grey coverage! It's like magic when I cover someone's grey hair. I take them back to younger years and they have a bounce in their step again. I have learned that there is coarse grey hair, fine grey hair, grey hair that resists color and grey hair that has a mind of it's own. Grey hair shows itself in the late 20's, early 30's for most women. It comes with age because the pigment cells in the hair follicle slowly die. I notice that most of the time it's a hereditary trait.
I once had a client that was a 2-3 weeker, meaning that she does not want to see any grey hair at all so I colored her hair every 2-3 weeks. In fact, my senior citizen client not only despised the 100% grey hair she had but she wanted trendy hair on top of that. Trendy for her and trendy for me were two different meanings so every time I saw her we had a 20 minute consultation. We looked through pictures and books and would finally come to an agreement on what she wanted as well as what I was actually capable of doing with her hair. After each service she would tell me that she wanted a little more of this or that but we can wait to change it until next time. In between appointments she would call me and ask me about her color. One of the last phone calls I had with her involved me answering a lot of questions about why her hair grows out grey and if I can get closer to her scalp in my color application. I explained that I can not any closer in applying the color to her scalp than I already do. She said she understood that but then asked if I could get deeper into her scalp to apply the color. My mouth dropped and I repeated, "You want me to apply the color deeper INTO your scalp?" "Yes, deeper...I know it may sound crazy but yes, can you get deeper in there so I don't have to come in as often?" There was no misunderstanding, she wanted me to get that color to penetrate her flesh to magically change her outgrowing hair color. I can not do that and I almost felt like I was letting her down by saying no but I gave it to her straight. "I do not have the ability to go any deeper into your scalp. I'm sorry." She said that she probably guessed that was the case but had to ask. How do you end a conversation like that? "Okay then, I'll see you next week?" Yup, that's exactly how I ended that craziness.
If you are, let's say, in your 70's or 80's, and 100% grey then I advise you to just let it go. Maintenance should include shine treatments and toners to insure that it stays healthy and vibrant looking . If you are younger and concerned grey hair will age you, then be ready to commit to coloring it every 2-4 weeks for full grey coverage. Meryl Streep is in her 60's and nearly 100% white, it's gorgeous and classy. I've also seen her as a beige blonde and it looks just as ravishing. Take care of your color and listen to the professionals!
Krista-1, Grey client scalp-0
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