The test salons are asked to skip

How we work

Forty-eight hours, every time

Clients reasonably assume that a long history with hair colour means they are safe. Sensitisation does not work that way: a reaction can appear after decades without incident, and reactions to colour and tint can be severe enough to need hospital treatment. The 48-hour test exists because of real cases, not caution for its own sake.

It is also the request salons most often give in on, because the client is already in the chair and refusing is awkward. Holding the line costs appointments and is the clearest signal of whether a salon is run for the client or for the till.

The other honesty worth the lost booking is about what colour can achieve. Lifting previously dyed hair several shades is a process across sittings, and promising it in one appointment is how hair gets destroyed. Saying so loses the dramatic before-and-after and keeps the client's hair.