Colour Formulas

15 minutes

Tutorial 12.5: Colour Formulas

Introduction

Colour formulas let you record exactly what products went into each colour mix, with precise gram measurements. Every formula is tied to a customer (and optionally to an appointment), so the next colourist can reproduce the recipe — and, in Full mode, any overage above the grams included in the service price is billed automatically.

This tutorial covers the unified Colour Formula dialog that appears everywhere you record colour work in the main app: customer profile, appointment sidebar, and the dedicated appointment and customer pages. For the tablet-based Colour Bar flow (Mix, Reweigh, scale integration) see Tutorial 20.9 and the rest of Section 20.

Who this is for: Staff, Receptionist, Manager, Admin, Owner What you'll learn:

Enable colour formulas for your salon
Create a formula the "weigh as you mix" way
Save a plan for a future appointment
Record actuals later in mixing mode
Finalise, revert, and see how the charge badge changes
Duplicate a formula from the customer's history
Run a colour stock take

Time to complete: 15 minutes

Prerequisites

Logged in as Staff or above
Your salon's colour formula mode must be Formulas or Full (see Tutorial 20.2 for the settings tab). In Notes mode the formula UI does not appear; stick with consultation notes (Tutorial 3.7).
For Full-mode overage billing: colour services must have Colour grams included set (Tutorial 7.1) and at least one default Colour Charge Rule (Tutorial 20.2).

Where the formula dialog appears

The same dialog opens from five places, so any colourist can reach it from wherever they are in the system:

Entry point	Opens in	Tied to
Customer profile → Colour Formulas tab	Blank (create) mode	Customer only
Customer profile → Customer Colour Formulas list	Blank (create) mode	Customer only
Appointment detail page	Blank or Mixing, depending on state	Customer + appointment
Appointment sidebar on the calendar	Blank or Mixing	Customer + appointment
Formula detail page	Blank (edit existing)	Whatever the formula is tied to

Formulas saved from a customer-only page (no appointment linked) can be picked up later on an appointment; formulas saved from an appointment stay linked to that appointment.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Step 1: Enable colour formulas

Go to Salon Settings → Colour tab (Owner only)
Choose your mode:
- Notes only — freeform colour notes only (default; this tutorial doesn't apply)
- Formulas — structured bowls, products, gram entries. No stock tracking, no billing.
- Full — formulas plus gram-level stock tracking and automatic overage billing

See Tutorial 20.2 for full settings coverage, including charge rules.

Step 2: Create a formula — weigh as you mix

Most of the time you invent a formula at the station — the weight you pour into the bowl is the recipe.

Open the customer profile's Colour Formulas tab (or the appointment detail / sidebar) and click New Formula
Type or scan a product into the search field. A row appears with the product, bowl number, and weight input
As you pour, type the weight into the row. Add more products to the same bowl or click Add bowl for a second bowl (up to six bowls)
Enter a Formula name (optional), Developer volume (10/20/30/40), and any Notes
Click one of the save buttons at the bottom of the dialog:
- Finalise — commits the mix. Stock is decremented, any overage is staged for billing, and the recipe is locked. A short confirmation dialog precedes the commit.
- Save draft — saves your targets only; the formula stays open to finalise later
- Plan only toggle (top of dialog) — saves a target-only plan to mix at a future appointment. When you reopen a plan it switches automatically into mixing mode.

Step 3: Record actuals later (mixing mode)

When a draft or plan is reopened, the dialog switches to Mixing mode. You now see two weight columns:

Target — read-only, what you planned
Actual — editable, what you weighed

Work through each row entering the actuals as you weigh. Then:

Save actuals — preserves progress without finalising (useful if you step away)
Finalise — commits the mix after a confirmation dialog

Additional actions in mixing mode:

Edit products — opens the formula back in blank mode so you can swap products, change bowl numbers, or adjust targets without leaving the flow
Revert — only visible after finalising. In Full mode it is also hidden once the overage charge has been committed on a completed transaction (refund or modify the transaction to free the formula — Tutorial 8.2). Revert returns stock, strips any charge line, and reopens the formula for edits.

