Hit 500 hours on chair coloring last week and it got me thinking about the whole 'experience vs. talent' debate

I mean, I've been doing hair for about 3 years now and just crossed 500 hours of just coloring work. Some days I feel like a pro nailing a full balayage in under 2 hours, other days I'm still fighting with bleach bleeding on a root touch up. It made me wonder - do you guys think raw talent or just logging the hours matters more for getting consistent results? Like, is it just me or does that magic number of hours feel different for everyone?

3 comments

3 Comments

alice_hart1mo ago

But talent is just a head start, it won't save you when you're elbow deep in a complicated correction. You can have a natural eye for color but if you haven't put in the hours to learn how different brands of bleach behave, you're gonna mess up a lot. Consistency comes from repetition and making mistakes, not some gift you were born with.

norab211mo ago

And the thing about mistakes is you have to make them yourself, not just watch someone else on YouTube do it. I spent a whole summer ruining hair before I figured out olaplex needs way more time to process than the bottle says.

emmawood26d ago

@alice_hart nailed it. Mistakes are the real teacher, talent just gets you to the starting line.