8 Hair Cheats You Should Add to Your Bag of Tricks!

Are you in-between clients sneaking a peak at your Smartphone looking for some go-to advice? Well you’ve come to the right place. At the Schwarzkopf Professional Essential Looks event in Calgary, Canada, BTC was backstage asking the SKP pros about their favorite hair cheats every hairdresser should add to their bag of tricks. With just 8 quick cheats, you’ll go back to your client with a whole new toolbox of tips!

1. SPIKE Your Client’s Formula
Want to keep your clients coming back for more? Give their color formula an added secret ingredient to make their hair one of a kind! Rossa Jurenas, SKP North American Colour Director, typically books out a year in advance because she does just that. She spikes each client’s color with a secret ingredient that not even they know! “If you pick a basic formulation—red for an example—take another concentrate, something that has a little punch to it, and you override your formula,” explains Rossa. “You do this so your client can’t go somewhere else to recreate that color. Don’t add more developer, or anything else in it, just add a little bit of extra oomph to it. The minute the light hits your client’s hair, they will instantly notice that beam of shine. When they ask what you did. Say ‘It’s an ‘add your name here’ original!’”

2. No More Calls for Bobby Pin Backup
Now, how many times have you had to use a million reinforcement bobby pins to make your perfectly placed updo stay? Well, after you hear this trick, you won’t be calling bobby pin backup anymore! SKP Essential Looks Stylist, Michelle Oliver, states that her secret bobby pin staying power trick is to throw a little texturizing powder on the hair before you place your pin! “Think of volumizing powder not as just something for the roots/crown, think of it literally as super glue for bobby pins. There is so much more traction for that bobby pin to really stay secured,” says Michelle.

3. Phasing Out Vibrant Shades
If your client is trying to go from vibrant colors back to a natural shade, help her out by cocktailing shampoo with a bit of lightener to really fade out the color. Michelle believes the trick is to treat this situation like a color correction. “Go in with demi colors to fill in the gaps, BUT make sure you test a strand or two before doing the whole job,” Michelle cautions. “You need to see how your client’s hair will react. If you don’t, you might have trouble with the hair being either too warm or too cool.”

4. Cheat Men’s Parts
Instagram Guru and SKP barber, Matty Conrad really recommends adding a hard part to your client’s do.  “A lot of the times lately I have been setting hard part lines into hair. So I’m actually shaving the part into the hair, using a straight razor or trimmer, that way the client can find a perfect part line every time.

5. Don’t Be Afraid to Mess That Baby Up!
One of the first things your clients do after they get out of your chair is go to the bathroom to mess up their hair—so why not give them that right away? Damien Carney, SKP North American Creative Director, believes your hands are the best tool to use! “When your client has squeaky-clean hair, it’s beautiful, but sometimes adding a bit of hairspray to your hands and working it through the hair makes it look a little bit sexier,” says Damien. “Don’t be shy or prude messing someone’s hair up behind the chair, because if they are going to do it anyway, you might as well beat them to the punch!” And at the end of the day, if it’s too messy, you can make it neat again.

6.  Full Set of Curls in Half the Time! 
Say your client has long hair and wants a full set of curls, but there is absolutely no way you have enough time. “A great trick is to take sections of towel-dried hair, add mousse and twist and pin them,” says SKP Essential Looks Stylist, Kathy Simon. “Do this for about six, eight or 10 sections and blow-dry with a diffuser. Then when you take it out, you will have fabulous grungy curls that your clients are going to love!”

7. A Road Map to Finding the Ridge
So your client really wants to bring out his jawline and you’re wondering where to separate the undercut from the longer hair on top. Paul Pereira, SKP Essential Look Stylist and NAHA winner for Favorite Men’s Stylist, says you MUST start by finding their ridge. “The ridge-line will dictate where the hair will sit properly, complementing your client’s bone structure. You find the ridge at the beginning of your client’s recession, and carry it through to the back. If you start the undercut too high, it will round the head out too much and if you go too low, you get too much overhang. You really want to bring a square line to your client’s jawline. It will bring out his bone structure without giving him a rounded off fauxhawk,” explains Paul.

8. Tomato/Tomãto
Blonding Expert and Ambassador for SKP, Kim Vo has been known to have more than a couple unconventional tricks up his sleeve—like this emergency solution for when the best shampoos are absolutely out of reach. “Do you have a client that is constantly in the pool who complains about her green hair? While she is in-between salon visits, recommend putting ketchup on the hair for 20 minutes. Ketchup takes out all of the copper that deposits in the hair after a few summer swims. She might not ever want to eat a cheeseburger again, but her hair will be looking blonde and fabulous.”