Hair and colour, Istanbul
Colour that grows out on purpose.
Selin Aksoy cuts dry and colours for the grow-out - two days a week in a two-chair room in Cihangir, three days on other people's call sheets.
Twelve heads, and what each one took
Colour, cutting, bridal and editorial. Every look carries the technique, the formula and the hours it took, because that is the part nobody ever puts on a website.
The half of the job nobody photographs
Four corrections, shot in the same chair under the same window. The formula, the sittings and the hours are written under each pair.
Before
AfterBox dye to bone
Four years of black applied at home, taken off across two sittings six weeks apart.
- Starting
- Level 2, banded at 7
- Finished
- 10.21
- Sittings
- Two, six weeks apart
- In the chair
- 9h in total
Before
AfterAsh, grown out on purpose
A root shadow deep enough that the regrowth line never actually arrives.
- Starting
- Level 6, 8cm of regrowth
- Finished
- 5.1 root into 9.1
- Technique
- Root shadow, cool melt
- Holds
- Fourteen weeks
Before
AfterHoney, four sessions
Deep brown to honey without a single band, taken slowly across six months.
- Starting
- Level 4, flat
- Finished
- 7.3 into 8.34
- Sessions
- Four across six months
- In the chair
- 11h in total
Before
AfterSilver, by request
Eleven years of warm brown over grey, stopped in a single afternoon.
- Starting
- Faded 6.3 over 60% white
- Finished
- Clear gloss plus .1
- Technique
- Blend, then gloss
- In the chair
- 2h 30m
Selin Aksoy
Two days a week in a two-chair room in Cihangir. Three days on shoots, shows and other people's bathrooms.
Where did you learn?
On a kitchen chair in Kadikoy, on my grandmother's neighbours, from about fourteen. The proper training came afterwards in Sisli, then five years in a big salon in Nisantasi - which taught me speed, and taught me exactly what I did not want to do.
Why do you cut dry?
Because wet hair lies. It hangs longer and straighter, and the shape you balance at the backwash is not the shape that walks out of the door. I wet it to wash it, and that is all.
What do you say no to?
Black to white in an afternoon. It can be done and it should not be. I would rather lose the booking than hand somebody back hair they cannot brush.
What is the room like?
Two chairs, one window, and the same album on repeat for the whole of a colour process. Six clients a day at most, so nobody sits in foils while I start on somebody else.
One flight up, above the simit oven
Wednesdays to Saturdays on Akarsu Yokusu. Two chairs, one window, and whatever is on the trolley that week.
Five things, done properly
Colour and cutting on chair days, bridal by arrangement, editorial anywhere there is a plug.
Every engagement starts the same way: a short conversation about what the pictures are for, and whether I’m the right eye for them.
Colour
Balayage, root shadow, gloss and grey blending - built so the grow-out is part of the plan and not an emergency.
Colour correction
Box dye, banded lift, a holiday that went wrong. Booked as two sittings six weeks apart, never as one long afternoon.
Cutting
Cut dry, always. Bobs, shags, curl shaping and fringes decided standing up, before anything is wet.
Bridal
One trial in the studio, then the day itself wherever it happens - a hotel room, a family flat, a house in Ayvalik.
Editorial and shows
Lookbooks, campaigns and presentations, alone or with one assistant. I bring my own kit and my own extension lead.
What it costs, before you have to ask
Colour is priced by the work, not by hair length. If a job needs two sittings I will say so at the consultation, not halfway through the first one.
Cut, dry
Consultation standing up, cut dry, finished dry. The wash is included and the fringe is free between visits.
- 1h 15m
- cut dry
- wash and finish
Colour, single process
Root tint, gloss or a full-head toner - the maintenance visit that sits between the bigger ones.
- 1h 30m
- patch test 48h before
- gloss included
Balayage or full colour
Freehand lift, root shadow and toner, with the cut on the same visit if you want it.
- 4h
- toner included
- cut +€45
Colour correction
Quoted after a free consultation and always booked as two sittings, six weeks apart. I will tell you at the consultation if it needs three.
- Two sittings
- from 8h in total
- consultation free
Bridal
One trial in the studio and the morning itself, wherever it happens. Travel outside Istanbul at cost.
- Trial 2h
- day 2h
- travel at cost
Editorial and shows
Day rate for lookbooks, campaigns and presentations. An assistant is charged separately when the call sheet needs one.
