You’re about to see everyone’s true colors.
With hair salons shuttering — along with all other nonessential services during the coronavirus pandemic — chic New Yorkers are freaking out about their hair. Some are pleading with stylists to make house calls, others are asking for self-trimming tips and a few unlucky ones are learning that dye jobs are better left to the pros.
“I have never done my own color before, but my roots were terrible,’’ Upper East Sider Annette Hanson tells The Post. Last week, the beauty consultant was at her place in Palm Beach, glued to the news. With a sinking feeling, she realized that Paul Labrecque, the salon she’s frequented for 25 years, would likely be closed before she could get back to New York. So she rushed to the drugstore for a box of dye.
It went badly.
“I did the best I could in my dimly lit bathroom,” says Hanson, 65. “I got dye all over, the roots came out bright red, and since I had existing highlights and lowlights, the rest of my hair was a variety of shades. My hair quickly became unusually dry and frizzy. I thought, ‘Oh boy, I should never have tried this!’ ’’
Colorist Janelle Kemp of Midtown’s Guy Thomas Salon isn’t surprised by her experience. At-home dyeing, she says, is a “disaster.”
“I’ve been getting a lot of e-mails from clients sounding very desperate,” says Kemp, who is the wife of Post editor Joe Kemp. But she says the risk just isn’t worth it. For one, you can wind up doing harm to your locks that outlasts lockdown.
“You might . . . have to cut a lot of your hair off, because it’s damaged,” she says.
For another, bad dye is a really expensive mistake to fix.
“Corrective color can run three to four times what a normal visit can cost,” says Kemp, whose high-profile clients have ranged from CEOs and sports icons to Sir Paul McCartney. “It can run from $500 to $600. And even then, it might not be back to normal and can take a few sessions.” In the meantime, she prescribes root touch-up powders — and patience.
“It’s awful and we empathize,” she says, “but it’s so not worth” ruining your hair over.
Labrecque agrees about drugstore dyes.
“The shade pictured on the box can turn out completely different depending on a person’s natural color,” he says.
But to help abate some of the panic his clients are experiencing around personal care, he’s trying to help clients dye responsibly.
“We have been mailing out clients’ formulas to them,” he says. His custom kits are $75, and include a professional color brush, everything that needs to be mixed (which is sealed and airtight), professional gloves and step-by-step instructions. He also offers video tutorials to clients via FaceTime about how to apply the color.
Pros are also trying to guide people on DIY trims.
Celebrity stylist Ishi, who is now with Mia Wagner Salon, says he has already gotten pleading calls for guidance on self-haircuts. Although he says that snipping your own hair can be at least as disastrous as amateur coloring, he has advice for people who can’t wait to even things off.
“Don’t ever try to cut your hair wet; dry and style it first,’’ he says. Wet hair clumps together, and although stylists are well-trained to trim damp dresses, newbies are likely to chop off too much by mistake. “People tend to cut their own bangs too short. If you need to trim, keep them below the brow and don’t pull down because they will bounce back up shorter.’’
And if you really need professional help? It’s out there — for now. Adi Aloni, owner of the boutique salon Simadi on Lexington Avenue, says he’s doing one-on-ones with clients. He’s wearing a mask and relentlessly sanitizing all tools and surfaces.
“My clients are so grateful that I am still here and they don’t have to worry about being next to anyone else,” he says.
Some stylists will even do house calls.
“Those who really want me to do it, I will pay a visit,’’ says Labrecque. “But I come armed with my Lysol wipes, mask, gloves and shoe covers.’’
If all else fails? Lean into the roots for now, says Labrecque.
“It’s a good thing that ombre is still in style!” he says.
With reporting by Hannah Frishberg and Catherine Kast