Calling all hairdressers!

[DitsyAndTheGang]

Please only reply if you know your way around hair dye!

About 3 weeks ago I went to the hairdresser's to get my roots redone. It had previously been dyed auburn and I wanted the grey roots redone and to have the dye combed down so it all blended in. It was a different stylist from last time and I didn't know what the shade was called, but I said I'd rather not have any/too much reddish tinge in it this time. The ends had faded from their initial auburn to a more dark blonde, and I said I quite liked the colour it had ended up as. She said she would mix two colours, which we chose together.

The place was very busy (she'd fitted me in last-minute) and I think she did my hair in a rush and forgot to comb the dye down. The upshot was, I ended up with dark red roots and the rest remained dark blonde.

Various events got in the way, but eventually I rang them and she agreed, with no fuss, to redo it, and I went back yesterday. She was very apologetic. She said she'd put in a packet of foils with blonde highlights in, and that it should end up matching. I stupidly agreed, thinking she'd know what she was doing as she is a senior stylist (I also had two small kids with me and wanted it done quickly in case they got restless), but once again she had fitted me in in a hurry and now I have dark red and gold streaks.

They look sort of OK on top, fairly subtle, and they do sort of blend in as you go down the hair, but at the sides when I put my hair back it is actually properly stripy, each stripe is about a centimetre wide, and they don't start at the roots either. I look like an extra out of Cats, or Geri Halliwell circa 1995!

Any advice? If I go back yet again and demand an all-over tint (in a NATURAL-LOOKING dark blonde/auburn!) will it ruin my hair? My hair is already not in great condition following childbirth. Am I within my rights to ask for this in any case, having agreed to the highlights?

Or should I buy some sort of gentler rinse or semi-permanent colour from Boots/Superdrug, and if so, what? I have never dyed my hair at home but could probably persuade my husband to help, if he can stop laughing for long enough...

Hairdresser is a lovely person, I might add, and was mortified about the initial mistake, so I don't want to be that horrible customer who's never happy, but I look ridiculous!