I love other people's vacations!

So, Evelyn is on vacation this week. The two days I've been at work so far, I've been pretty well booked, both with my own clients and walk ins/call ins. It's been pretty cool, and, yes, financially rewarding!! Yesterday, or maybe the day before, I forget, I was standing over Ginger as she was talking to a client on the phone, calling for an appointment with Evelyn. She patiently explained that Evelyn was out on vacation and proceded to offer herself up, because the client really needed this week. She only offered me up (finally) because she didn't have time for this client, either! I almost tapped the computer screen in front of her to remind her that "HEY! I'm here, too... For that matter, so is Chrissy!!" I did a FABULOUS color on this sweet elderly lady Tuesday. She used to come to the salon, but hadn't been back in two years...the last time she was in, Ginger had her and managed to piss her off (I forget why... something to do with her color, I believe). I had been warned she was kind of cranky, rather particular. Ginger ran off her most recent (2 years ago) formula, which she, herself, had created, just incase I needed it. I sat at the computer and read her previous formulas. What I gathered from the information is that she doesn't want to be too dark. The formulas went from a level 7 with a bit of 6 to a level 5 with a bit of 6..all in the interest of grey coverage. An aside: Here's a quick color lesson: If level 1 is jet black, and level 10 is pale blonde, level 5 is a medium brown (which is quite dark), 6 being slightly lighter (most people are these levels), and level 7 being even lighter (kind of "dirty blonde") This nice lady (because everybody is when you sit in my chair, until you prove to me otherwise, regardless of what I've been told) comes in. She's tiny, cute, and southern! I sit her in my chair and proceed with my consultation, which I do, even for people I have been cutting or coloring all along. She has bushy, kind of coarse, layered hair, roughly to the bottom of her neck. (so not terribly long) She's medium, light-ish brown with WHITE regrowth throughout her head. This lady has a lot of hair! I ask her what she's needing today in terms of color..."I don't like it too dark, it's been about 3 weeks since my last color, my hair grows really fast". So, I get the basic color swatches to figure out what level her ends are. They're between a 6 & a 7. She also "pulls warm" (meaning the white eventually shows through and it gives a golden glow to the color), which means my friend ASH needs to be a part of the formula. So. I go out back, and pick my color to mix. I CHANGED EVERYTHING ABOUT HER FORMULA!! Previously, the color used took a looong time to process, was loaded with ammonia, and tended to fade quickly. So, I switched to my favorite brand of color. Color lesson #2: When the hair is WHITE, and you're coloring it back to your "natural" color...your white hair is lacking enough pigment to make a difference. So. You need to put the pigment back in the hair. Which means you need to put in some "Natural" level color. In this case, 3/4 6N, to cover up the white. Now, since she wants to tone down the "glow", ASH needs to be a part of this formula. So, I added 1/4 7A. The volumes of developer vary, depending on what you want the color to do. I want mostly deposit, with a little lift, so I chose 20 volume. Processed 35 minutes (as this color line dictates), and POOF! done! We talked about the book she was reading, where she is currently from, where she is originally from, had a great time talking! I'm thinking to myself "Where is the cranky old lady I was warned about???" Got her some coffee, left her to her book during the processing time. When done, I took her to the sink, and proceeded to rinse her hair, then wash. Since her hair is kind of bushy, and I wasn't cutting it, I used a smoothing shampoo & conditioner (which are both color safe) to help tame her hair. The color looked FAB! And, I did NOT run the permanent color down to her ends...all that does is fry the hair and over deposit. Completely unnecessary! Now...when freshly colored (or highlighted) hair is wet, it looks like hell, plain & simple. In this case, her regrowth area looked slightly lighter than the rest. I put product in her hair (that she approved of...didn't like certain things), and proceeded to blow dry & style. Once her hair was dry, her regrowth (because I HATE the word "roots") were Gone, baby, gone!! It was a great match up and she left with a big smile on her face, and tipped me 20%!! Now, lets go to the next day. Ginger finally asks me how her color went (as I'm coloring someone else), so I explained all that I did, including changing the formula, COMPLETELY. Ginger was surprised that I changed it, surprised that the client liked it and surprised that it matched as well as it did! Now, I'm thinking to myself..."WHEN is this woman EVER going to trust me??? When I no longer work for her and open my own shop???" Welcome to my world...