"Don't ever assume someone wants to stay the color she is. Just because she has a blonde bob doesn't mean she wants to keep the blonde bob! If she's coming to you for the first time, she probably isn't happy with what she has." Sue Pemberton, color artistic director, ISO

A lot of hairdressers believe that the most fun you can have short of a trip to Disneyland is spending a whole day doing nothing but hair color services.

know your color wheel

Scruples International Hair Color Educator Mia Liguori McHugh has a good time by blending anywhere from three to seven shades on every color client and using sponges or wall-painting rollers as application tools. Lots of practice gets you good enough to do those circus acts, but everything springs from the color basics you've already learned in your textbooks."Techniques are wonderful," says Anita Guttierez, Clairol's Design Team lead color master. "I have a lot of them! But understanding the fundamentals of color is the best thing you can do for yourself if you want to become a good colorist."

everybody's doing it

For devoted colorists, all is good because clients want color as much as stylists want them to have it. For the past 10 or 15 years, color has been a fairly easy service to sell. Baby boomers want to hide their gray, while young and old alike -- men, too! -- increasingly regard hair color as a fashion accessory. Highlights, lowlights, semi-permanent, wash-out colors -- there's something to suit every client.

The generation coming up may be the most enthusiastic hair color clients yet, predicts Connecticut salon owner Adam Broderick, business development consultant to Clairol. With kids even younger than high school already painting their own hair, the opportunities are endless! "What can our industry offer this generation of experimental, creative, expressive kids?" asks Broderick. "There clearly is a trend in using hair color simply to express individuality, not necessarily to make them a better-looking version of themselves."

and for those who aren't...

Clients who don't wear color will switch over with barely more than a suggestion from their stylist. "I just tell clients that color will 'enhance' and give them shine," says Guttierez. "Wonderful deposit-only, non-ammonia products that just make the hair shiny or pop in a little bronze or plum are good to get clients more comfortable with color. These services are gentle to the hair and take only 10 minutes."

Shannon Broussard, JCPenney Salon Division Recruiting Manager, recalls a hair cut client who loved her gray hair. He thought he might be able to "upservice" her by giving her a color service as a gift on her birthday. She accepted, so he blended in just enough color to make her look younger. "From that day on, she was a color client," says Broussard, "and she became a very good tipping client as well!"

learn from practicing

The experts say that to get good at hair color, as with getting good at piano, you really have to practice, practice, practice. "If you're a true artist, applying hair color is almost like painting," says Danny Lapointe, artistic director, Clairol Design Team. "You know on paper how the color will turn out, but you have to experiment to really get good."

As you gain experience working with hair, you'll be able to anticipate whether you can fulfill a client's color wish list. "What if the client wants you to go from black to straight blonde with no gold in it?" asks Pierre Goneau, vice-president of education for Goldwell and KMS parent company KPSS. "You can do it, but the hair will be trashed out. You have to let her know ahead of time that she'll be a slave to conditioners and reconstructors."

If you determine the client's hair is not ready for a chemical service, stand by your decision. As an alternative to doing color that day, you can recommend a conditioning service toward the goal of doing the service in the future.

Lapointe suggests finding a color mentor. "Choose someone you're really comfortable with," he says. "Then you can ask all of your questions and express your fears, and it will be okay to make mistakes."

color them loyal

It takes four visits before you can consider someone a regular client, according to Goneau. "By then, the new color has been transitioned, the old cut is gone and everything that's happening is built on your work," Goneau explains. Once the client has accepted you as her colorist, she's in your chair for the long haul!

Color clients are the best because they're more likely to:

1. return, because you have their formula down pat

2. come in regularly -- before there's too much regrowth

3. purchase retail products.

4. prebook their next appointment before they leave -- some will prebook for an entire year!

"Typically when a client tells you she'll follow you wherever you work, that client has color on her hair. She can find someone to do the cut, but the color has a lot of knowledge behind it." Pierre Goneau, vice-president of education, KPSS

CREDITS: Photo courtesy of Clairol Professional