Dive into The Science of Colour as Sarah Spiers reveals five scientific insights set to transform how professionals approach hair colour.
In a world where colour education is often shaped by brand loyalty and trend-led techniques, Sarah Spiers is leading a quiet revolution. With over 30 years of experience and as the founder of Chaulk Education, Sarah’s unique and innovative Become a Colour Master Tour is reframing what it means to be a confident, creative colourist in 2025. Her powerful message? It all starts with The Science of Colour.
“You can’t create confidently if you don’t understand what’s happening inside the hair,” says Sarah. “Technique alone isn’t enough; we need to know the why.”
Become A Colour Master is a two-day immersive course on what Sarah calls The Science of Colour, a brand-neutral, science-first approach that strips things back to the molecules and then builds forward from the artist’s unique perception of colour. Here, Sarah shares five core ideas from the course that are already shifting the way professionals approach hair colour.
1. Hair Isn’t Just Texture, It’s Structure
Sarah begins by delving into the biology of the hair fibre: how its genetic make-up, from coily to straight, fine to coarse, affects crucial factors like porosity, elasticity, and pigment behaviour. These aren’t just surface-level differences; they fundamentally determine how colour penetrates, processes, and ultimately holds.
“Porosity matters more than undertone in some services,” she explains. “If you don’t know how the hair behaves, you’re guessing.”
Armed with this knowledge, colourists can then learn to identify how environmental factors, chemical history, and even pH shifts can alter the hair’s internal structure, and how to adapt their approach accordingly for superior results.
2. Read the Hair
Before a single question is even asked, Sarah encourages colourists to read the hair like a map. This means meticulously assessing fibre strength, previous colour build-up, and underlying tones through a precise visual and tactile analysis.
“The hair is already telling you what it needs,” she says. “You just need to know how to listen.”
This diagnostic approach helps colourists make truly informed decisions from the very first touch, significantly reducing risk, consistently improving results, and building profound trust with clients who feel genuinely understood and seen.
3. Chemistry Over Guesswork
From peroxide to pigment families, Sarah meticulously breaks down what’s happening inside the tube and how those ingredients interact with the hair fibre. She stresses the paramount importance of understanding how oxidants work, how artificial colour is formulated, and precisely what active ingredients are responsible for lift, deposit, and tone.
“Colour is chemistry,” says Sarah. “If you understand the ingredients, you can predict the outcome, and fix it when things go wrong, avoiding the dreaded Colour Meltdown!”
With a deep dive into myth-busting around high-lift tints, bleach behaviour, and the real differences between permanent, demi, and semi-permanent colour, Sarah’s ultimate aim is for colourists to approach their work with unshakeable confidence and clarity in order to give clients the very best, most predictable results.
4. pH Is the Hidden Hero
Sarah expertly demystifies pH, highlighting how this often-overlooked factor affects everything from cuticle lift to the longevity of tone. She stresses the critical importance of colourists learning where each product sits on the pH scale and how to leverage that knowledge to precisely control outcomes, especially in more high-stakes colour services such as intricate colour correction, where this profound knowledge and understanding can be absolutely crucial.
“It’s not just a number on a bottle,” she says. “pH is the key to control, especially when you’re lifting or toning sensitised hair.”
Through engaging experiments and compelling visual demonstrations, Sarah aims to equip colourists with a deeper and thorough understanding of how subtle shifts in pH can dramatically change the hair’s behaviour, and how to then expertly apply this to their daily work.
5. Everyone Sees Colour Differently
Finally, Sarah delves into the fascinating topics of colour perception and light theory – exploring how our individual eyes and brains interpret colour, and why no two stylists truly see the same tone in precisely the same way.
“Even the words we use to describe colour create different images in our minds,” Sarah explains. “Part of my mission is to enable colourists to become fluent in their colour language.”
By exploring how light reflection, pigment layering, and even emotional associations profoundly shape how we see and describe colour, Sarah aims for colourists to develop a personal, consistent visual language that powerfully supports both effective client communication and boundless creative expression.
Each Become a Colour Master session is uniquely hosted in a light-filled photography studio, rather than a traditional salon environment, specifically to encourage curiosity and remove preconceptions. The immersive course includes hands-on experiments, invaluable mindset coaching, and collaborative opportunities with innovative partners like the YUV Colour Lab, where stylists can test pigment blends and explore complex colour theory in real time.
“Stylists shouldn’t be dependent on one brand’s system,” says Sarah. “If you understand the science, you can walk into any salon, pick up any tube, and know exactly what you’re doing.”
The 2025 tour includes stops in Guernsey, London, Glasgow, Jersey, Manchester, and Cardiff. For more information or to attend, visit Chaulk Education’s official site – Become A Colour Master Tour.