Creating a Colour Formula

15 minutes

Tutorial 20.6: Creating a Colour Formula

Introduction

Structured colour formulas replace freeform Colour consultation notes with recipes you can reproduce. Every formula is tied to a customer (and optionally to an appointment), lists the products and grams used per bowl, and — in Full mode — stages an overage charge on the till automatically if it exceeds the service's included grams.

This tutorial is the deep dive on the unified formula dialog used across the main web app. For the tablet-based Colour Bar flow see Tutorials 20.9–20.13.

Who this is for: Staff and above What you'll learn:

Where the formula dialog opens from
Plan a formula: bowls, products and the developer line
Save a plan for a future appointment
Record actuals later in mixing mode
Finalise, Revert, and duplicate
Permissions for each action

Time to complete: 15 minutes

Prerequisites

Salon colour formula mode set to Formulas or Full (Tutorial 20.2)
At least one colour product in your catalogue (Tutorial 20.4)
Logged in as Staff, Receptionist, Manager, Admin, or Owner

Where the dialog opens

The same dialog opens from five places so you can start wherever you are:

Entry point	Opens in	Tied to
Customer profile → Colour Formulas tab	Blank (create or edit)	Customer only
Customer profile → Colour Formulas list page	Blank (create or edit)	Customer only
Appointment detail page → Colour Formulas panel	Blank for new; Mixing when opening an existing formula	Customer + appointment
Calendar → Appointment sidebar	Blank for new; Mixing when opening an existing formula	Customer + appointment
Formula detail page (existing formula)	Blank (edit)	Whatever the formula is tied to

A formula saved on a customer profile (no appointment) can later be attached to a booking — open the appointment's Colour Formulas panel, find the formula under Previous formulas, and click Use this to create an appointment-linked duplicate.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Step 1: Open the dialog in blank (planning) mode

Click New Formula on any entry point above. The dialog opens titled Plan Colour Formula with:

A formula name field
One empty bowl (Bowl 1) with a single target weight column and an Add developer line
An Add Products button and an Add bowl button
A notes field and a totals panel showing the running Total and Estimated cost
Footer buttons — Cancel and Save plan

Blank mode is plan-only: there is no Finalise button here. You build the recipe and save the targets; actuals are recorded later in mixing mode (Step 5) or weighed live on the Colour Bar. When you reopen an existing formula to edit it the title reads Edit Colour Formula and the action button becomes Update — but it is still the same single-column planning layout.

The Plan Colour Formula dialog — an empty Bowl 1 with the Add Products button, Add bowl control, totals panel and the Save plan action

Step 2: Add products to bowls

Click Add Products to open the full-screen catalogue browser (see "Browsing the catalogue" below)
Pick one or more shades and click Add To Formula — a row appears for each, in bowl number 1, with a weight input
Enter the weight as you pour
Repeat Add Products, or click Add bowl for a second bowl (maximum six)
To move a product to a different bowl, change the bowl number on its row
To remove a product, click the trash icon on its row

You can still scan a barcode to add a single known product instantly — scanning works in blank mode without opening the catalogue.

Each bowl also has an Add developer line. Click Add developer to pick the developer (the catalogue shows only your developer products), then choose the ratio — 1x, 1.5x, 2x, or Custom — and the app works out the developer grams (ratio × the bowl's product total) automatically. One developer per bowl; it's stocked and costed exactly like a colour.

Browsing the catalogue

The Add Products button opens a full-screen catalogue browser — the same browser used on the Colour Bar tablet, so it feels identical everywhere:

Group view (default) — the left column drills down Brand → Product Line → Shade Family; tap a row to go deeper, or use the breadcrumb at the top to step back. The right pane shows the shades in the area you've drilled into, each as a large tile with a colour swatch, shade name, and brand · code.
List view — flip the Group / List toggle to see every shade in one flat, searchable grid (handy when you know the shade name).
Search — type in the search box to filter by shade name, brand, code, or family across both views.
Selecting — tap a tile to select it (the whole tile is the button; a tick appears). Tap again to deselect. The footer shows a running "N selected" count.
Already in the formula — shades already added show ticked and disabled with "Already in this bowl", so you can't add a duplicate.
Bowl limit — once a bowl is full, the remaining shades lock until you make room.
Click Add To Formula to add everything you selected, or Cancel (or Esc) to close without changing anything.

Products that haven't been organised into a line or family still appear — under "Other products" / "Ungrouped" — so nothing is ever hidden. Organise your catalogue into brands, product lines, and shade families (Tutorial 20.4) to make this browser easier to navigate.

The full-screen catalogue picker — a Brand / Line / Shade Family nav column on the left, a grid of tappable shade tiles with colour swatches on the right, a Group / List toggle and the Add To Formula action

Step 3: Fill in the rest

Formula name (optional) — helpful for "Rachael root touch-up" style labels that travel between appointments
Notes (optional) — processing time, technique, customer preferences

Step 4: Save the plan

Blank mode has a single save action: Save plan (or Update when you reopened an existing formula to edit it). It stores the target grams as a draft — nothing is decremented and nothing is billed. Saving closes the dialog; the formula then appears on the customer's record and, if it was opened from an appointment, under This appointment on that appointment's Colour Formulas panel.

