Why I Won’t Quote Hair Color Prices Online
Whenever I’m chatting with a potential color client online, they understandably always want to know what the price is going to be. As someone who likes to stick to her own budget, I know their question is a reasonable one. But it’s not that simple and I can’t do it. Most hairdressers share my sentiment. Here’s why….
It’s not that simple.
If you reference my highlight glossary blog you’ll understand that there are multiple steps to achieving your Pinterest (or TikTok) inspired hair dreams. And that’s only if your hair is virgin (never colored). Most people have had previously colored hair. This adds a whole new layer (or multiple) of calculations to accomplish what you want.
If your hair has been highlighted…
If you have seen someone else who has highlighted your hair but those highlights aren’t matching your inspiration photo, you might be looking at a color correction. What does that mean? When i am picking up pieces of hair to put into the foil, I have to carefully pick out individual strands that have been over processed to carefully ensure your hair doesn’t melt, whiile simultaneously making sure the hair you want lighter gets light enough. This is a delicate balance of time & strength of lightener. And that’s just what is IN the foil. If the hair that was left out is not light enough but is too light to be in the foil, I’ll have to go back and separately apply another round of lightener to brighten it up while making sure the health of your hair isn’t compromised. Sometimes that means mixing in conditioner, treatments or bonding chemicals.
If your hair is damaged at all - then there is an added post highlight step of re-bonding that needs to be done before toning. It also could mean I need two or more different toners because your ends might absorb the color differently than your roots.
None of these things I would know by just talking to you online. And the truth is you won’t know either.
If your hair has box dye or other permanent color…
If you’ve got gray hair or have dyed with permanent color in the past, this makes it that much harder to get to your goal. Hair that has been previously colored is more resistant, tends to lift with more red/orange and takes much longer.
This could require re-applying lightener, sitting longer and adding heat. All of that requiring more time, product and effort on my part. Something I wouldn’t be able to account for until I see how quickly your hair is responding when you’re in the chair.
If you have a lot of growth from the last time you got your hair done…
If Covid, the budget or life has kept you from keeping up with your hair for more than 6-8 weeks, there adds a new factor I have to consider. Your body heat will process the first 1/2 inch of your hair differently than the rest of your hair. This means I need at least two different formulas. If your hair has many different colors to work around (highlights, lowlights, old color) a combination of the last two situations will happen which means there is so much more to calculate, product, time, and finesse to make sure you’re happy.
People lie, forget or don’t know what matters…
The truth is people will either lie or forget what they’ve put in their hair. They think that the color they put in their hair 2 Halloweens ago isn’t in their hair anymore because “it washed out”. I can tell you - no it didn’t. I’ll never forget one time I was highlighting a girl who had told me she only ever highlighted once before and it was “orange-y”. That just means the previous hairdresser didn’t get it light enough. But when I opened the foils to check it - her hair was hot pink. She neglected to tell me that last summer she used a color conditioner for fun. These things matter and she was furious that I had to charge her more just to get it out. Why shouldn’t I?
You might not know what you want…
A lot of times my clients could bring inspiration photos that aren’t best suited for their skin tone and their budget. This is something I’m able to talk about face - to - face when we’ve had a chance to meet and build trust. Discussing your budget with a stranger on the internet can feel intrusive and discussing my hair color rates with someone who I haven’t seen, touched their hair and discussed their budget/lifestyle feels inappropriate.
So what’s fair?
All of these reasons and more are why it’s not fair to quote a price online and be expected to stick to it when you sit in our chair and I get surprised with what it actually is going to take to get what you want. Some people have much more hair on their head than the average and it’s more work, time and product. The truth is, we are strangers and asking a lot of these questions from someone you don’t know is a turn off when you just want beautiful hair. For me, most people don’t really know their hair and what it needs and telling a price when I’m going in blind is also a turn off.
Everyone wants the lowest possible price but I’d rather do the best possible job. Most of the time, I can always work around someones (reasonable) budget. You might not look like the picture that day but it’s something we can create a plan together, once we get to know each other a bit.
Now that you know my heart on the matter, let me do your hair ;) Book here.
