Skin Testing At The Chapel - Everything You Need To Know

Haircare & Beauty Advice

Skin Testing At The Chapel - Everything You Need To Know

14 Jul 2021

Why Skin Test?

The safety of all our guests is paramount to us and that is why we adhere to manufacturer guidelines on skin safety testing, which means carrying out a patch test 48 hrs prior to your appointment.

Although it is very rare, a reaction to hair colour can occur and, if severe, can be painful and distressing. At its most serious, an allergic reaction can result in hospitalisation. For the thousands of perfect skin tests, whenever that one skin test flags a reaction before an actual colour appointment was carried out, all of us are hugely relieved we found out the easy, stressless way.

What Do I Need To Know?

You must book a skin test if you have had any of the following:

  • you have used a box colour between appointments, we will need to carry out a new skin test.
  • you have suffered from any illness or recent allergic reaction that puts your immune system under strain. This may cause your body to overreact to colour services and you may need a new skin test if you have had Covid-19. To date we are not aware of any scientific evidence that Covid-19 or the vaccine directly affects skin sensitivity to hair colour, however, if you are concerned, you are always welcome to another skin test or to seek medical advice prior to your appointment.
  • you have not had a colour appointment or skin test within 6 months.
  • you have had any new tattoos (including henna) or permanent makeup since your last colour appointment.

If you have an existing skin allergy we are unable to colour your hair for the time being.

For anyone that requires a skin test (or if you are under any doubt or concern that a recent illness may include you), this must be done at least 48 hours prior to your appointment.

Whilst it can be carried out on a drop-in basis, we would now much prefer that you notify us in advance, so that we can be ready for you and avoid unexpected crowding. The easiest way of doing this is by emailing your salon of choice and we can simply make a note of what time you're coming in.

Useful Tips

  • We can only carry these out in person but they can be in any of our salons. We recommend looking up our full list of salons here because we may, for example, have a salon conveniently located near your workplace where you can pop in for a skin test that's not your regular ‘home’ salon.
  • If you're seeing a stylist that's new to you, we recommend coinciding your skin test with a conversation so we can ensure we have the perfect appointment length for your actual visit.

Which Colours Do We Use?

Our hair colours are supplied by Redken with whom we work closely and The Chapel salons are among the first to get to work with their most up-to-date products. Even if your hair has been regularly coloured we are obliged to carry out the test and can only proceed with colouring your hair once we are satisfied that it is safe to do so.

We appreciate that the skin test can be inconvenient from a practical point of view, (from a purely business perspective we would much rather not need to carry it out) It’s only for our guests' safety.

We are very grateful for your cooperation and we really look forward to looking after you soon and helping you feel like you again,

The Chapel Team

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