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Mixing Colour at Appointments

10 minutes

Tutorial 20.7: Mixing Colour at Appointments

Introduction

This tutorial is the appointment's eye view of colour formulas — how formulas appear alongside the booking, how the mixing flow feels in practice, and how a finalised formula cleanly reaches the till. It's short, practical, and geared at colourists and receptionists.

For the deep dive on the formula dialog itself see Tutorial 20.6. For the tablet-based Colour Bar flow see Tutorials 20.9–20.13.

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

  • When and where Colour Formulas panels appear around an appointment
  • The mid-service mixing workflow
  • How the finalised formula stages overage billing automatically
  • What to do when things change mid-appointment (add a bowl, revert, swap a product)

Time to complete: 10 minutes

Prerequisites

  • Salon colour formula mode set to Formulas or Full (Tutorial 20.2)
  • Service flagged as a colour service with Colour grams included set (Tutorial 7.1)
  • Complete Tutorial 20.6 so you know the dialog

Where the Colour Formulas panel appears

Three appointment-centric surfaces show formulas for the booking:

  1. Calendar → appointment sidebar — click the appointment in the calendar. On colour services the sidebar shows a collapsible Colour Formulas section (with a count badge and a New button) above the Notes and Badges sections. It's an extra section, not a replacement — the Notes summary and Badges still appear in their own sections below.
  2. Appointment detail page → Colour Formulas panel — the full-page version, with a New Formula button and a card for each formula on this booking plus a Previous formulas list to duplicate one in.
  3. Customer profile → Colour Formulas tab — same customer, all formulas across all appointments.

All three gate the same way: the salon must be in Formulas or Full mode, the appointment must have a customer, and the service must be flagged as a colour service. Any of the three can spawn the same formula dialog — the data is identical.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Step 1: Before the appointment — pre-plan (optional)

If you know what the customer wants:

  1. Open the appointment in the calendar (or the customer profile if no appointment yet)
  2. Click New Formula — the dialog opens in plan mode (titled Plan Colour Formula, with a single target-weight column and no Finalise button)
  3. Fill in the products, target grams, developer, and notes
  4. Click Save plan

Nothing is billed, nothing is removed from stock — you're just laying down the recipe. When the customer arrives, reopening the plan switches the dialog into mixing mode automatically.

Step 2: At the station — weigh as you mix

If you're inventing the formula as you go:

  1. Open the appointment (calendar sidebar or detail page), click New Formula and add your products
  2. Click Save plan — plan mode has no Finalise button, so this just stores the recipe (nothing is billed or decremented yet)
  3. Reopen the formula from the appointment — Open on the detail page, Open Mixing in the sidebar — to switch into mixing mode, enter your actuals, then click Finalise (a confirmation dialog precedes the commit)
  4. In Full mode, the overage charge (if any) is staged on the appointment's transaction automatically once you finalise

Finalising always happens in mixing mode — the plan-then-mix split is the same whether you planned ahead or built the recipe at the chair (see Tutorial 20.6).

Step 3: Mid-appointment — switching to mixing mode

If a plan exists already:

  1. Reopen the plan from the appointment
  2. The dialog is now in mixing mode with two columns (Target, Actual)
  3. Enter actuals as you weigh
  4. Save actuals to pause; Finalise to commit

Step 4: Mid-mix changes

In mixing mode you can:

  • Edit products — swap products, change bowls, adjust targets without leaving the dialog
  • Add a new bowl — if the client decides on a pop of colour last minute
  • Revert (after finalising) — returns stock and reopens the formula for edits, as long as the transaction is still a draft

None of these require the receptionist to touch the till — the overage line reconciles itself.

Step 5: After the appointment — billing

When the customer heads to the front desk:

  1. Receptionist opens the appointment's transaction (Tutorial 2.4)
  2. Any finalised formula that exceeded Colour grams included has already staged an emerald Colour overage line
  3. Review, adjust the unit price if needed, take payment as normal

If you need to waive the overage while the transaction is still a draft, ask the colourist to Revert the formula (the line disappears and the formula reopens for edits), or re-finalise with corrected actuals.

