PAINT A/W19

I HAD JUST FINISHED applying colour to my
client’s hair when I noticed that the ends were
lifting rapidly. As I thought I was using bleach with
2%, this struck me as really odd, especially once
I noticed there had been very little progress with
the roots. I was perplexed enough to double check
with my assistant what he had mixed. He repeated
the formulas back to me but with the developers
reversed, bleach +9% and the base colour with
2%. It hit me... this was going to be a massive fail.
In the moment I have to admit I was furious, but
I was more concerned at finding a way to style
it out. Was there a way to rectify the situation
without spelling out to my client what exactly had
happened? At Rainbow Room International we
present ourselves as colour experts and charge
accordingly. It didn’t feel conceivable that I was
going to have to tell my client that I had put the
wrong colour on her hair! And that we were going
to rinse her colour off, dry it in front of a mirror,
thus revealing it was still grey at the roots and
orange at the ends – all before attempting to
rectify the issue.
It was a busy Saturday and by this point I had
four clients, and a fifth would be arriving soon. To
be completely honest, I went and sat in the toilet
for a couple of minutes. I needed a moment of
peace to think. I decided honesty was the best
policy. I spelled out the issue to my client and
explained what would happen next. To be honest,
she was not in the least bit happy, and the strength
of her reaction took me by surprise.
It took some persuading but she allowed me to
finish the job and thankfully it looked really good,
not that it seemed to matter to her. When she left
that day, I really didn’t know if she would ever be
back, but I’m grateful to say that she’s still my
client today. This whole incident reinforced to me
the need to always take 100 per cent responsibility
in every aspect of what I do. Because as this
episode showed, at the end of day it’s going to me
that is held accountable, not anyone else.
Paddy McDgall
RAINBOW ROOM INTERNATIONAL
PAINT | 07