Finalising — the step that decrements stock and, in Full mode, stages any overage charge — happens later, in mixing mode (Step 5). This two-stage split (plan now, mix later) is deliberate: it lets you prepare a recipe ahead of a visit and capture what you actually weighed when you come to mix it.

Step 5: Record actuals later (mixing mode)

On the appointment detail page or calendar sidebar, each saved formula is listed under This appointment with an Open button (or View once it's finalised). Clicking it reopens the formula in mixing mode. Two weight columns appear:

Target column is read-only (the plan)
Actual column is editable (what you weighed)

The Mix Colour dialog — per-bowl rows with a read-only Target column and an editable Actual column, the totals panel previewing the overage, and the Save actuals and Finalise actions

When a colour service is attached to the appointment, a totals panel also previews the overage: Target total, Actual total, Service includes, and (if you've gone over) an Overage figure that turns amber at small overages and red once you've crossed about 50% over the included grams.

Work through each row typing actual grams as you weigh. Then:

Save actuals — preserves progress, no commit (useful if you step away). Disabled until you've entered at least one actual and changed something
Finalise — commits after a confirmation dialog

Additional mixing-mode actions:

Edit products — opens the formula back in blank mode so you can swap products, change bowl numbers, or adjust targets. The mixing dialog stays open behind it and refreshes when you save
Revert (only after finalising) — returns stock, strips the overage line, and reopens the formula for edits. Available while the overage charge is still on a draft transaction, or when no charge was ever staged (Formulas mode, or the formula isn't linked to an appointment). Once the appointment's transaction is completed or refunded the formula locks and Revert disappears

Note on entry points. Reopening a plan or draft from the customer profile (Colour Formulas tab, list page, or formula detail page) opens in blank/edit mode — use the appointment detail page or calendar sidebar when you want to capture actuals against the plan.

Step 6: Watch the charge badge

In Full mode, once a formula is finalised and a draft transaction exists for the appointment, a green Charged £X.XX badge appears on the formula card (and in the mixing dialog's title) whenever the actual grams exceeded the service's Colour grams included threshold. The amount on the badge matches the emerald colour overage line staged on the appointment's transaction (Tutorial 2.4).

Editing the formula, or clicking Revert, updates the badge and the POS line in step. Once the transaction is completed, both lock and the formula becomes read-only.

The badge is never shown in Formulas mode — that mode doesn't run billing, so no charge is staged and the only effect of finalising is the gram-level stock decrement.

Step 7: Duplicate from history

When a returning customer wants the same formula there are two ways to copy it — pick the one that matches where you're working:

From the customer profile's Colour Formulas tab or list page — click Duplicate on a historical formula. The new formula stays at the customer level (no appointment linked) and carries the same products and target grams, ready to adjust
From an appointment — open the appointment's Colour Formulas panel and look under Previous formulas. Click Use this on the relevant row to create a duplicate that's tied to this appointment from the start

Both paths link the new formula back to the original so you can trace the history on the formula detail page (Based on …). Edits to the new formula don't propagate back to the source.

Permissions matrix

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

View, create/edit, finalise and revert all use the manage customers permission (every role above has it). Delete is restricted to Admin and Owner. The colour stock take uses the manage products permission — Staff are the only role without it. Colour settings and charge rules use manage salon settings, which only Admin and Owner hold.

Common Pitfalls

"The New Formula button isn't showing"

Your salon is in Notes mode. Change the mode via Settings > Colour (Tutorial 20.2).

"Stock didn't decrement"

Save plan never commits stock — it only stores the targets. Open the formula from its appointment to enter mixing mode, then Finalise to commit.

"Revert has disappeared"

Revert only shows after a formula is finalised. If the appointment's overage has already landed on a completed or refunded transaction, the formula is locked — refund or modify the transaction (Tutorial 8.2) to free it. In Formulas mode, or when no appointment is linked, Revert stays available because nothing was ever billed.

"The dialog won't let me add a seventh bowl"

Six bowls is the maximum. If you need more, split across two formulas — unusual, but fine.

"I scanned a product but nothing happened"

Global barcode scanning is active only in blank mode. In mixing mode, the main app scanner is free to match appointments. Add products via Add Products instead.

Tips and Best Practices

Finalise at the station, not later — the fresher the capture, the more accurate the charge and stock log.
Use the formula name for the client-visible label — "Sarah root colour 5N/5G" travels cleanly between visits; "bowl mix" doesn't.
Let stylists Revert, not delete — Revert preserves the audit trail; delete only if the formula was created in error.
Train receptionists to recognise the emerald POS line — they shouldn't delete it from the draft "to be helpful".
Duplicate rather than retype — even "same as last time" formulas benefit from a lineage you can trace.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can two colourists work on the same formula at once?

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

Does saving a plan decrement stock?

No. Save plan stores target grams only. Stock moves only when you Finalise in mixing mode.

Can I change the customer on an existing formula?

No — the customer is set at creation and Duplicate always keeps the same customer. If you created a formula on the wrong customer, an Admin or Owner needs to delete it and recreate it on the right profile.

What does "based on" show on the formula card?

If you duplicated the formula from an earlier one, the card links back to the source formula. The lineage is purely informational — edits to the new formula don't propagate to the original.

Can I attach a customer-level formula to an appointment later?

Yes. Open the appointment's Colour Formulas panel, find the formula under Previous formulas, and click Use this. This creates an appointment-linked duplicate; the original customer-level formula is left untouched.

Last Updated: April 2026