- Up to 10h
- kit included
- assistant on request
A patch test is required 48 hours before any colour, including a gloss. Consultations are free and take twenty minutes. Deposits hold bridal dates and colour corrections only.
What it takes to keep it
The part of the price nobody quotes. Read it before you book a lift, not after.
A colour is finished when you leave, not sealed for life. Four habits keep it where I put it; four more take it apart faster than the grow-out ever will.
What keeps it
Wash it less than you think
Two or three times a week, in water that is warm rather than hot. Colour leaves in the first rinse of every wash.
One bond treatment, the week after a lift
Only in the seven days following a lightening service. After that it is doing nothing except costing money.
A heat protector you will actually use
The cheap spray you reach for beats the good serum in the cupboard. Use it before the dryer, not just before the iron.
Come back on the date, not on the panic
You leave with a date that matches how this colour grows. Two weeks late is fine; two months late is a correction.
What takes it out
Purple shampoo every wash
It stains the porous ends grey-violet and does nothing for the root. Once a fortnight is the whole prescription.
A hot iron on damp hair
It boils the water inside the cuticle. That is the crackle you hear, and it is the reason the ends went matte.
The pool, unrinsed
Chlorine binds to lifted hair and turns copper flat and blonde green. Wet it with tap water before you get in.
A box dye between visits
It is the one thing I cannot undo in an afternoon. Send me a photograph first and I will tell you what it will cost to reverse.
2-3a week
Wash, no more than
6weeks
Gloss or toner
10weeks
Cut, dry
14weeks
Full colour, at most
If something unexpected happens - a tone that moves, a patch that lifts, a holiday that went wrong - send me a photograph in daylight before you try to fix it yourself. Almost everything is quicker to put right before somebody else has had a go.
From the first message to the front door
Four steps, and the only one that ever surprises people is the second.
Day one
The message
Tell me what your hair is doing now and send one photograph taken in daylight with no filter. I answer within two working days, and I will say plainly if I am the wrong person for it.
48h before
Patch test and consultation
Twenty minutes in the room, free, at least 48 hours before any colour. We do the patch test, I look at your ends in daylight, and we agree what is possible in one sitting and what is not.
The day
The appointment
Six clients a day at most, so nobody sits in foils waiting for me to come back. If the plan changes in the chair we agree the new number before I mix anything.
On the way out
Aftercare and the next date
You leave with the formula written down, three products at most, and a date in the diary that matches the way the colour will actually grow.
What people say a month later
Not on the day, when everybody is pleased. A month later, when the colour has been washed eight times.
I had been to four people about the same brassy mess and Selin is the only one who told me it would take two visits. It took two visits. That is the whole review.
Deniz Yalcin Client since 2021, CihangirI stopped covering my grey at fifty-one with no idea what to do next. She made it look like something I had chosen rather than something that had happened to me.
Meltem Arslan Client since 2023, BesiktasFourteen looks on a stupid schedule and she reset the parting between every single change without being asked. On a shoot that is the whole difference.
Mert Kavakli Photographer, KarakoyShe cut my curls dry, took forty minutes longer than anyone ever has, and I have not had a triangle since.
Zeynep Kaya Client since 2022, ModaCredited, published, taught
The work that left the room and turned up somewhere else.
The questions that come up every week
Do I really need a patch test?
Yes - 48 hours before, for every colour service including a gloss. It takes two minutes and I cannot legally mix anything without it. If you have had one with me in the last six months we can skip it.
Can you take me from black to blonde in one day?
No. I can take you two or three levels in a sitting and keep your ends, or I can take you further and hand you back hair that snaps. Colour correction is always two sittings, six weeks apart.
What if I do not like it?
Tell me in the chair, not in the car. Tone is free to adjust within ten days. Anything structural we book properly and I charge you for the products only.
Do you take deposits?
Only for bridal and for colour corrections, where the chair is blocked for half a day. Everything else runs on trust and twenty-four hours' notice.
Do you travel?
For bridal and editorial, anywhere, at cost. I did a wedding in Ayvalik and a presentation in Milan in the same month, which I would not recommend to anybody.
Which products do I actually need?
Three: a sulphate-free wash, one bond treatment for the week after a lift, and a heat protector you will genuinely use. I am not going to sell you a shelf.
Take the chair
Tell me what your hair is doing now and send one photograph taken in daylight. I answer within two working days.
Booking slip - one per chair
Thank you - it is in the diary tray. I answer everything within two working days, and I will tell you honestly if I am the wrong person for the job.