The POS protects colour overage lines from accidental — or deliberate — editing on a draft. They're managed by the system, not the cart, so the POS leaves them out of every draft save and rebuilds them from the formula. That means neither trashing the line nor editing its price down to ÂŖ0 sticks on a draft — both revert on the next save. Reach for Revert or a re-finalise instead. (Editing the line's price directly only holds once the transaction is completed, via the same-day modify flow — see Tutorials 2.4 and 20.8.)

What the panel shows

Each formula card on the appointment detail page's Colour Formulas panel shows:

  • Name (or "Unnamed formula")
  • Developer volume badge (e.g. 20 Vol) when set
  • Finalised lock badge once the formula is locked
  • Charged ÂŖX.XX badge (green) once an overage has been projected
  • An Open button (or View when finalised) and a destructive trash icon to remove the formula while it's still a draft
  • A short preview of the first three product/gram pairs

The calendar sidebar's compact version shows the same formula list plus a Previous line at the bottom offering a Use This one-click duplicate of the customer's most recent formula.

Common Pitfalls

"I created the formula on the wrong appointment"

If the transaction is still a draft, delete the formula and create a new one on the correct appointment. If it's already completed, refund or modify the transaction (Tutorial 8.2) to unlock the formula, then delete or reassign.

"The charge badge never appears"

Three conditions must all be true: the salon is in Full mode, the service has Colour grams included set, and the formula is Finalised. Check in that order.

"I Reverted but the POS line is still there"

Reverting strips the line server-side — the POS reflects it on its next save or a refresh. If it's stuck, refresh POS; if still stuck, check the formula's status on the appointment (it may not be finalised any more, or a prior finalise may have auto-reverted without you realising).

"The colourist finalised and wasted product — how do I waive the charge?"

While the transaction is still a draft, ask the colourist to Revert the formula and re-finalise without the wasted amount in the actuals — that's the reliable fix. Editing the line's price (or trashing it) in the cart doesn't stick on a draft: the POS re-applies the line from the formula on the next save. A direct price edit only holds after the transaction is completed (the same-day modify flow, Tutorial 20.8).

Tips and Best Practices

  1. Keep pre-plans light — capture the intent, not every gram, so the colourist has flexibility at the station.
  2. Finalise before the customer reaches the till — receptionists should see the overage line already staged, not have to wait.
  3. Reach for Revert, not Delete — Revert preserves history; Delete loses it. Only delete if the formula was created in error.
  4. Use the customer profile view for history — the Colour Formulas tab on the customer profile is the fastest way to see "what did we do last time".

Related Tutorials

  • Tutorial 2.2: Booking and Managing Appointments — the AppointmentSidebar covered at a higher level
  • Tutorial 2.4: Processing Transactions — how the overage line behaves in POS
  • Tutorial 12.5: Colour Formulas — quick-reference companion
  • Tutorial 20.6: Creating a Colour Formula — deep dive on the dialog
  • Tutorial 20.8: Overage Billing Explained — lifecycle of the charge across draft → completed

Frequently Asked Questions

What if the service isn't flagged as a colour service?

Then no Colour Formulas panel appears on the appointment. Either re-flag the service (Tutorial 7.1) or duplicate the formula onto a different appointment that uses a colour service.

Can I mix for two customers simultaneously?

Each formula is customer-scoped — open one dialog per customer. You can have dialogs open on two devices at once if you have two stations going.

Where's the formula if I closed the dialog without saving?

It's gone. The dialog doesn't auto-save — you must click Save plan (plan mode) or Save actuals / Finalise (mixing mode) to keep your work.

Does deleting the appointment delete its formulas?

Cancelling an appointment does not delete its formulas. The formulas stay on the customer profile and can be duplicated onto a new appointment if the customer rebooks.

Last Updated: April 2026