Root tint vs root smudge vs root melt. What are these?

A root tint, a root smudge and a root melt all deal with the same few centimetres of hair at your parting, but they do three completely different jobs. A root tint covers regrowth and grey with permanent colour. A root smudge softly blurs the line where your colour meets new growth. A root melt blends that root colour down into your lengths so there is no line at all. Same patch of head, three techniques, three price points. Here is how to tell which one you actually need.

The short version

A root tint covers grey and regrowth with permanent colour.

A root smudge softens the harsh line between colour and new growth.

A root melt blends your root shade down into the lengths.

Tints suit grey coverage. Smudges and melts suit balayage and highlights.

A root tint with us is £40 to £47.

What a root tint actually is

A root tint is the workhorse. We mix a permanent colour to match the rest of your hair and paint it onto the regrowth at your roots, usually the first two or three centimetres where new hair has come through. It is the go to for covering grey and keeping a solid, all over colour looking consistent.

Because it is permanent colour sitting against your scalp, a root tint needs an allergy alert test before your first appointment. If you have never been patch tested with us, or it has been a while since your last colour, we do a quick skin test 48 hours before. The NHS explains that a small number of people react to hair dye, and that test is how we keep you safe.

Root smudge: softening the line

A root smudge is a blurring job. After highlights or balayage, some people are left with a slightly obvious line where the lighter colour starts. A smudge takes a soft, usually darker toner and feathers it through the root area so that line goes soft and diffused instead of stripey.

It is the reason balayage from a salon looks lived in rather than like a grow out. A smudge also buys you time between appointments, because when your natural root comes through it has something to blend into rather than a hard band.

Root melt: no line at all

A root melt takes the smudge idea further. Instead of just softening the join, we melt your root colour gradually down into the mid lengths so there is a seamless fade from darker at the top to lighter through the ends. Done well, you genuinely cannot see where one shade stops and the next begins.

Melts are what you want with a full head of balayage or a lived in blonde. They are more involved than a smudge because we are blending over a bigger section, so they usually sit inside a full colour appointment rather than being a quick add on.

Which one is right for you

If you colour to cover grey or keep a block of solid colour, you want a root tint. If you have balayage or highlights and just want to keep them soft and fresh, a smudge or a melt is what keeps that hard line away.

The honest answer is that most people do not need to know the difference before they book, because we work it out in the chair. Tell your stylist what is bothering you, a hard line, grey coming through, or a colour that has grown out, and one of the girls will pick the right technique. Ashleigh, Keira, Sabrina and Shree all do this day in, day out.

What it costs and how to book

A root tint with us runs from £40 to £47 depending on length and thickness. A toner, which is often what we reach for in a smudge, is £35 to £40 on its own or £20 added onto another colour service. Root melts are blended into a full colour appointment, so the price depends on what else you are having done. We will always give you a proper quote at your consultation rather than a guess down the phone.

We are at Shop 660, Jansel House, Hitchin Road, Stopsley, Luton. Open Tuesday and Wednesday 10 to 8, Thursday 10 to 6, Friday 10 to 3, and Saturday 10 to 4:30. Ring us on 01582 730381 or book online, and if you are not sure which one you need, just say so when you call and we will talk it through. Klarna is there if you want to spread the cost.