A repeatable color formula starts before the bowl. Record the client's starting condition, target, history, developer plan, timing, cost context, and next-visit note before the mix disappears into memory.
This is the consultation note that makes the later formula card useful. It does not choose the formula for you; it preserves the context a formula needs to make sense six weeks later.
Record the current level, the visible warmth or banding, and whether you are working over natural hair, previously colored hair, lightened hair, or a mixed canvas. The same formula means something different on a different starting point.
Write what success means in plain language: gray blending, warmer brunette, cooler blonde, refresh only, correction, gloss, or root maintenance. Shade numbers alone do not capture the client goal.
Note porous ends, resistant gray, prior box color, old lightener, or anything that changes uptake. These are the variables that explain why a mix worked on one client and missed on another.
Before mixing, write the developer volume, color-to-developer ratio, where it applies, and the planned timing. These fields are not cleanup details; they are part of the formula.
If you track grams, you can attach a real material-cost estimate to the service. That matters for booth renters and solo colorists because the cost of a redo comes out of the same book.
Close with one sentence for future you: what to repeat, what to pull through later, what to adjust, or what the client noticed after the last appointment.
Without the consultation record, a formula card is just a recipe. With the record, it becomes evidence: why the formula was chosen, what it was applied over, and what should happen next time.
Color Formula is built to hold the consultation, formula, developer, ratio, timing, notes, and cost context in one on-device client history. It is a record-keeping and reference tool for licensed colorists; it does not replace training, manufacturer instructions, patch testing, or professional judgment.
Capture start, target, history, and plan before the service so the formula has context.
After mixing, save the brand, line, shades, grams, developer, ratio, and time as the formula card.
Write what happened, what the client saw, and the adjustment for the next appointment.
Records stay on the iPhone with no account and no public client directory. See the privacy page for the website/app boundary.
What the saved record needs after the consultation.
Why ratio belongs on every formula card.
How volume affects lift/deposit and why it belongs in the note.
Turn grams into material-cost evidence.
Starting level, target level, warmth, porosity, gray percentage, prior color history, service goal, developer volume, ratio, timing plan, formula components, bowl-cost context, and one next-visit note.
Because the formula only makes sense against the starting condition and the goal. Waiting until after the bowl is mixed makes it too easy to record the recipe but lose the reason.
No. Color Formula stores the records and helps with reference workflows. It does not replace manufacturer instructions, training, patch testing, local licensing requirements, or professional judgment.
Color Formula is finishing App Store preparation. It is built for iPhone, local-first, and focused on the record a working colorist needs to repeat the result.