Hairdressers - is this ever going to be possible?!

[ScottishLottie]

I keep asking my hairdresser for the look below, but she's adamant that my hair will never lift that high, and as a result, I have ended up with far brassier highlights than i want, for the last couple of times I've been. A toner is always used, but it doesn't last long.

I get that she's an expert, I trust her judgement and I know that frazzling my hair isn't good for her business or my head! But is she being over-cautious, or do I need to give up with the pursuit of beautiful, high lift blonde highlights?

I'm about a base 5/6, so pretty dark

It’s a lovely hairstyle but the photo looks a bit edited to me.

I’d listen to your hair dresser, I’m not sure you would get there after one trip and may need a few appointments to build up the blonde colour. It will also take a lot of maintenance to keep the bright blonde.

You could try get a consultation with another hair dresser and see what they say but it seems like your hair dresser is trying to look after the condition of your hair.!

Can you show us your hair ? And we can advise better

This is where I'm at (it needs a good cut as well atm!)

The first photo looks almost like AI to me. It's not realistic.

Your hair looks lovely but I am not a fan of the very straight look.

Take it from an eighties girl, try drying your hair upside down and scrunching it with a bit of mousse. Perhaps just a bit of bounce will give you the change you are after and look more like the picture you have your eye on.

I think if you keep going every 6-8 weeks then you’ll end up with much lighter blonde but it will probably involve some bleach and might take a few appointments.
I don’t think it will look exactly like the photo as the image doesn’t look real.

No-ones hair ever looks like that except when a hairdresser has just done it and the photographer edits and touches it up.

You could try bleaching in stripes, sleeping with hair wound up in rags and chopping random bits off the bottom haphazardly!

That looks like it's either bleached or it was quite light and had dark and bleach put in it. It's also been styled.

You need bleach to lift it.

It's lovely!

Thank you everyone!

I can actually do the wavy style myself, (thought the starightened pic just showed the colour better as im in pretty natural light!) it's more what can be done with the colour that I'm trying to get to. It is already highlighted with some old balayage towards the bottom, but I guess I don't want to keep bleaching it if I'm not going to get to the desired result.

Contemplating going back to natural colour with some lowlights for texture.

Never gonna be a blonde-ish bombshell I don't think!

My hair is dark with red undertones and I can never go blonde - well I can for a week until it goes yellow then orange! I have given up trying now after so many attempts over the years. I now have salt and pepper hair because dye just doesn't grab it enough (goes orange again). Some hair you just can't fight against! I'll see if I can get a pic

I think you could lift lighter than that, but you would need a strand test to make sure your hair doesn't melt. I have found the new Ful purple mask is a very good toner, really cools my hair, and I use a shampoo with citric acid which also helps.