What’s the Best Way to Prep for Color Day?

We share how to prep for color day so your tone lands, your coverage is even, and your color lasts. Clean hair, clear photos, and an honest color history do more for your results than any last-minute mask.

For more tips and stories, keep listening to the full All About Hair podcast and grab the free resource in the show notes

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Transcript

Welcome & Q&A Setup

Today’s Question: Color Day Prep

Common Prep Mistakes

Myth: Dirty Hair Helps Color

What To Do Before Your Appointment

Be Honest About Color History

Why Clean Hair Improves Results

Closing & Resources

SPEAKER_00 0:52

Well, hey there, and welcome to Straight from the Stylist Chair. This is a special QA series here on All About Hair. I'm your host, Denise Keilitz, and I'm here to answer the real questions clients ask in the salon so you can feel confident and love every visit. Hey friend, welcome back to Straight from the Stylist Chair, the QA mini-series helping you make the most of every salon visit. Today's question is what's the best way to prep for color day? Ah, so you got a color day coming up? You're right, a little prep can make a big difference. So sometimes clients arrive with heavy oils, dry shampoo buildup, or just an unclear inspiration photo, all of which can affect color results. Let's back this up and talk about each one of these. The heavy oils. The heavy oils will just make it so your color formula can't penetrate your hair shaft and it might not get all the hair or the gray hairs covered. The dry shampoo buildup, again, if you're getting a root touch-up, that buildup can just interfere with the product doing its job. And the unclear inspiration photos, let's be real. Um you don't have to arrive in the salon with photos, but man, it sure does help clarify what your inspiration is, right? So if you are thinking you want to be blonde, well, it would be it would help to know how light of a blonde you're thinking of. If you don't have photos, that's perfectly fine. I'm sure your stylist probably has photos available. And all it is is for better communication. So don't worry if you don't have a photo. Um there is a long-standing myth that dirty hair is better for color, but that's just not always true. And we've talked about this before. Used to be that we'd say come in with dirty hair because of the natural oils on your scalp would actually become like a natural barrier for the harsh chemicals that you were getting ready to put on your scalp. But to tell you the truth, hair color and hair chemicals aren't as harsh as they used once used to be. So it's actually better to come in with cleaner hair, cleanish hair, kind of clean hair, than it is to come in with dirty hair. So if you think about it, just I if it was me and I wanted the best outcome for getting my hair colored, I would actually use a clarifying shampoo the day before I was going to get my color done. And try not to use very many products. You want a clean hair. So here's what I would say for best results, arrive with clean, dry hair. Skip any heavy oils or hair masks for 24 to 48 hours beforehand because you don't want any coating on the hair. And if you think about it, just bring clear inspiration pictures and be open about your color history. Make sure, that's huge. Make sure you tell the stylists it whatever color you've had on your hair. And yes, even if it was like three years ago, if you've got long hair, that color is still on your hair, on the ends of your hair. If your hair is down to your bra strap and you're thinking that color you did three years ago, oh, that doesn't make it's no big deal because you can't see it anymore, it still affects the outcome of the hair color. So just be open about your color history. It's okay. They just need to know, your stylist needs to know, so there's no hidden surprises, like if they're trying to lighten your hair and then you get banding or something like that. There's all kinds of things that could go wrong. And if you're not open to sharing that color history or if you forgot or something, uh, it does make a difference in the outcome. So overall, your stylist can apply color evenly on clean, dry hair. They could achieve your desired tone, and it actually helps the color last longer if your hair is clean and dry when you go in the salon. Hey, thanks for hanging out with me today. I hope today's chat helps you walk into your next appointment feeling totally confident. For more tips and stories, keep listening to the full All About Hair podcast and grab the free resource in the show notes. Until next time, I'll save you a seat in the chair.