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NymphSpirit
January 27th, 2012, 05:57 PM
I really need to share this... A couple of months ago I decided to dye my white-bleached-blonde to match my roots and never dye it again. I went to a really expensive hair salon, told the girl I wanted the colour of my roots, and I asked her if she could stay away from the virgin hair. She looked, prepared, and applied. Sh*t. During the "revealing" the tone went from a light beige to a dark auburn, but like I wasn't familiar with the brand she was using, I stayed quiet. After a while she -finally- rinsed the hair dye, and blowdried it. Inside the salon it didn't look that bad, really dark and way more red than needed, but I didn't think it'd be that bad. When I got home and had the chance to observe the colour under normal lights (the lights of the salon were very white so I coudln't see any detail) I wanted to shave my head. I'm a natural blonde, an ashy 8. She gave me a dark auburn. I couldn't believe what I was seeing, I freaked out, I even wore a scarf on my head to go to school!! It was horrible. I wanted to bleach the hell out of my poor hair, but luckily my mother and friends convinced me to wait at least a month before doing anything, trusting it'd go away as I washed it. It did, it faded a lot, but now I'm left with a light brown with weird highlights (because the dye didn't even fade evenly).

Whenever I see pictures of blondes growing out lighter hair dye I feel some sort of inner rage... It's like a monster that wants to go back to the salon and murder the stupid half blind colourist, because what I wanted was a colour that after a few washes would fade into a lighter blonde than my natural hair and blend nicely, but instead, I got a colour with an awful lot of red undertones, and as you might know, ash and red undertones don't mix. *Sigh* :( I wanted something like this (http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lvvxy1YK201r73mcvo1_500.jpg)

Was it so difficult to actually try and see what my hair colour was instead of putting on whatever she wanted....? Now I pretty much pout everytime I catch a glimpse of my hair on the mirror, I don't like this brownish colour, and I don't know what to do. I was thinking about lightening with honey a bit and then using some ash toned henna to get rid completely of the red undertones, but my ends already have some damage and I don't know how bad could the honey treatment and the henna be for them. (And of course not touching the virgin hair would be pretty much rocket science.)

Thank you for reading and of course if you have any sugestions/advice please share

Moonlake
January 27th, 2012, 06:19 PM
**********

jacqueline101
January 27th, 2012, 06:27 PM
I feel your pain but I've never had an experience that bad just hair color I hate. It was a temporary color.

BlazingHeart
January 27th, 2012, 06:33 PM
There are products that are designed specifically for removing dyes - one of those should help you, if you want to try! On this forum I've seen Color Oops and Color B4 touted highly, though I don't know if you can get a hold of them. If you can't, here's a list of some others I snagged off a google search: Jheri Redding Color Fix, Jerome Rusell’s Punky Off, L’Oreal Color Zap, and Roux Clean Touch

Be warned that they smell very unpleasant and it takes a few washes to get the smell to go away, but they'll take care of the dye!

~Blaze

UltraBella
January 27th, 2012, 09:19 PM
I am just going to be honest with you, I think it is very difficult to control how color will turn out on hair that has been bleached for 5 years previously, and was recently bleached all the way to WHITE. There is no way a stylist can guarantee the outcome or whether it will fade evenly or not with that much extensive damage.
I remember your thread about damage, growth and pics - it was just in November and your hair color looked quite good. I would have guessed it nearly matched your roots from the first pic and I would call it a dark blonde.
I am sorry you don't like the color, but I don't think it's fair to blame the stylist if you aren't willing to blame yourself as well.

spidermom
January 27th, 2012, 09:24 PM
How much roots did the stylist have to look at? To my untrained eye, roots always look much darker than your hair will really be as it grows out.

misspurdy06
January 27th, 2012, 09:29 PM
Nordic Blonde. Your haircolor sounds like mine, and I matched it withWella Color Charm 1120 Nordic Blonde. I only needed a #10 peroxide with that toner color. Go to Sally's Beauty Supply and look at the color swatch near it. Take mirror and the color swatch to the window inside to get natural sunlight and hold the swatch near your roots when you get 6 weeks of growth to see if they match. If not maybe one of the colors to the left or right of it will match better. It is not hard to do hair color yourself.

In the meantime just baby your hair with coconut butter, or your favorite oil conditioning to keep it in soft and healthy condition.

I have found that it is best to enploy a hairstylist that has the same pigment skin and hair color and texture as mine because he/she will notice the tiny differences in shade and treatment that your hair type requires. You might even use the same hair treaments as each other. You will "speak the same hair language".
Thats the best advice. Except you should use 'color oops' first.

http://www.amazon.com/COLOR-OOPS-REMOVER-XTRA-Size/dp/B0012JY4G4

http://www.amazon.com/Wella-Color-Charm-Liquid-Haircolor/dp/B000TBW7YC/ref=sr_1_1?s=beauty&ie=UTF8&qid=1327724927&sr=1-1

NymphSpirit
January 27th, 2012, 11:17 PM
Moonlake; Mhmm, your comment gives me courage, haha, it sounds so simple, and it is. The colour you mentioned is too light for me, but I'm still going to see if I can find a match. As for the hairstylist, indeed, who can understand you better than someone similar?

