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Explore your benefits at associatedhairprofessionals.com 53 Diaz suggests asking clients what color clothing they typically wear before fi nalizing their formula. "If they wear a lot of vibrant colors, you have to be considerate of what you're putting on the hair, because you don't want it to clash with something that they're going to wear," she says. e more experience you have looking at color and assessing its qualities, the better you'll get at seeing color and distinguishing even the most minor variations in tone or level. Many clients want a natural-looking result, even if the hair color itself isn't their natural hair color. e key to creating the most natural hue is creating a color that considers your client's natural undertones. In Tracey Cunningham's True Color: e Essential Hair Color Handbook, colorist Tracey Cunningham suggests asking clients to bring pictures of themselves as a child—or even pictures of their own children—to get a sense of the natural color and highlight placement that will look the most authentic. "It's a guaranteed way to get a color that you Customizing Color Services in Your Salon Word of mouth has always been one of the best advertising tools in the salon business. Every client serves as a walking billboard for your work, and there's no better way to fi ll your books than mastering the art and science of custom color. "Rather than just taking a premixed color that anyone could do at any salon, if you understand the true way that color works, you can customize and adapt a formula that the client can only get because they come to you," says Renée Valerie, director of education at R+Co. From the stylists' perspective, color is profi table and makes clients loyal like nothing else. Hair color services vary, from balayage to highlights and gray blending, and each client has unique preferences and desires regarding their color. But the one thing they all have in common is that they are committed to color, whether that means booking a follow-up appointment every four weeks or every few months. Off ering custom services like personalized toners, glossing treatments, and one-of-a-kind color formulas makes clients feel like they're getting a service they can't get anywhere else. Color services are also the perfect opportunity to upsell color-protecting retail products and add-on services like deep-conditioning treatments that enhance the color longevity and vibrancy. "It just makes life a little bit more exciting when you're able to formulate and customize with confi dence and ease because you thoroughly understand the why," Valerie says. As the expert, it's up to you to explain why a client can't achieve their desired color in one appointment and to create a realistic plan for color transformations.