Manufacturers work hard to make their products as easy to mix as possible. Yet the increasing trend to use a cocktail of colors or to add in other products to enhance condition has made mixing to the necessary texture more of a challenge. The risk of an incomplete mix is inadequate coverage.
‘The consistency of the mix is crucial; you can’t cut corners with color,’ says Kelly Smith, owner of Vivid Trendz Studio in Knoxville, Tennessee, where more than 95% of her clients have color. ‘It needs to be blended and creamy so the product just glides on effortlessly. It is the only way to get a consistent result through the whole head, regardless of hair thickness and length.’
Hannah Menor, Instagram influencer and Pulp Riot squad member based out of Mix Co Salon in San Diego, agrees with Kelly 100%, pointing to the need for absolute mixes to ensure not just ease and speed of application but also the purity of color throughout. And the only way to do that, says Hannah, is to go for automation.
‘If you are going for even color, you can’t have partial mixes,’ she warns. ‘With hand mixing, it depends on how much effort you put into it each time, but use a mixer and you get the same result every time. I use The Ping because it gives me the same texture and quantity of mix every time. You can then make your formulas more exact to match hair length and thickness, meaning less product wastage and less time having to go remix.’
Earlier this year, a survey of stylists who have also adopted the electronic mixer, showed that 88% reported a creamier mix, while 82% reported better application and 64% said there was noticeably more volume to their formulas.
Kelly, who is also an Olaplex Advocate and Educator, often combines her Pulp Riot shades and adds Olaplex to all her formulas. The results have made her one of the most successful stylists in her area. However, she argues, she doesn’t have the time or the inclination to mix it in a bowl.
‘I wouldn’t mix a cake by hand at home and I wouldn’t mix my color by hand in the salon, she explains. ‘I couldn’t guarantee that the products had mixed fully or were aerated to the required level. You can’t have inconsistency with color, especially when using vivid shades.’
For Kelly and Hannah, adopting a Ping each has allowed them to experiment with color mixes, giving a smooth, blended mix with which to work. It produces a more voluminous mix that ensures effortless application, giving greater coverage.
‘I always use my Ping mixer now,’ adds Hannah. ‘It gives me the right consistency every time so my formulas don’t need to vary, and because it leaves the mix so smooth, it glides on easier and goes further, saving me time and money.’
The manufacturers have made it as easy as they could to mix up their products, but at the end of the day, stylists have found only with an automatic mixer can they guarantee consistent results.