quick question for you

[Corrinne]

I got my hair highlighted this afternoon, it wasnt anything like i described, so i had it touched up about an hour later. however, now it is way to light and so not natural looking, im so dissapointed! ive never had a bad color job especially from this stylist, whom i have seen regularly for a while now.
now my question is... how long can i safely wait to have it fixed again? im so careful with my hair id hate to do more damage to it... i plan on deep conditioning tomorrow and trying to style it myself, but whats done is done. id appreciate any help,
TYIA -
Corrinne

[Toni]

Hi Corrinne,

I am soooo sorry you had a disappointing day and now have to walk around with hair you're not happy with. Bless your heart!

Well girl, I'm afraid you need to wait 2 weeks before it's safe to do anything chemically. Not being sure what all happened and what you wanted to happen, I can only focus on your statement of the final outcome having your hair too light. And I am picturing here (tell me if I'm wrong) that your hair has a "brassy" look to it. An orange-like cast that makes it look so un-natural. One of the reasons why I'm so critical of Nicole Kidman's hair is that hers has looked this un-natural color more than it has looked champagne soft.

Ok, so baby-ing your hair and conditioning it right now are good things to do. You just put it through a lot of abuse Please let me know what you were hoping for and exactly what happened? Did your stylist bleach it a second time? Or do you know? She could have used blonde color and a double strength peroxide or some of both. I specifically want to know if she used bleach twice in a row on your hair.

Question you probably have right now is how can I tone this lighter shade down and make it more natural looking. Well, wait a couple of weeks and have your stylist do just that. He/she should put a toner on it probably about two shades darker on the color shade palette. It's very important that you get the same manufacturer's hair color to do this as mixing chemicals can (and has on many a client) have a bad reaction and it will be on your hair and head. And tell her (especially ahead of time so she can do research) exactly what you are looking for. Take her a picture so you KNOW you're both seeing the same image in your minds. Tell her that you won't think any less of her if she calls the manufacturer's hotline for advice. Lord knows we've all had to do just this when we're stumped. No shame in it as the important thing is for our clients to be satisfied and look great. See the chemists at each manufacturer of the hair color companies know their chemistry much better than we do when it comes to troubleshooting most definitely.

In the meantime, it would be safe if you wanted to go purchase some TEMPORARY rinse at your local drug or department store. By temporary, I mean, it states on the bottle that it shampoos out each time it is applied. This type of color is not very dark or penetrating and yes, needs to be reapplied with each shampoo. However, it does NOT contain any peroxide or bleach which would further damage your hair in its vulnerable state right now and it's a good way to "deal" with the color until a more permanent solution is found.

Just communcate with that stylist and take a pic or more in. Should you really be disagreeing or something doesn't feel right between you, politiely ask that she reveal the name of and color manufacturer and the name of the particular color or colors she used, including what bleaches or peroxide (double or regular strength, etc.) or if it was a new color product and of course, its name. Whatever it was, you need to write down or better yet, have him/her write down all the specifics you can get from your salon so you can consult someone who will use the info wisely. If the stylist is not cooperating for whatever reason, politely ask to see his or her manager or the owner.

Good luck and let me know what happens/happened.

[Corrinne]

Toni thank you very much for your reply.
to answer your questions, she, the first time, did not use a bleach (i dont think anyways). the first time it was actually too dark and i asked for it to be lighter. The second time there must have been some sort of bleach/peroxide used.. (im not too sure on the hair lightening procedures, they usually turned out just fine and i had no queestions about them.) this is when she took my hair to the unknown.
i brought in 4 pictures to show the amount of lightness i was looking for as I have been blonde basically forever, but decided to go dark blonde previous to this for the winter months, and decided to lighten up just a bit at this appointment.
You were very very correct, my poor hair had an orange cast in certain light which was so not compatable to my cool light skin tone! (on a side note i also do not like nicole kidman's hair... she just gives me the creeps as a whole for some reason).
Luckily I was able to tone it down just a bit temporarily as you suggested, and i suppose i can live with it until i can get it the way i origionally planned!
Thank you again for your help, much appreciated!
-Corrinne

[Toni]

Corrinne

You are certainly most welcome and I do wish you good luck. Am so very glad you found a temporary color to help get you through.

As for what's next... The blonde brassy color you're are seeing is where the bleach wasn't left on long enough to "lift" out the last of the red tones. (something Kidman's stylist should know and yet it amazes me that she does her hair like that with her skin tone) When having to lighten more than two shades, bleach needs to be used to lighten and remove certain tones to what usually is much lighter than desired. However, a toner is used all over the head to put back in the right color deposits. In your case, toned back down to probably a medium blonde color?

Toning or just general coloring needs peroxide to get the hair to open up to deposit the color. So therefore, you need to wait a few weeks to let your hair close back up where it has been opened up twice (maybe three times..not knowing what you went through) Trying to correct it now would only make it worse, if any of this makes sense to you.

When the hair closes back up again in a couple weeks, you can go back and have your stylist (or another if you can get the coloring info) ****yze your options. And tell them to call the color hotline for that manufacturer. There's no shame in that at all!