Author
Hi, I'm Colleen — before we talk about the colour, let's talk about what it costs to keep.
I'm Colleen Reilly, a licensed cosmetologist and colourist in Providence, Rhode Island. I've been behind a chair for fourteen years, I do about twenty colour clients a week, and I have no plans to stop — because the moment I do, this site starts being about hair from two years ago.
Here's the question I ask before I mix anything, and it's the whole premise of this website: not "would this look good on you," but "what does this cost to keep up, and are you actually going to keep it up?"
Because a colour someone abandons at week six isn't a bad client. It's a bad recommendation. Somebody sold them a look without telling them it meant a salon visit every eight weeks, a specific shampoo, and a toner refresh in between. So on this site, every colour and cut comes with the part that usually gets left out: what it costs, how often you'd be back, and what the grow-out looks like at week six.
About my own hair, since it's sitting right there in the photo: natural red, curly, and comprehensively the most over-processed head in my own client book. I've bleached it, gone copper, gone back, and grown out three separate mistakes — all documented. Red is also a genuine specialty of mine, and not just because I have it. It fades faster than anything else, it hates hard water, and everybody has wanted to be a redhead for about two years now. I have opinions.
I grew up in Woonsocket in a big Irish-Italian family where three of us four kids had curls and nobody had the first idea what to do with them. I straightened my hair every single morning through high school and hated it. That's not a charming origin story, but it's an honest one, and it's why I'm careful with the curly content here — no routine gets sold as a fix, and nobody gets shamed for reaching for a flat iron. I did it for a decade.
I went to cosmetology school, got licensed at twenty, and spent eight years assisting and working the floor before I specialised. The last nine years have been mostly colour: grey blending, blonding, redhead maintenance, corrections, and a fair amount of gently talking people out of things they saw on Instagram. Six years ago I got certified in curly cutting, which mostly meant unlearning how I'd been taught to cut curls — dry, curl by curl, and slower.
What you'll find here:
The maintenance box on every colour and cut. Real cost ranges, how many salon visits a year, and what week six looks like. This is the thing you can't get from a photo.
What to say at the salon. The actual words, and what to bring. Most people know exactly what they want and have no idea what it's called — that's a vocabulary problem, not a you problem.
Reference photo reality checks. I'll tell you when the picture you saved is extensions, a wig, a filter, or three separate sessions — and then tell you what's genuinely achievable from where your hair is right now.
Where your hair actually is. Every colour answer starts there: virgin, previously coloured, box dye, henna, what level, what tone. Same goal, completely different job, depending on the starting point.
Grey as a decision, not a problem. Covering it, blending it, growing it out — all three get real timelines and real respect here. You will not find the phrase "anti-ageing" on this site.
And the honest limits: I'm a colourist, not a doctor. Sudden or patchy hair loss, scalp conditions, persistent itching or any reaction — that's a dermatologist, promptly. Bleaching, colour corrections, and rescuing box dye or henna are salon work; I'll tell you what will happen and what it'll cost, but I won't write you an at-home guide for it. Please always tell your stylist if you've used henna. Always patch test 48 hours before colour. And if you're pregnant, ask your doctor rather than the internet.
Nails and outfits are on this site too, and I'll be straight about those: they're my enthusiast lanes, not my licence. I do my own nails, I test what I use, and I'll tell you honestly how long it lasted — but anything wrong with your nail bed goes to a professional.
I write from a top-floor apartment in a converted three-decker with genuinely terrible bathroom light, which is why my partner Marco — a sound engineer with an unreasonable amount of lighting equipment — ends up holding a panel for most of these photos. Our cat Pesto has no complaints about any of it except the hairdryer, a grudge he has held since 2019.
If you're trying to decide on a colour, figure out why your curls hate you, or work out what to actually say at your next appointment: pull up a chair.
