Why we strand-test every colour client, even the regulars
It adds twenty minutes to your appointment and it has saved more hair in this studio than any product on our shelf. Here is what a strand test tells us, and why we do one even when we coloured you eight weeks ago.
If you have been to us for colour, you have sat through it: we snip a small section from an underneath layer, apply the formula, and time it while you have your tea. Some clients find it excessive. It is the least excessive thing we do.
What it tells us
A strand test answers three questions that no consultation can. How fast does your hair lift today — not last time, today. What underlying warmth will show up at the level we are targeting. And how does the hair behave structurally under the developer: does it stay elastic, or does it start to feel gummy at eight minutes.
That third one is the important one. Hair that has been smoothened, previously boxed-dyed at home, or lightened by a different salon can look completely healthy and still fail under a 30-volume developer. You cannot see that by looking. You can see it in a test strand in fifteen minutes.
Why even for regulars
Because hair changes. A summer of sun, a course of medication, a new water supply after a move, a pregnancy, three months of a different shampoo — all of it changes lift speed. We have had clients whose formula was identical for two years and then took four minutes less to reach the same level. Without a test we would have overprocessed them.
What we do with the result
We write it on your formula card. Every client here has one: the exact mix, the developer volume, the timing, the toner, and any deviation we made. If you move cities and go to another salon, ask us for a copy — we will hand it over without a fuss. It is your hair, and your formula.
When we will refuse
If the test strand comes back gummy or snaps, we will tell you no, and we will explain why. Usually the answer is a few weeks of a protein-and-moisture routine and a re-test. Occasionally the answer is a cut. Nobody enjoys that conversation, but it is a much shorter one than the conversation about a chemical cut that has already happened.
If you have coloured at home in the last six months, or had a treatment somewhere else, please tell us at booking. It is not a judgement, it is chemistry.