Need some advice after hair disaster at the salon

[Maverick494]

I've been a complete idiot and went to a professional salon for the first time in 3 years to get my hair cut and highlighted. I wanted some subtle bayalage highlights for the summer and a slight trim to snip off my thin/damaged ends and what I got was a weird ombre where the part of the hair that doesn't get hit by the sun is actually lighter than the rest, so it looked completely unnatural. The whole thing took like 4 hours and I got so much lighter than I wanted; it even had an orange sheen (my starting color is light brown).

Anyway, at first I tried to kid myself that I just had to get used to it (no-one wants to spend 200 bucks and go home looking worse than when they came in) but after the weekend I knew I wasn't happy so I went back and got it fixed for as far as it could be fixed, but that meant two dye jobs in short succession, which damaged my hair. And of course my hair is way shorter than I wanted it to be. (I came in with BCL, left with WL. Ugh.) Anyway, what's done is done and they didn't charge me for the fix-it plus I got expensive silvershampoo and conditioner products for free as an apology.

But now I need to work with this hair. My grand plan is to just give it a rest and let it grow. Problem is my last decent hair fork broke and I don't really know a lot of good hair styles that protect my hair. I didn't have to baby it so much previously because it was basically virgin hair, plus I liked wearing it loose. But to do some damage control and make up for those lost inches, I need a change of tack. So I need your advice.

1. What are some good hair forks or sticks to invest in? I used to have the Baerreis Finny hairfork of 5 inches but their hairstuff is not available at the moment.
2. What are some good protective updo's and styles? (braids, buns, you name it.)
3. What is a good protective style for sleeping?

Additional tips are welcome!

Thanks in advance for your time! Pictures will be included tomorrow so you all can see what happened.

[sweetestpoison]

Yikes!!! I'm actually a cosmetologist so i hope my insight can help you!!

I don't know your hair backstory but any time you are lightening hair you need to rebuild some of the proteins. If the salon didn't do a deep conditioning treatment and toner after doing your highlights please don't go back!! A good salon understands that lightener even in the best of circumstances still damages the hair so they should do a deep protein/moisture treatment to help rebuild the hair and prevent further damage. Yes toner is more chemicals but it also helps fill that shaft back and keeps the brassy color down and makes the natural and desirable tone last longer.

I am a curly girl and use the pineapple method for sleeping. I don't know if that will work for you 1c hair but it's worth a shot!! I don't like the idea of sleeping with a braid especially with fine hair because it can put extra tension on those ends where the hair tie is and you still get a lot of pillow friction. But that's MY personal experience with braids and lots of people can sleep braid just fine. Make sure it isn't too tight though especially if you are braiding wet and please please please use a scrunchie or one of those cloth elastic ties (The really cute ones you can get everywhere and even make and are usually just a couple dollars for a set with pretty colors, the official brand name is Tony Ties but other brands and entrepreneurs have them everywhere). OH! I also made myself a satin pillowcase to sleep on. My hair HATES lightener but since switching to the curly girl method (sulfate and silicone free, no brushing just finger detangling and protective sleeping) and using the satin pillowcase my pintura highlights have held up just beautifully. Pintura is coined by Lorraine Massey, creator of the curly girl method, literally means "painting" in spanish. It differs from balayage because each individual curl is evaluated and the lightener is applied to only one curl at a time. Balayage is more organized and for straight to wavy hair.

For hair forks i loved Jeterforks and Grahtoestudios before my husband made me a collection. And definitely look into doing monthly treatments for your hair after that much processing. It is important not to overdo it because too much of a good thing is a bad thing but once a month is perfectly safe. You don't have to go to a salon for these, there's lots of great recipes and natural remedies as well as deep conditioners on the market. Using a cap over the treatment will help add some heat and open the cuticle allowing the product to penetrate further though.

Best of luck!!

[Johannah]

The best hair fork IMO is one from grahtoestudio (https://www.etsy.com/nl/shop/grahtoestudio?ref=pr_faveshops). But they are expensive. Other forks, which I'm not familiar with, are jeterforks (https://www.etsy.com/nl/shop/Jeterforks?ref=shopsection_shophome_leftnav)and a lot of members of this community really likes them. Sticks I really like are from amybaba (https://www.etsy.com/shop/AmyBaba), ketylo or eaduard (https://www.etsy.com/shop/EaduardHairsticks). But you got a lot of other shops as well, like outnumberednovelties (https://www.etsy.com/nl/shop/OutNumberedNovelties?ref=pr_faveshops), woodartjewelry (https://www.etsy.com/nl/shop/WoodArtJewelry)and emergentclassworks (https://www.etsy.com/nl/shop/EmergentGlassworks?ref=pr_faveshops).

You can find a list of protective updo's here (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=82713). My favorites are the lazy wrap bun, nautilus bun, disc bun, pha bun, cinnamonbun, pencil bun, equilibrium bun, infinity bun and the figure 8 bun. You could do every braid as well, but just know that buns are more protective. Do wear different ones with different toys on different places on your head to avoid damage from manipulation.

Protective styles are buns on the top of your head (but I wouldn't recommend that if you wear buns every day to give your scalp some rest) and simple, loose braids. You could also wear your hair down (or up as extra protection) with a silk pillowcase or sleeping cap. You can find those on etsy as well.

Oils and protein treatments helped me to get through damage from highlights as well.

[lapushka]

1. What are some good hair forks or sticks to invest in? I used to have the Baerreis Finny hairfork of 5 inches but their hairstuff is not available at the moment.

I love Quattro & Ravenslair. Their aluminum and titanium stuff is awesome, and doesn't pull or snag the hair. I swear by those and haven't found anything better to this day. Jeters pull my updo tighter, unfortunately even though many swear by those.


2. What are some good protective updo's and styles? (braids, buns, you name it.)

I swear by a LWB. A cinnamon bun and nautilus aren't bad either (but they are out of my reach ATM as my hair isn't long enough for a proper do yet).


3. What is a good protective style for sleeping?

I sleep with mine loose, to let it breathe some from wearing it up 24/7, but wearing it in a ponytail on the top of your head (pineappleing) isn't a bad style.

[Theobroma]

1. What are some good hair forks or sticks to invest in?

My hands-down favourite maker is Elymwold on Etsy. Gorgeous workmanship, smoothest finish I've ever seen on a fork (better than GTS) and his prices are more than fair. He makes forks and sticks. The down side is that he's still working his way through a long list of custom orders and most of the stuff that hits his shop these days is reserved for specific customers. But his pieces are well worth waiting for; you won't find better work anywhere on the Internet.

2. What are some good protective updo's and styles? (braids, buns, you name it.)

Anything that keeps your ends (and length) safely snugged up against your head in some way and not flapping loose and vulnerable to friction or snagging on bag straps and seat belts and the like! For my money a braid isn't protective enough if it's hanging down your back. Either bun your braid or bun unbraided, but try to manage without ponytailing with an elastic first.

3. What is a good protective style for sleeping?

I can't sleep in buns for the life of me and I always end up lying on a braid, so I keep it loose at night. What I do is put a silk scarf over my pillow (should get a silk or satin pillowcase one day, but I never seem to get around to it) and drape my hair over the pillow. It ends up where it would be if I pineappled as Lapushka describes, and it stays put there. I've never noticed any damage.