A Love Letter To My Scale

Two years ago, I traded in my measuring cups for a scale. I would swear that it didn't make much difference and I'm here to say I was wrong, and I wish I opted for a scale much sooner, not just in the salon, but also for the kitchen.

A few years back, I started a new stylist position at a salon. I had learned to measure from color tubes and cups, but this establishment used a metric system, weighing everything. It was a learning curve but I caught on quickly and wished I knew earlier. After renting my own booth, I bought my first personal scale from the local smoke shop down the road for about $55.

3 Reasons I Love My Scale

1. It Saves You Money in The Long Run.

- Most color brands call for a 1:2 mixing ratio of color to the developer. The cream color tubes normaly have markings down the side for a quick reference (usually in .5 ounce markings) Eyeballing the tube is great and all, usually faster, but can leave room for false measurements, and color can oxidize in one part of the tube and not the other. Color Keys not being used correctly is the main reason for this annoyance, but that's for another day. When this happens, you have to squeeze that nasty black streak out and dispose of it, leaving the tube illegible and if you're sharing color with another stylist, not all stylists squeeze the same or have the same regard to color precision as others do, also leaving room for a huge guess on how much color you just squeezed into your bowl, was it a full Ounce, just under? Who knows, and frankly most stylists are rushing it anyway so they don't care, it's a bad habit stylists fall into. But I care, especially as a new business owner, everything counts, being able to have little to no wasted product is wonderful.

Grams vs. Ounces, (0.1 oz = 2.835 Grams)(1 oz = 28.35 Grams)

2.0 Gram visually looks like just a dab of toothpaste in the bowl, mixed with the 1.5 ratio to your developer could be just enough color to fix that one spot you missed while doing a global bleach lightener or grey coverage, that always seems to be right in the clients part or hairline. To fix this it isn't something you would want to do when guessing how much color is in your bowl, a formula must match all around. Diluted color on the scalp can result in a questionable outcome if it processes in the time frame that's already in a countdown from the moment you applied the color to your first section.

Breaking down the cost of the product cost to how much you’re charging looks something like this

1 tube of Kevin Murphy Color is 3.3 oz at $11.99 (+tax)

1 container of developer is 33.8 oz at $24.20 (+tax)

A touch-up color is around 25-35 grams (1 oz +) of color to a 1:2 or 1:1.5 ratio of color math.....and math.... means about $6-$8 per mix. This doesn't seem like much, but if you're always mixing too much every time with every client, you could be wasting up to $50 in a day. TAt $65 each, 5 touch-up services would net you an additional $325 color you could be waisting from not measuring correctly. That's just based on a full day or touch-up colors, nothing drastic or complicated.

2. Predictable Color, Key to Mixing and Matching,

Color Theory is baby chemistry, like baking or cooking. Your customers are going to want the exact color you used on their hair as the last service, believe me. Grey Coverage, Glosses, Toners, and bleach/lightener will react differently in temperature, timing, shelf life, and how it's mixed. One way to ensure that you can deliver is to write everything down. After a few appointments, writing everything down seems silly, and it is, but it's good to have a journal log of services in case they do want to make a change. It's also fun to compare notes with other stylists and share formulas with your favorite cool brunettes and such. At every color service with a new client, there is an inherent risk that they may react negatively to the color, or that their hair will have special needs that require"tweaking" to get full coverage or the desired tone. knowing you measured everything correctly eliminates the possibility that you used a wonky formula and you can move on to other reasons why the color wasn't quite right.

Using the scale also means you can make smaller portions of color, making the "mix and match" situation a little easier when using grams vs oz. In the scenario where you may find yourself in is not having the right color or not enough color, is a problem and figuring out of what you can use to achieve to get the previous formula color. For example, the formula calls for equal parts of .5 oz of 5.0 + 5.7.with 1:2 of 30 vol (grey coverage), you don't have either, however you do have 4.0, 4.7,6.0, 6.7, doing equal parts of all 4 in .5oz form is going to mix 2 oz of color and 4 oz of developer. You really only need the 1 oz of color and 2 oz developer, making it an over mix. There's also a whole other world of making multiple tones of the same color to make color melts and blending, making up to 3 or 4 separate colors to saturate the entire head and lead to a lot of wasted color. There's always that last half section that only needs 1/4 of the color formula you're applying. It's a waste to make another bowl of color when you're only going to use less than half of it. taking the formula and dividing it by grams rather than oz is much easier and more precise.

Blondes tend to like their blonde consistency and brightness. One technique I found that makes a big difference with highlight touch ups is to go back 10 minute before the processing time is done and open up the foils and apply some fresh lightener to the previously lightened ends. This is very risky but effective if done right. And you guessed it, making a small batch of lightener with some 10 vol with a 1:5 ratio isn't very powerful, but lightens the ends ever so slightly and adds consistency when cutting through previous color. it also makes your blonde clients very happy. I was never taught to measure my lightner, it would come with a scoop (sometimes) in a tub of dusty blue lightner. I would mix a full scoop for small jobs and waist bleach every time. If you're using cream lightener for global blondes, a scale is a must! I like to mix a new bowl per section to keep the oxidation level max, so I mix smaller batches, going low as 5-10 g .

3. Clean Up

If you're like me, you don't have assistants; Everything I use I wash myself. Clean Up is just a few minutes faster because you're not washing all these tiny plastic measuring cups that are accumulating in the sink. I'm in a smaller space so it's fewer things I have to store. Speaking of cleaning, you can measure out your barbacide more accurately in a spray bottle or in a container to sanitize your utensils.