10 reasons why YOU need to focus on toning

Promotion – Wella Professionals

Toning is on trend, and the business benefits it brings can seriously boost your bottom line. Are you taking advantage? We ask colour experts on why toning today can top-up more than your client’s hue…

Only 20 per cent of UK salon blondes are toned. Think of the possibilities! 

Blondes are the most profitable colour clients in your salon already. Yet only about 20 per cent of blonde clients in UK salons have a toner. Now, think about how much more business the other 80 per cent could be bringing… 

Toning services can increase frequency of visit 

With the trends for balayage and long hair going nowhere fast, we’ve seen frequency of salon visit numbers drop, and the lockdowns did nothing to help turn the tide. Toning services are a way to get blonde clients back in the chair more often for a little tune up, banishing any brass or turning up the volume on brightness. 

And with many clients keeping an eye on their bill, it’s also a way of breaking down blonde services into manageable bite-sized chunks. “If they visited more often, actually that big blonde bill would be more broken down,” explains Daisy Hewitt, commercial education manager at Wella Professionals. “It’s about making a service a little bit more bite sized for that client, so that when they pay the bill, it’s still profitable for the salon, but the client isn’t feeling like they’re having to dig so deep. It helps make the client feel like they can control this without it costing hundreds and hundreds of pounds every six or nine months.”  

To support the launch of its new BlondorPlex Cream Toners, Wella Professionals is sharing blonde life cycle models that pick out four key services for blonde clients, and when they would ideally need to be booked in. For example,  its Ultra Lights model for partial lightening is based on a six-month cycle. Appointment one delivers a full head of foils or a balayage application with a toning and WellaPlex service. Eight weeks after that initial appointment, there’s a blonding top up with a half head or face-frame and T-section application. Then the cycle ends with a toning and WellaPlex service. 

It’s a quick colour correction 

Brassy blondes, yellowing lengths, dulling results. Toners can turn around a host of issues that blondes battle with so needs to be central to your colour correction toolbox. “My favourite way to use toners is after a blonding for a gloss. “It could be anything from a quick service to something that’s a bit more of a colour correction,” says Christel Barron-Hough. “On one of my models for the Creative HEAD shoot, I did a colour correction and the BlondorPlex Cream Toner performed beautifully because it made the result super even.” 

 Clients can experiment without spoiling their blonde base 

Ever had a blonde client – one who took a few appointments to lift and get just so – turn to you and ask for something leftfield, like a strong copper, just to see what it looks like? You know how hard it’s going to be to get them back to that blonde when they decide they don’t want to be copper any more… But toners are a brilliant way to let guests try and hint of something else. “For clients, it gives them a little bit of freedom to play around with shades without commitment,” says Daisy Goord. “You can talk about more pearly toners, more platinum, you can change it quickly and easily.” 

 It’s a shortcut to fashion-forward looks you can market 

Linking celebrity and fashion trends to toning services in clear menus and marketing is a savvy way of showcasing that you have your finger on the pulse, and can deliver an on-trend tweak in a heartbeat with the latest products and shades. “It’s also about combining fashion together with amazing innovation,” adds Christel. “You could create menus in the salon. You can pull colour trends, and talk about them with clients. Consumers read Vogue, they read Harper’s, they tell us what’s in fashion! Create quick menus, with key names such as vanilla, peach, beige – whatever it might be – and talk about colour trends in that way. You need to sell the look first, that’s what the client always want. They come in because they want to look amazing.” 

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It’s VERY social media friendly 

Take a little look on Instagram and TikTok, and you’ll see just how colour – particularly blondes – dominate the hair conversation. Drill down and you’ll see how the tone, the shine, the utter Instagramability of well-toned hair can deliver the likes… and the followers. Invest in a ring light, a good photo app and apply some well-chosen hashtags, and you can make an impact locally as the place to visit for a brilliant blonde result. Don’t take our word for it, ask Daisy Goord, her 118,000 followers and the beautiful blondes of Plymouth! 

 Some clients might fear toners after a bad experience… 

There was a time, some 30 years ago, when the word ‘toner’ in the salon would indicate something very different to the finish we see today. “Some clients are a little bit scarred because they think of toners as something that makes the hair ashy, flat or grey because in the ‘90s that was very much the fashion, quite heavy and saturated,” admits Christel.  

“A toner today is like the finishing touch you need, to personalise and to finish the colour off. It’s to beautifully enhance. I often talk about when you have your nails painted. If you don’t use a top coat, the nail polish is never going to look the same. It doesn’t bring out the tone or that quality of shine quality.” 

New generation toners can also improve the quality and feel of the hair, not just the tonal result. “Over the last 10 years bonding has become such a big part of what we’re doing in salon, the science of it and the understanding of what we’re doing to hair and the additional care we need to add on, explains Scott Evans, commercial education manager at Wella Professionals. “Having that bonding element in the BlondorPlex Cream Toner already is fantastic. The hair can feel instantly transformed.” 

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You can increase spend by adding a toner to a colour package 

Creating bespoke blonde packages for clients not only makes them feel seen and showcases your professional expertise, it also helps build up the bill in an authentic way. “With my clients, I’ve never made toning an option. I’ve always made it part of a package. So, from the offset they know, it’s been explained,” explains Daisy Goord. “If you do want a cooler colour, this is how we’re going to reach it. I explain to them the maintenance, and how these things aren’t permanent even though we wish they were. I explain how even the water you wash your hair in can alter these colours. So in between salon visits, to have that fresh tone, it’s so important to use a toner.” 

 You can expand your menu with quick services 

Stylists want to maximise the time they spend in the salon; many clients don’t have the luxury of half a day to sit in your chair. Toning can deliver a fresher look in a quicker appointment, handing you the opportunity to offer quick services that make a difference. “It’s all about time, creativity and freedom,” says Daisy. “Clients can pop in on a lunch break and have a toner refresh, that is so important.” 

And with BlondorPlex Cream Toner, with a quick application and a development time of just five minutes, it means colourists can make the most of the time they have, and potentially see more clients over the course of their column, especially when they don’t have to account for the additional time a separate bonding treatment could take.  

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Are you a freelancer? It could cut down what you carry 

When you’re in a salon, the colour room can be a rainbow of possibilities, boxes and tubes every way you turn. But for a freelancer, juggling costs and potentially being on the move too, you are mindful of the expense of buying lots of different colour products and where you will store it all. You can’t carry everything. With something like BlondorPlex Cream Toners, you have versatility and a broad range of results in a compact, concise range of four toners and a booster. 

See the BlondorPlex Cream Toners in action >