Marcy Cona is one of the country’s top colorists and educators, who has traveled all over the world for Wella and Clairol. She’s also the owner of two very successful salons in Cuyahoga Falls just outside of Cleveland, Ohio, that provide services to 600+ guests a week. MC HAIR Consultants is located in a two-story Arts & Crafts-type house and offers a full range of services. When her business outgrew that space, Cona opened MC HAIR & Studio right down the street where she offers bridal services, does photo shoots, provides education and holds events. She’s in the process of relocating from her original location to a larger space that will include a spa and a name change. “MC HAIR will officially become MC Hair Salon + Spa,” says Cona, who envisions nothing less than an amazing experience for her guests.
“We spent six months studying the art of consultation because we knew that if guests had an in-depth consultation they’d receive a personalized, customized end result,” she says. Cona was also the first salon owner in Ohio to bring in and engage with SureTint™ Technologies. She calls the company’s app a game-changer for salon owners and colorists like her. “It’s like having a smart phone,” she says. “Once you use it, you can’t live without it.”
Cona calls SureTint™ a “calibration tool” that helps her deliver consistent results every time, and she is quick to dispel the notion that the app limits creativity. “It actually supports your creative work because it helps you understand your clients better and discover what they really think about their hair.”
Cona ticks off the secondary benefits of SureTint™, including a reduction in waste, cost savings and inventory control, but she also loves the fact that it makes keeping detailed notes about each client on everything from color placement to how much product was used so easy. “Let’s say that one of my colorists is out sick and another colorist has to step in to accommodate a guest,” says Cona. “Nothing’s left to chance because all the information is on the app, which is better than a handwritten note on an index card.”
When pressed, Cona admits that one of her favorite features is that SureTint™ “lets you set your profiles for each type of color service. Is it a root application, a balayage, a color melt? Then the algorithm in the system sets things up based on hair attributes like density, the amount of regrowth, the amount of gray and so forth before computing exactly how much color to use in every scenario.” In other words, it compensates for over-deviation. Cona calls it a marriage of the colorist’s artistry and the science of hair color supported by technology.
“SureTint™ is not only a must-have, it’s really where the future is going,” she says. “It doesn’t matter if your salon is large or small. What matters is whether or not you intend to deliver better services.”
Someone once joked that a necessity is just a luxury you’ve had for more than two weeks. “It’s so true,” says Cona, circling back to her smart phone analogy. “Remember the first time you held a smart phone? You felt nervous and fearful, right, but once you got used to it, it became something you couldn’t live without. That’s what SureTint™ is like.”
Cona has been using SureTint™ technology for the past three years. Recently one of her staff members told her that the deviation reports provided hold her accountable. “I remember how during our coaching sessions everyone thought that it would take too much time to use, that it would take time away from their guests,” says Cona, “but now they that SureTint™ is on their iPads, they’ve made it part of the consultation and it’s become second nature.”
For salons like Cona’s, which are known for pushing the boundaries when it comes to hair color, SureTint™ has become indispensible just like those iPhones we can’t live without these days!
