Built for licensed hair colorists and salon professionals working with the Matrix SoColor permanent color line, not for at-home or DIY hair color users. It's a consultation aid, so it's most useful to stylists who need to show clients accurate shade swatches in person rather than relying on printed or digital charts alone.

The reason to keep one of these in a color station rather than relying on a printed shade chart is that actual dyed hair reflects light and shows tone the way finished color on a client's head will, which a flat printed swatch can't fully replicate. It gives a colorist a fast, tactile way to walk a client through level and tone options and confirm the target shade together before any formula gets mixed.

During a color consultation, hold individual swatches up against the client's current hair under the same lighting the service will be done in to compare level and tone. Use the shade labeling (level/tone) on each swatch to identify the corresponding SoColor formula, and cross-reference with Matrix's official shade chart or lookbook to confirm the exact formula and mixing ratio before proceeding. The book itself is for shade selection and client communication only — it is not mixed with developer or applied to hair.

• Pro: real dyed hair swatches give a far more accurate shade preview under salon lighting than a printed or digital color chart
• Pro: organized by Matrix's level/tone naming system, making it fast to cross-reference a client's current level against a target shade
• Pro: reusable indefinitely across many consultations since it holds no product that expires or gets used up
• Con: only covers the SoColor line's shade range at time of printing, so it needs replacing or supplementing as new shades are released
• Con: swatches can fade or discolor with age and repeated handling, which eventually reduces its accuracy as a color reference
• Con: has no function outside color selection/consultation — it does not perform any styling or coloring task itself