I have naturally super dark brown hair and have been getting blonde highlights for years. My previous hairdresser always nailed the color, and I never had any issues with him. Unfortunately, he moved away, so for the past 18 months, I’ve been seeing a new hairdresser who is more experienced and more expensive.
She books me in for a full color refresh every 6 months, with a top-up every 2 months. During the top-up appointments, I ask her to tint my roots to lighten my natural dark brown regrowth so that it blends better with my blonde lengths. However, I’ve noticed that while the front of my hair looks lighter, the back and sides are left looking dark, almost like they haven’t been tinted at all. It feels really inconsistent, and I especially notice it when I wear my hair up—you can see different colors in my roots.
When I brought this up with her, she told me that’s just how root tints work and suggested getting highlights on my roots instead. But to me, that seems like a completely different look - a full head of highlights right to the root vs having a balayage/shadow root look. Am I being unreasonable to expect a more consistent tint, or should I just accept this as the norm?