Saturday morning and the formula is a mystery
A regular client's stylist is off sick. The client is booked for a root tint and toner at nine, and she is precise about her colour. Another stylist opens the client's notes and finds 'usual, 6/0 + 6/3 30g each, 20 vol, 35 mins, toner 9/16 last time a bit warm'. Last time when? Which brand? Was that the root or the whole head? Did the 'bit warm' mean they changed it, or that they should next time?
Other notes are worse. Some formulas are on a paper card in a box behind the desk. Some live on a stylist's own phone. Some were never written down because the stylist always remembers. When that stylist leaves the salon, the formulas leave with them, and the clients start asking why their colour does not look the same.
Why formula notes are such a mess
Salon software usually offers a notes box, and a notes box accepts anything. Every colourist has their own shorthand. Some write grams, some write parts. Some note the developer, some assume it. Some record the result, most do not. Put together over a few years, a client's history is a scroll of inconsistent text.
Writing the formula happens at the worst possible moment: at the backwash, gloves on, the next client waiting. So it is written later, shorter, or not at all.
And formulas change over a visit. The stylist might mix one formula for the roots and another for the mid-lengths, then adjust the toner at the bowl. The note rarely captures that the final result came from a change made on the spot.
What poor formula records cost
| Problem | Effect |
|---|---|
| Formulas in free text | Misread by the next stylist |
| Formulas on personal phones | Lost when a stylist leaves |
| No note of the result | The same mistake repeated |
| Brand not recorded | Confusion after a range change |
| Written after the event | Details missing or wrong |
Formula judgement belongs to your colourists. We give no colour advice. What we build makes their decisions readable to the rest of the team.
How we structure formula records
- Each colour visit gets a formula card on the client record, with fields for brand and range, each shade with its amount, developer strength, application area, processing time, and any toner or gloss.
- Several bowls can be recorded for one visit, such as roots, mid-lengths and a toner, each with its own details.
- The stylist records it from a tablet or phone at the station, with shades picked from your salon's own colour list rather than typed, so spelling and codes stay consistent.
- A short result note and an optional photo, taken with the client's agreement, sit with the formula, so the next stylist sees what the colour actually looked like.
- When the client is next booked for colour, the last formula and result appear on the appointment, with a history of previous ones one tap away.
- Old notes and cards are brought across as a read-only history, so nothing is lost even where it cannot be restructured.
Some salon software, such as Phorest and Shortcuts, has colour card features. If yours does and it is not being used, we look at why and help your team use it, before building anything new.
Next time the stylist is off
The covering stylist opens the booking and sees the last three colour visits laid out the same way: brand, shades and amounts per bowl, developer, time, toner and a photo from last visit. There is a note that the toner was adjusted because the result had been slightly warm. She mixes, checks with the client, and gets on with it.
- Formulas recorded the same way by everyone
- Results and photos alongside the formula
- History visible on the booking
- Formulas stay with the salon when stylists move on
For the salon owner, formulas become part of the business rather than part of a stylist's memory, which matters when you are building a team rather than depending on one or two people.
Is this how your formulas are kept?
- Formulas are in free-text notes, each in a different shorthand.
- Some formulas are only on record cards or stylists' phones.
- Covering stylists struggle to read the last formula.
- Clients notice when their colour changes after a stylist leaves.
- Results are rarely recorded with the formula.