Hi I'm Ms. Ehrin a stylist at Azarra Salon and Wine in Tacoma. I specialize in curly cuts and curl safe color experiences. If you have been giving hair color the side eye because of what you’ve heard it did to someone’s curls then you probably didn’t get the full story. I’m telling you hair color is innocent!
In this article,
I’m going to walk you through The CurlSpa hair color options so we are clear about how things work because every salon and stylist is different. The CurlSpa at Azarra is an independent business in a shared space.
All scheduling for The CurlSpa is done online or in person at the end of your appointment. There is no phone number, but you can text or email your questions if your need clarity. This is not how you make an appointment.
There are two menus, hair color services are available on both menus. The happy hour menu rotates monthly with select services discounted up to 25%.
Hair color sessions have two categories.
- Color
- Haircut & Color
The menu is very simple so don’t over think it. I did this on purpose not to make it more difficult on you but to make it easier. You simply schedule the amount of time you need. I you are not sure how much time you need you can schedule a consultation.
- If your questions are simply about time a virtual consultation will be fine.
- If you have questions about placement, lightness or tone you will want to have an in person consultation.
You don't need to be able to properly pronounce balayage (bali-auge), you don’t have to choose between a partial highlight and a full highlight. You just need a photo or three and you need to be honest with me about what you’ve done at home to your hair.
I have plenty of Pinterest boards with hair-spirational photos for cuts and colors. Your curl pattern is of no importance and I promise no one you watch on youtube has explained porosity to you correctly so it’s ok if you don’t know that either.
Once you know what color you want then you should schedule a in person consultation if you've colored your hair before. Sessions are based on time. If you do not schedule enough time and we go past your time there will be a charge for each additional 30 minutes. If you do not take the full time scheduled your price will be reduced in increments of 30 minutes.
- The cost of the color product is included in the price up to 50g of product. This is 1 mix
- Additional color product is $15 for up to an additional 50g
This is important to understand if you have very long or very dense hair and if you are wanting more than one color. Your price may vary according to how much time it actually takes us to complete your session as well how much color product it takes to reach your desired end result.
Each session is “up to” the amount of time that you scheduled. If you have less hair meaning shorter or thinner then it will likely take less time to apply, rinse style and set. Your hair may not take the full amount of time.
Things I have to consider
- Hair History
- Your density
- You texture
- You length
- Amount of lift needed
- Amount of dimension desired
- Number of steps required
- Processing Time
- Rising Time
There are many variables that can affect the end result of haircolor so the goal is always to get you within the 10 mile range of what you want. This is only guaranteed when you've had an in person consultation and hopefully gives you room to adjust your expectations from exact to realistic.
Hair History
- What you’ve put on it color wise at home or before we met
- At anytime in your life
- Ever
- Anything
- If you have a complex hair history you may want to schedule a consultation first
Density is the number of hairs per square inch on your head, more hairs means more time and more product even if it is not "long".
- High/Thick
- Med/Average/Normal
- Low/thin/sparse
Texture is the diameter of each of those hairs NOT the curl shape
- Coarse/large/fishing line
- Medium/Average
- Fine/spider web
Length
- Short
- Med
- Long
Don’t sleep on yourself, take a moment to pull one of those curls straight and see how far its stretches. That 80% shrinkage has you thinking your hair isn’t long, now relax and settle down you don’t need to go and do a full blow out so you can do an accurate length check. Stay on track.
- You won’t be getting a blow out to get all the dead ends off if that’s not how you wear your hair. Your hair is cut in a way that is specific to how you wear it and the shrinkage you have.
I say all that to say that your hair may be longer than you realize so take a moment to physically check in with yourself before you make a choice about time. We do as much as we can to get you closer to your hair color goal in the amount of time we have at each session.
Hair color, in my world, is a lifestyle and it’s own journey. That being said you should expect to see me once a season for touchups to your cut and your color. You should also expect me to perform progressively with your hair, meaning it may take more than one visit to get you there.
- Side note, curly hair can go longer between color treatments before the grow out starts to look like a problem.
I take your level of commitment to this lifestyle into consideration before I decide how to apply the color. Once a season just may not be in the budget and I respect anyone who is trying to look cute and stay in their financial lane at the same time. Transformations take time and hair color is no exception, you don’t have to have it all at once, we can grow you into your new color gradually making it look and feel more natural as you settle into it. That’s what makes hair color a journey all by itself.
The Real Tea on Hair Color, Careful it's HOT
Ok, the reason I say you probably didn’t get the full story about what happened with so and so’s hair color is this. As a stylist I've had many people sit in my chair don’t want to give me the full story. That's because the full story usually involves a silk press at the end of an intense lifting session. No one wants to blame the flat iron but heat immediately following a high lift color treatment is bound to result in heat damage.
The curls look fine once the color is rinsed, then the stylists slides you that upsell for the silk press. A week or two later you wash and OMG limp curls or even worse NO curls. So immediately you think "it must have been the hair color it’s the only thing I did different." Um no it wasn’t. That stylist bleached the hell out of her hair, probably raw (no Olaplex) and then cooked her!
Ok,
I feel like thats everything you need to know about making an appointment for a hair color treatment. If you’ve been giving hair color the side eye, I hope that you will reconsider your judgement. Hair color really is fun, and it can be done safely with curl pattern intact. I hope this article was helpful.