Do it yourself — or don't.

No — that would make it useless. The tool is explicitly instructed to say when something is easy and the salon is overcharging, and root touch-ups and gel manicures usually land firmly on the DIY side. The point is knowing which side of the line a specific job sits on, not being talked out of everything.

The clearest red line is lightening hair that's already been coloured or bleached — that's where corrections get expensive and where damage sometimes can't be fixed at all, only cut off. Chemical relaxers and anything involving cutting hair you can't see are close behind. The tool names the red line for whatever you specifically asked about rather than giving you a generic list.

Yes, that's the second half. When the answer is "book it", you get a consultation script: what to ask about the products and the maintenance schedule, which line items on a quote are padding, where there's normally room to negotiate, and actual wording for declining an upsell without it being awkward.

Both, plus waxing and lash treatments. Nails are where a lot of people save the most, because gel manicures at home genuinely work out cheaper once the lamp pays for itself — the tool tells you how many manicures that takes. Extensions are a different story and it says so.

Taken seriously throughout. A patch test 48 hours before is built into the checklist every time, because reactions to PPD can be severe and can appear suddenly even after years of using the same product without issue. This is a planning tool, not medical advice — for a reaction, or if you've had one before, that's a doctor's call rather than a product recommendation.