Step 1 · Consult
History, previous colour, reactions.
What we do, in detail
Four services, with the patch test rule applied to every colour without exception.
Program 01 · Tested 48 hours first
Colour and highlights
The test is non-negotiable and we lose bookings over it, usually from people with an event the next day. Oxidative dyes cause genuine allergic reactions and occasionally dangerous ones, and the forty-eight hour test is written into every manufacturer's instructions for that reason. We also retest when the product changes, because a client tested on one brand is not tested on another.
Step 2 · Patch test
At least 48 hours before.
Step 3 · Assess
Whether the hair will take it.
Step 4 · Colour
Or a safer alternative, honestly.
Step 1 · Your routine
What you really do in the morning.
Step 2 · Hair type
Density, texture and growth.
Step 3 · Cut
Built to be maintained by you.
Step 4 · Show you
How to get it back at home.
Program 02 · Cut to the hair you have
Cutting and styling
A cut that only works for twenty minutes after leaving a salon is not a good cut. We ask what you actually do each morning and how much time you have, because a style that needs forty minutes of work will be abandoned by the second week. Honest about which reference photographs are achievable on your hair type and which are not.
Program 03 · Sometimes the answer is wait
Condition and repair
A great deal of damaged hair arrives wanting another chemical service to fix the last one. Often the honest answer is to stop, cut back gradually and let it recover, which no salon enjoys saying because it sells nothing that day. We will tell you when hair is at the point where more lightening will break it rather than lift it.
Step 1 · Assess
Porosity and breakage, not guesswork.
Step 2 · Stop the cause
Before adding treatments.
Step 3 · Plan
Over months, not one appointment.
Step 4 · Review
Reassessed as it recovers.
Step 1 · Talk it through
What you want and what is realistic.
Step 2 · Patch test
Done at the consultation.
Step 3 · Look properly
Scalp and hair condition.
Step 4 · Refer
If it belongs with a clinician.
Program 04 · Free, including the test
Consultations and referral
Consultations are free and so is the patch test, because charging for the safety step would discourage it. We also do not diagnose: a scalp condition, unexplained hair loss, or any lesion or infection goes to a GP, pharmacist or dermatologist. A salon offering to treat a scalp condition is working outside what it is competent or insured to do.
Thinking about colour?
Book a free consultation and patch test. The colour appointment comes forty-eight hours later.