After decades behind the chair and years running salons, I can tell you one of the simplest truths in this business: the services clients remember most are rarely the big transformations. They’re the little extras. The small, thoughtful touches that…
After thirty years in this industry — a good chunk of it running salons in New Hampshire — I can tell you that the hardest marketing problem a salon ever has isn’t the work. The work is usually great. The…
Something has been happening on the salon floor that I find genuinely remarkable, and I want to talk about it — because it says a lot about how change actually spreads in our industry. It’s not the trade shows. It’s…
How Much Waste Does Your Salon Actually Produce? Ask most colorists how much they throw away in a year and you’ll get a shrug. We don’t think about it, because it leaves the salon a few crumpled sheets at a…
The Face-Framing Piece: Getting Bright, Clean Color Right at the Scalp If there’s one request I hear more than almost any other, it’s the bright face-framing piece — that strip of color framing the face, often bleached and toned almost…
How to Clean and Reuse Your Color Shells (Here’s My Method) One of the things I appreciate most about Color Shells is that they’re reusable. In a profession that throws away an astonishing amount of foil every single day, having…
Don’t Neglect the Part: Where Your Highlights Get Judged First Here’s something years behind the chair has taught me: the very first place a client looks when you spin them around to the mirror isn’t the back, and it isn’t…
I ran a salon floor for a long time, and if there’s one thing I watched happen at the mirror at the end of every single color service, it’s this: the client reaches up and checks her part. Not the…
Why I Keep Two Sizes of Color Shells on My Station After thirty years behind the chair, I’ve learned that the difference between a good highlight and a great one usually comes down to one thing: control. Not just the…
If you’ve been taking client consultations lately, you already know what’s happening: warm is winning. Copper tones, rich auburns, strawberry blonde dimension with butterscotch depth — these are the requests that are filling appointment books this summer. And honestly, it…
Every week, clients are showing up with their phones out. They flip the screen toward you and say, “I want this.” And what they’re pointing to almost always has one thing in common: it shines like glass. Glass hair isn’t…
There’s a technique request I heard hundreds of times. A client would sit down, pull out her phone, and show a photo. Different clients, different photos — but the same thing: bright color framing the face, everything else darker behind…
If you’ve ever struggled to get your highlights right up to the scalp without the foil slipping or the section going sideways, Color Shells might be the thing that changes your workflow. It takes a little adjustment at first —…
Walk into almost any busy salon right now and you’ll hear the same request at the color bar: clients want to go brunette, but not flat brunette. They want dimension — that rich, multi-tonal depth that catches the light and…
Why Chrome Hair Is the Technique Test of 2026 Every season has a trend that looks effortless on the client and punishing in the execution. In 2026, that trend is chrome hair — high-shine, silver-infused color that reflects light like…
If there’s one service that separates technically gifted colorists from the rest of the chair, it’s babylights. Done well, they look effortlessly sun-kissed — the kind of color clients swear they were born with. Done poorly, they look like a…