"Seek women who need gray hair coverage," Cleveland-area salon owner Sally Zarlinga advises stylists just starting to build their clientele. These big-ticket clients are the ones who:

• prebook and refer friends

• purchase professional products to maintain their color

• agree to add-on services like glaze or eyebrow wax

• want to change their look to remain up-to-date

• are open to being educated about their hair

"This summer, teach clients how damaging chlorine is to their hair. When left on the hair, chlorine will destroy it from the inside out. Urge clients to spray on a leave-in barrier before they dive into the pool or jump the ocean waves. Have your swimmers also take home a moisturizing, clarifying shampoo to help keep the chlorine from sitting on the hair."
-Sally Zarlinga. owner, Lucia's The Salon,
Mayfield Heights, Ohio

How do you attract this clientele? "Be meticulous about covering the gray at the hairline without getting the color all over the client's face," Zarlinga advises. "Women getting color on their lunch break can't wait three days for the color to oxidize and come off their face."

Clairol's latest hair color line, Advanced Gray Solution, addresses these clients' needs. "People are becoming gray earlier," observes Ingrinette Pope, educator with the Clairol Color Team. To determine which product to use with each client, Pope lines up some sample clients:

• Client 1 needs heavy gray coverage and is willing to come in every four to six weeks for a touch-up.

• Client 2 is 25-50 percent gray and wants something that will blend the gray rather than cover it up. She's up for purchasing a shampoo and conditioner formulated to extend the life of the color.

• Client 3 needs only blending for her strands of gray that are just beginning to become noticeable, and she prefers a product formulated without ammonia or peroxide.

Did you figure it out? Use permanent color on Client 1, demi-permanent on Client 2 and semi-permanent on Client 3.

"Always add a neutral to your color," Pope cautions. "For someone who's 25 percent gray, add one-quarter ounce of neutral; add one-half ounce for someone with 50 percent gray; and if the client is 100 percent gray, use only the neutral. Going back to your color principles, since 100 percent gray hair has no pigment, you have to add all three primary colors to create the brown base."

Don't forget hair should be in good shape to accept color. "How you prepare the hair is the most important part of the  service," says Zarlinga. "Using a deep clarifier and a leave-in treatment will strengthen the interior of the hair, resulting in more even color, better tonality, less need for correcting and more vibrance. It's creating a perfectly clean canvas."