“What is a toner and do I really need it?”
Difficult client convo’s part 2!
By Humankind Hair Co-founder Anneliese Hesse
< 3 minute read
Ever get clients resisting a toner?
Maybe they're querying the quote you gave them, and trying to save money somewhere...
Or maybe 'my last hairdresser never needed to tone.’ 🤦♀️
Grim.
Here's how to explain to clients what a toner is and why they need it.
First let's start with what it ISN'T.
❌ It's NOT something I'm whacking on to try and fix an error (I promise!)
❌ It's not an 'optional' extra... Let me explain.
When we lighten hair, any hair, we remove the natural brown pigment. Sitting beneath this, and only really visible once the brown pigment has been removed, is RAW WARM pigment.
We all have it - darker hair has more red and orange pigment and blonde hair has more yellow pigment.
If you want to see what this raw warmth looks like, please see below images....
This raw warmth will ALWAYS BE PRESENT because it also gives strength to the hair so, if we try to remove it all, the hair will quite simply break.
Now, generally speaking nobody wants this visual result, so to get the TONE of colour we want we have to use a TONER. This is actually just a colour, designed to deposit the tone you want to see, be that ash, gold, copper or something else, and/or to neutralise out the tone you don't want to see! (bye bye brassy! 👋)
So, in summary. Achieving your dream colour generally consists of doing two things: removing the natural pigment we DON'T want (lightening, exposing the natural warmth) and putting IN the colour we DO want (the toner!)
So that's what it is and hopefully this explains why you do probably need it ☺️
**Note** occasionally, verrrrrry occasionally, the hair will not have huge amounts of natural warm pigment and a toner may not be necessary. This is rare, and is generally only suitable to leave untoned when only fine sections of the hair have been lightened, such as very fine highlights or balayage.
We hope this helps in your consultations!
If you'd like more help with consultation, application, toning, styling and more then check out Balayage Masterclass happening later this month in London.