The past year gave all of us time we did not expect to have and impacted our businesses in ways we could not have imagined. As we entered the lockdown and availability of regularly available products started to become sparse, I called my distributors store that was charging me premium pricing to order 6NN. I was told they did not have it and did not know when it was coming in. That made me think - why was I using a color line that was charging me premium pricing, we had not seen the DSC for years and, except for big global events or expensive academy classes, didn’t offer any support to grow my business or me? So, I called some colorist friends and found out there were other great options for salons today! Not just the big names, but great premium boutique brands that colorists were raving about!

So, I set my criteria of what I needed to continue to offer the guests at our salon the best color options for their hair and then also for our business to be profitable and grow. The criteria were-

• High Performing Hair color with concise pallets and a broad range of options
• Education to support the products, salons, and stylists
• Cost (because it does not say charity on my salon doors)

With this list I began my journey to find the new color for our salon. And here is what I found:

#1 Performance –

I am lucky because I have tested so many colors for so many big companies, I had the swatches, scales and tools needed to test the performance of the colors and the pallets offered. Immediately Kaaral’s Baco Color stood out with a comprehensive permanent color, a highly adaptable demi-permanent color, direct dye options and even impactful color conditioners. As a colorist I felt like a kid in a candy store and what was even better was the guests’ reactions!

As a salon owner and colorist, I don’t announce to guests when we adjust or change their formulations, unless they were having a challenge we are solving, so the number of guests that remarked blew me away. “Are you doing anything different because my hair feels amazing!” One guest even continued standing in the middle of the salon saying, “Look, look at how great this color is!” And this was when she returned for a third retouch of a color she did not know had been reformulated with Kaaral Baco Color. From my guests alone, I knew this was the right choice.

#2 Education –

Many people know me as a colorist and educator from the 30+ years I have been sharing ideas with salon professionals. I know the power of education. So often though, education is either focused on products or how to get them to perform. In order to get more skill-based education there is usually a need to travel far distances.

Kaaral Color opened the salon up to an amazingly diverse selection of education - not only from Kaaral, but also from the East Coast Salon Services CORE Team of Educators! Not only is color education available, now we could also get cutting, styling, barbering, razor cutting and technique classes without the travel to a big city. Education with the ECSS CORE Team was focused on being accessible to us - not having us trying to figure out how to go somewhere and possibly stay overnight.

#3 Cost –

The high cost of quality product is one of the things that is killing the independent salon owners and stylists. The challenge is that most companies don’t sell color at the same price to everyone. Chains and large groups get huge discounts and salons like mine, before we switched, were actually being charged a premium price (which means more than manufacturer recommended) unless we purchased 3 of a color at a time. For styling products, we needed to buy 6 to get the manufacturer suggested price. I look back now and wonder why I was paying more while also getting such little support for our business. We had not seen a DSC in years!

With Kaaral, Baco Color offered us a 3.5oz/100ml tube of color - that is 75% larger than most standard tubes! Plus, because it is mixed 1 part color to 1.5 parts developer, the color goes even further!!! Most salon guests standard mixing is 40g of color to 60g of developer, for guests with thick hair 50g of color and 75g of developer! If you measure in ounces - 1.5oz of color and 2 1/4oz of developer typically. For a guest that has enough hair for a couple people, using 2oz of color and 3oz of developer - my cost was still better than the average head using other big name colors! The reality for most of us today is that if we are not charging premium prices for our color services, no matter where our salons are, we could actually be losing money coloring hair. With Kaaral Color at just less than $4.50 per standard application with developer, hair color becomes profitable at $45 with a 10% product cost!!! At a $60 retouch price point, that brings product cost down to less than 7.5%, which just added at least 2.5% savings, for even most well-run salons!

Today, being an independent salon owner or stylist is tough, and being profitable is even tougher. Like most challenges or tragedies - there are silver linings. For my business and me that is Kaaral and East Coast Salon Services with their CORE Education Team! We are now more profitable, more inspired and more supported than before, and that’s just the beginning. So, if you want to increase your profits, experience great education and offer a luxury boutique hair color that inspires you, contact East Coast Salon Services and let them know you want to Experience Kaaral! Right now, you can ask your DSC for a Kaaral Experience Box - available in The Blonde Experience, Red Copper Experience, Brunette Dimension and Grey Coverage.

Now you can see for yourself what the Kaaral Experience can do for you and your business! Don’t just color hair out of habit because that’s what you have been using or always used. Empower yourself and your business with Kaaral and be able to do more for your guests, your salon, and yourself.