The short version: Highland Park families drive about forty-five minutes south, twenty-three miles down the Edens, to bring teens and adults to 3rd Coast Salon for color correction. The most common reason is a home bleach or a box dye that went the wrong direction. Corrections are staged across one to three visits.
Highland Park sits at the upper end of the North Shore, north of Glencoe and Winnetka, with downtown clustered along Central Avenue and Ravinia Festival drawing crowds through the summer. A meaningful share of our color correction bookings come from here, and the reason is usually the same: a teen bleached her hair in a friend's bathroom, or an adult tried to cover grey with a drugstore box and landed several shades off.
Why Highland Park residents book color correction with us
We see teen corrections every spring before prom and every September after summer camp. The most common arrival is a patchy level-9 bleach pulled through with a box kit, often with banding where the previous color stopped. The second most common is an at-home gloss that grabbed warm and turned brassy fast.
The adult correction looks different. Usually it is years of single-process color at home or elsewhere, with regrowth that has built a permanent band, or a grey-blending request that went too dark. We map which sections need lift, which need deposit, and which need a tone-only correction.
Then there is the summer event correction: a client booked for a wedding rehearsal or a benefit tried a one-shot at-home tweak the week before and needs it fixed fast. We look at photos in advance and tell you in plain language whether the correction can be done in time and what it will look like.
Our color correction process
Color correction is not one service. It is a staged plan. We start with a consultation, in person or by photo, break the hair into sections by tonal history, and write a treatment for each: some sections need lift with a bond builder in the bowl, some need deposit-only color to even out a band, some only need a tone shift.
Most Highland Park corrections take two visits, four to six weeks apart; a small share need three. The first session addresses safety and base, the second refines tone and adds dimension, the third (if needed) is a finish pass. If the hair is breaking under porosity testing, we pause the lift and rebook, and we say so at the consultation, not at the bowl. For teen corrections, we involve the teen in the planning: the parent is paying, but the teen is wearing the result.
Getting to 3rd Coast Salon from Highland Park
About forty-five minutes by car off-peak, twenty-three miles south: Edens Expressway to the Kennedy, exit at Ohio Street, then to Erie. By train, Metra Union Pacific North runs from Highland Park to Ogilvie in about fifty minutes, then a ten-minute rideshare to the salon.
Who this isn't for
If you just want a single-process touch-up on hair you have been maintaining at a professional salon, book a standard color appointment instead. Correction is also not for clients unwilling to stage the work: if you need a level 6 to platinum in one day for a Friday event, we will tell you to wait and plan it properly.
Frequently asked questions
Most take two visits four to six weeks apart. A small share need three.
Sometimes. Send photos first, and we will tell you in plain language whether the timeline is realistic.
We run a porosity check at the consultation. If the hair is too compromised for the lift you want, we pause and stage, and a bond builder is paired with every lift service.
Yes. We involve the teen in the planning conversation alongside the parent and explain the staging to both.
Often yes, in stages. Black box dye is one of the longer corrections and may need three sessions. Color-remover orange usually needs two.
It reflects how many sessions and how much product are needed, and it is quoted before the first session begins. See our service menu for current pricing.
Book a color correction consultation
Book online or call (312) 929-2627. See our color services, or read about clients who drive in from Wilmette.