While working in research a large part of my job was to assess how the beauty industry was changing, the insights generated helped to inform my actions and recommendations. I am sharing with you in this blog my second installment of what I have witnessed in Retail/Box colour and like in my previous Professional colourist blog this is just the tip of the iceberg. My intent is that by understanding what is happening away from our Professional business we continue to uniquely position ourselves within this evolving industry.
DIY Colourers; individuals who purchase a box colour or in some market’s individual components (tubes, bottles and developers) from a retail outlet such as a beauty supplies, pharmacy, supermarket or online. The clients who loyally purchase Retail colour do not and probably will never visit a salon for a colour service.
Why colour your hair yourself? There are many reasons from opportunity, they do not have easy access to a salon, convenience they prefer to do the colour at home, carrying on with work, family or chores, value in comparison to other things they want to spend their money on, meaning their hair is not a priority and cost they are willing to colour their hair but do not have the budget to regularly attend a salon. There was one category to whom my heart reached out to, individuals who felt embarrassed admitting they coloured their hair and wanted to keep it a private affair. There are more reasons called out in research, that we as Professionals might not like to hear, I have been told in interviews that the Hairdresser is intimidating, the salon a sensory overload and there are Retail clients who feel they do a better job on their hair than a Professional would and to be fair some are very good.
DIY Colourers with the support of technology are getting more knowledgeable and sophisticated. Long gone are the days of standing in front of a bank of boxes trying to work out what would be the best choice. Their reasoning remains the same, they will not accept a lesser result, they want beautiful, natural, suitable, fashionable, healthy and trending looks and many manufactures are raising their standards to meet this demand.
Self-diagnosing got easier with magic mirror (AR) apps that allow you to try on a colour to see if it would suit you. MODIFACE hair colour or Hair Color Studio are just two of many different free applications that allow you the take a photo of yourself and pre-test a given shade. For the vivid trend followers there is the Hair Colour Lab Change or Dye so they can test and plan their on-trend looks. Many of the big brands offer a free app to help not only to try on a colour they also have a shade finder to narrow down what is possible on their unique hair type like Garnier’s Color Match Hair Tryon. OK, you maybe screaming at me and condemning the manufacturers but remember behind every diagnostic tool is a Professional supporting the design process and probably thinking (like I did) how do I elevate my consultation to surpass what an algorithm can do.
Choice of colours and effects have expanded, the Retail colour category now boasts; temporary, semi-permanent, demi-permanent and permanent colours covering a range of natural shades across to vivids and pastels. You can easily get your hands on a full-head bleaching, highlighting or Balayage/Ombre kit. And much to my surprise in more recent years colour removers although the chemistries are either a mild bleach formula or pH adjusters (acidic or alkaline) to remove dyestuff that is sensitive within that pH range; note the latter tend to have only a limited success.
Personalisation of beauty products has also arrived in Retail colour. eSalon the first to offer a comprehensive self-diagnosis that is followed-up by a video call with a Professional. The outcome is a bespoke colour ‘made for you’ and it even arrives with your name on it. Once you sign up it is a subscription service with your bespoke colour arriving to your home every month.
Learning to apply. The manufactures of all these products are very active creating tutorials on how to recreate the looks portrayed on the pack. Social media is full of beauty tutorials by individuals demonstrating how they created their looks and even tweaked what the manufactures recommend to achieve just what they wanted. Bloggers and vloggers are reaching out to peers encouraging self-experimentation with honest self-experiences laid bare for all to witness. This is where I have to admit some of these DIY Colourers are very good at recreating a professional finish, and I have to remind myself these are the success stories. For every fantastic result demonstrated on Instagram there are 1000s of average results and possibly 1 disaster. Yes, I hope they are the ones who call in the Professionals to fix it.
My experience working on both Professional and Retail colours taught me that they are not in competition with each other, they have a different clientele. I also appreciate any exposure to hair colour as it continues to bring awareness to a wider audience and brings more people into the category.
Part 3: I look at the emerging and growing category of mixed colourers.
Caroline