Step 4: Recognise the charge badge

In Full mode, a finalised formula that exceeded the service's included grams shows a green Charged badge (with the overage amount in your salon currency) on the formula card. This is the overage line that will appear on the appointment's transaction when you ring it up.

If you Revert or edit the formula while the draft is still open, the badge and the POS line update in step. Once the transaction is completed, the formula becomes read-only and the Revert action disappears — see Tutorial 20.8 for the full lifecycle.

The badge does not appear in Formulas mode — no billing runs, so no charge is staged.

Step 5: Duplicate from history

When a returning customer wants the same formula:

Open the customer's Colour Formulas tab
Click Duplicate on any historical formula
A new formula is created with the same products and target grams, ready to adjust

The new formula links back to the original so you can trace the history.

Step 6: Colour stock take

Keep your gram balances accurate so overage calculations stay honest:

Go to Products → Colour tab (Manager, Admin, or Owner)
Work through the product list by brand
Enter the remaining grams for each product — the row saves automatically
Use the brand filter to narrow to one brand at a time
Add new colour products or deactivate discontinued ones directly from the same tab

Tutorial 20.5 covers the full stock-take workflow including the movement log.

Who can do what

Action	Staff	Receptionist	Manager	Admin	Owner
View formulas	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Create / edit formulas	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Delete formulas	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
Revert a finalised formula (draft still open)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Colour stock take	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Change colour settings / charge rules	No	No	No	No	Yes

Common Pitfalls

"The New Formula button isn't showing"

Your salon is in Notes mode. Switch to Formulas or Full via Salon Settings → Services → Colour (Tutorial 20.2).

"I can't see the Revert button"

Revert only shows after a formula is finalised and the overage charge is still on a draft transaction. Once the transaction is completed, the formula is locked — refund or modify the transaction (Tutorial 8.2) to free the formula.

"Stock looks wrong after finalising"

Finalising decrements gram-level stock; reverting reverses it. If you edited a finalised formula, the system wrote compensating reversal rows and re-decremented — the net stock is correct but the movement log shows every step. Check Tutorial 20.5 for reading the movement log.

"Overage badge isn't appearing"

Overage only calculates when the service has Colour grams included set (Tutorial 7.1), your salon has an active Colour Charge Rule (Tutorial 20.2), and the formula's actual grams exceed the threshold (or the minimum overage grams on the rule).

Tips and Best Practices

Use Plan only for future visits — great for customers booking their next touch-up while you still remember what you did today.
Finalise at the station, not afterwards — the sooner you capture actuals, the more accurate the charge and the stock movement log.
Let the colourist Revert, not delete — Revert preserves the audit trail and cleanly updates the draft; delete only if the formula was created in error.
Reconcile stock weekly — a short stock take keeps overage calculations tight; a long one becomes a chore.
Pin the formula name to the mix, not the bowl — "Rachael root touch-up 6N/6A" travels between appointments; "Bowl 1" doesn't.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can a formula exist without an appointment?

Yes. A customer-level formula records colour work outside a specific booking, and can be copied onto a future appointment when the customer returns.

Can two colourists edit the same formula at the same time?

Avoid it — the last save wins. If you both open the dialog, the second to finalise overwrites the first's actuals.

What happens when I delete a formula that has an overage charge on a draft?

The charge line is removed from the draft cleanly. You cannot delete a formula whose charge has already been committed on a completed transaction — refund or modify the transaction first.

Does Plan only decrement stock?

No. Plans save target grams only; stock only moves when a formula is finalised.

We're moving from Notes mode to Formulas mode — do my old Colour notes convert?

No. Historical Colour notes stay on the customer profile for reference. New colour work should be recorded as structured formulas from the switchover date.

Last Updated: April 2026