BlazingHeart; I asked around when the colour was still fresh, but the only thing I got were weird looks, haha, thank you anyways :)

UltraBella; What outcome? She didn't show me anything, she didn't tell me anything, she took a glance at my roots, and put the dye on my hair, she didn't show me or tell me what tone she was going to use, I don't know what she was thinking or wanted to achieve, but she looked satisfied with her work, she did whatever she wanted and was happy with it, it wasn't a mistake, or even something she didn't predict.
And yes, I am willing to blame myself, I blame myself for not asking her to show me, for not telling her the colour looked too dark, for not picking a colour on my own, I can blame myself for a hundred things, and I could have listed them all, but I didn't think it was productive.

Spidermom; Yes they do, don't they? She had about 5cm to look at... it's not much but you can still get "what colour it shines" if that even makes sense

justgreen
January 27th, 2012, 11:31 PM
You know, it's really not the 'cost' of a hair salon that guarantees your satisfaction. I get 'ball cap' highlights every 4-6 weeks, roots only, using vol 40, no toner. I have decently thick hair in that area (top of head to just below my middle ear) and it usually takes 40-50 foils. I pay $50 , which is about 50% off what my stylist would normally charge. But because I am loyal , I am one of a handful that get a discount like this. I would still pay double if need be, because she does a great job and she's only been out of beauty school two years. Some stylists have 'it', some don't, no matter how high end the salon is.

UltraBella
January 28th, 2012, 12:39 AM
UltraBella; What outcome? She didn't show me anything, she didn't tell me anything, she took a glance at my roots, and put the dye on my hair, she didn't show me or tell me what tone she was going to use, I don't know what she was thinking or wanted to achieve, but she looked satisfied with her work, she did whatever she wanted and was happy with it, it wasn't a mistake, or even something she didn't predict.
And yes, I am willing to blame myself, I blame myself for not asking her to show me, for not telling her the colour looked too dark, for not picking a colour on my own, I can blame myself for a hundred things, and I could have listed them all, but I didn't think it was productive.

The outcome you are dealing with right now, by having bleached your hair to white and then putting it in the hands of a stylist and having a lack of communication with that stylist. Overall, I wasn't referring to what you did or did not do that day. I am saying that because you bleached your hair for five years, the ability to predict how your hair will take color is almost impossible. That is a difficult position for both you and the stylist. You hold her responsibe for the color you have now, but you are responsible too because of the choices you made. Extreme bleaching nearly always equals disaster at some point. I think for what you had, you are pretty lucky.
I don't see the awful color you are referring to in your pics on the other thread, I think your hair looks nice and you have had really good growth.

honeydippedxo
January 28th, 2012, 12:55 AM
I'm so sorry. I mean I understand it's hard to dye bleached hair but I feel like the stylist could have at least gave you a heads up on how your hair would turn out and gave you some advice on what you could do to get the color you want or something. This seriously reminds me of Elle's Speak Up American speech on Legally Blonde 2.

Toadstool
January 28th, 2012, 02:00 AM
Seeing as you're so unhappy with the result, are you able to go back and explain and get it changed?

misspurdy06
January 28th, 2012, 02:07 AM
Using the Wella color charm nordic blonde will fix your color.

The point of the lighter color is to lift the brown to a more manageable color. A 10 or 20 volume developer wont lift your hair very much and the color of the toner wont be that light either it will just add an ashy tone.

I don't want to sound mean but you would be a fool not to take this advice.

cheetahfast
January 28th, 2012, 07:46 AM
To me it sounds like your consultation might have been a bit botched, or you might think your roots are a different color than they appear. I have never heard of a colorist letting a client pick out their color.
I too go to a fairly expensive salon and when I got my hair colored to match my roots he used some sort of chart to determine what color to mix up. He realized that I wanted a demi, not permanent color since I talked about visible roots bothering me.
It looked a bit too dark at first, it lighted up over time.


....I asked her if she could stay away from the virgin hair....(And of course not touching the virgin hair would be pretty much rocket science.)

I guess now you realize that's it's not possible for the roots to be left untouched :shrug:. If you try to do something you'll probably end up doing the roots too, which leads to more roots growing in later.

What confuses me is that you're not complaining that your roots are this blonde color while the rest of your hair is a brown? Or if you are it doesn't sound like it to me. If the roots blend pretty well, maybe you were mistaken about your natural color :shrug:.

For years I thought I was a natural blonde, as silly as it sounds.

MandyBeth
January 28th, 2012, 08:42 PM
When I lightened my hair, for a good 3-4 inches, my roots looked nearly black. When I dyed darker, same amount of roots looked nearly white blonde. Plus, damaged hair reacts oddly to dye. Color Oops now, then try again with a lighter color.

IcarusBride
January 29th, 2012, 02:26 AM
Well, did you go back to the salon and tell them you were dissatisfied? If you do, they'll probably offer to redo it for free, or refund at least part of your money. If it's such an expensive and classy place as you said, that should be the case. Of course, if you don't give them the opportunity to fix it, it's not fair to get so angry at them...

