Every salon cape sold anywhere is described as chemical-resistant. It is on our own product pages. The trouble is that the phrase is doing a lot of work and almost nobody says what it was tested against, so a stylist who does colour all day has no way to tell a real claim from a marketing one.
So we tested ours, and here is exactly what we did.
The test
We took one cape and one apron straight off the same run we ship to customers. Two chemicals, both at the strength a working salon actually uses:
- 6A with 20 volume developer — left to process for thirty minutes
- Bleach with 20 volume developer — left to process for thirty minutes
Not a dab and a wipe. Applied, left on for a full processing time, then washed and dried the way a salon would wash them.
What happened
Nothing bleached. Nothing deposited. No lightened patches where the bleach sat, no colour left behind where the 6A sat, and nothing came through to the clothes underneath either garment.
The embroidery was completely untouched. That part is not surprising once you know why — more on that below — but it is the part people ask about most, because they have all had a printed logo crack off something.
Where we will not overclaim
Here is the honest limit. Under heavy daily colour work, over months, dark dye can eventually start to ghost through the cloth — not a stain you could point to after one service, but a gradual shadowing. That is why we say colour-resistant rather than colour-proof, and it is why most of the salons we work with keep two or three capes per chair and rotate them. Rotated, they last a long time. Used as the only cape on a busy colour chair, any cape from anyone will age faster.
Anyone telling you a fabric is permanently immune to salon colour is selling you something.
Why the embroidery survives when a print does not
A screen print or a heat-pressed vinyl transfer is a layer sitting on top of the cloth. Bleach attacks it, the wash flexes it, and the fold lines are where it cracks first — usually inside a few dozen washes. Then it lifts at the edges and the salon name starts to look tatty.
Embroidery is thread stitched through the fabric. There is no coating and no adhesive, so there is nothing to crack or peel, and polyester embroidery thread is colourfast through bleach. It is the reason we stitch and do not print, and it is why the lettering usually outlives the garment it is on.
How to make them last
Cold wash, gentle cycle, inside out, mild detergent. Hang to dry or tumble on low. Do not put bleach in the wash itself, and if you ever need to press one, iron the reverse side rather than straight over the stitching.
Rinse a spill in cold water sooner rather than later. Heat is what sets a stain — that is true of any fabric, and it is the single thing that makes the most difference.
See them
Every photograph in our gallery is a real order off our own machine in Wylie, Texas. If you want the fabric in your hands, the quickest route is a single cape with your name on it — there is no minimum on that one.