Colour correction: what to expect before you book
Colour correction is the service we get the most enquiries about, and the one where expectations most often need to be managed carefully. Not because the results are bad, but because the gap between what a client hopes for and what is safely achievable in one session is often significant. This is an honest account of how correction work actually goes.
What counts as a colour correction
Correction work covers several situations: hair that has been lifted unevenly and shows banding, hair that has been coloured with a box dye and then lightened on top, hair with an unwanted green or grey cast from a previous toner, or hair that has been over-processed to the point where it is breaking. Each of these requires a different approach.
The thing they have in common is that the stylist needs to understand the full history of the hair before touching it. That is not a formality. The products used in previous colour services affect how the hair will respond to new ones. Box dyes in particular contain metallic salts that can react unpredictably with professional lighteners.
Why it takes more than one session
The most common correction request we receive is from clients who want to go from a dark, previously coloured base to a light blonde. The honest answer is that this takes multiple sessions, spaced four to six weeks apart, to do without causing breakage.
Each session lifts the hair a certain number of levels. Trying to reach the target in one go requires a concentration of lightener that most hair cannot withstand. The result of pushing too hard in one session is not just brassiness. It is structural damage that makes the next session harder and the final result worse. We would rather take three sessions and arrive at the goal with the hair intact.
The paid consultation and why it matters
We charge ¥5,700 for a correction consultation. This covers thirty to forty-five minutes with a senior stylist, a strand test where needed, and a written plan covering the number of sessions, the approximate cost of each, and the expected result at each stage.
The consultation fee is deducted from the service cost if you go ahead. If you decide not to proceed, you keep the plan. We introduced the fee because free correction consultations tend to be rushed, and rushed assessments lead to underquoted jobs and unhappy clients. The fee makes the time worth protecting.
Correction work is slow by design. The clients who come out of it with the best results are the ones who came in with a realistic timeline and let the process run at its own pace.