Toadstool
January 29th, 2012, 02:50 AM
I have never heard of a colorist letting a client pick out their color.


I've been shown colour swatches before and asked which I want?

leslissocool
January 29th, 2012, 03:26 AM
I'd go with Misspurdy06, color oops for sure.

How different does it look from the roots? After I bleached my hair 9 times (went from black to ash blond, then to black then back) I decided to just stop messing with my hair and chemical dies. Just let it grow, and chop damage. It didn't take me very long (2 and 1/2 years total from damage to almost all damage gone, I still have some, like 2 inches or less I just trimmed) for my hair to grow plus cut the damage.

Remember that when your hair is very damaged it's hard to grow. Maybe when you reach BSL you can maintain there and cut the damage until it's gone? Coming from a similar problem, I can tell you it's so totally worth it to get rid of the damage first before reaching waist or longer. Damaged hair tangles, breaks, has just so many issues growing. I felt better trimming.

palaeoqueen
January 29th, 2012, 05:08 AM
I've been shown colour swatches before and asked which I want?

Same here, every time in fact.

ladyfey
January 29th, 2012, 06:17 AM
I had a weird turn out when I had a colorist try to bring my bleached hair back to natural. A second round of color a few weeks later made it perfect.

Maverick494
January 29th, 2012, 06:34 AM
The problem with going from blonde to a darker ashier tone is that you can't just throw an ash dye over it and expect it to take well. You'll end up green. To compensate they throw in red, which is why in your case you ended up with an auburn color.

In fact for many blondes going back to brunette, the salon dyes their hair red before they dye it brown, to make sure greenish weird tinges are avoided. This includes celebrities like Jessica Alba who has been spotted walking around with red hair before emerging again as a brunette. .

My advice would be to go back to the salon, tell them about your ordeal and that the reason you waited a month to tell them is because you wanted to see if it would improve if you waited. Tell them you're still not happy with it and that you want an ashy tone to neutralize the red so you can finally match your roots--just like they promised you.

If they're decent people they'll offer to do it for free or at least give you some compensation.

Also don't forget that the range of people's natural tones vary much more than any color palette. It is very hard to match. It's why they say that once you start dyeing your hair, you keep dyeing your hair.

cheetahfast
January 29th, 2012, 07:13 AM
I've been shown colour swatches before and asked which I want?


Same here, every time in fact.


Did you ask them to match your roots??

Gingerbear
January 29th, 2012, 08:04 AM
I agree with Maverick494 on the red comment. When you bleach your hair, even if you have a dark blonde tone to begin with, the red pigments are removed from the hair. If you then try to tint darker, you have to use a "filler" first and either dye it a golden (i.e. reddish) shade of your blonde or brown, or in a 2 step process dye it red first, then add brown tones--or else it will look greenish. I think that is why you notice the red in your hair. But that will tone down after a few weeks.

My other comment is that bleached hair is really porous and it does not hold color well. Just wait a month or so. I think you will find it lightens up more than you think it will. Hang in there!

Susana
January 29th, 2012, 09:19 AM
STOP.
STOP.
STOP.
STOP.
STOP.

This is the best advise I can give you. Stop colouring for a while. Let your hair be for a bit. Suffer through the undesired hair colour. Let time run its course and your hair get a break. It's odd, isn't it?. When we try to grow our natural colour out sometimes the instinct is to just keep dying it in order to "match" our roots. This goal is almost always unsuccessful and inevitbaly delays the ultimate goal. Just like when we want to grow out our hair but keep cutting it in order to avoid the almost always inevitable "akward" stage.

It sucks that you didn't get the colour you want. Just take good care of your hair and let it rest for a bit. You may be able to lighten it with honey. I have dyed my hair in the past and then tried to match my roots with absolutely no success. It is incredibly difficult to not only be able to objectively recognize one's colour in contrast to another shade (this often distorts how light/dark the natural colour really is) but to be able to predict how dyed hair will take the new colour is almost impossible.

When I wanted to go back to my natural hair colour in order to grow out the dye I a) dyed the previously highlighted hair copper red because it LOOKED SO COOL! :laugh:, then I went back and my stylist dyed it black. Just black. I am a brunettes so it was darker than my roots but, you know what, as the colour faded and my roots grew out, I didn't even notice my roots.

So, when ever I tried to match the colour I failed horribly, when I had it dyed darker it grew out with the roots not being noticible at all.

I think that you would maybe benefit from just letting the hair rest. It sounds hard, I know, when one wants something the tendency is just to keep adding crap to the hair in a desperate panic, but this rarely works. Time is your only friend.

In the mean time, maybe learn new styles to go with your sexy auburn hair. If you wear make up I would redo some shades to enhance your new colour. Some earth colours would probably work beautifully.

palaeoqueen
January 30th, 2012, 03:24 PM
Did you ask them to match your roots??

The last time I did (covering up bleach to grow out natural colour). She did a really good job, it's maybe half a shade too light but the tone is spot on.