Hairdresser messed up my hair, am I being unreasonable asking for a refund?

[ajc1994]

So I had my hair done on Friday, I'd had a patch test consultation and showed pictures of what I'd like. She seemed confident she could achieve it and I picked the colours of blonde and brown I'd like. However during the appointment all was going well until she removed the foils and bleach had bled through to my scalp everywhere, I had big splodges of yellow/white bleach on what was supposed to be some highlights with more highlights through the front than the back (money pieces) but all subtle and nautral looking (like the photo). I questioned it and she said dont worry i need to just touch up the foils, so then put more bleach on the same pieces (after an hour of bleach already) and painted directly onto my scalp everywhere on the front third section of my hair. after another hour she removed and the whole first third of my hair was completely bleached one colour and orangey blonde. Again I questioned it and was told it'll look ok with a toner, it didnt so she tried covering it with a light brown/dark blonde to match the roots of the rest of my hair, but covered all the strands totally, so once removed the orange had gone but it was then much darker than the rest of the hair. It looked better but wasnt what I wanted or like the photo at all, she apologised as knew she had messed up but tried to fix it. 5 hours had passed and I had to get home to my baby at this point so I paid the £80 and left and accepted her apology as it didn't look awful by the time I walked out. She later text me that evening apologising, I accepted the apology. My scalp was very red by this point but assumed it would go down over time. However one wash in the next day the brown dye came out completely and it looked awful immediately, orange, bleach patches appeared right though and I have chemical burns that have shown through now they have scabbed, from the 2 rounds of bleaching toner and colour in one sitting I assume (never had this issue before in my 20 years of being a blonde). I emailed photos and explained it all and requested a refund, the same girl apologised admitted it was bad and said 'Im sure I can fix or do something with it'. I asked if another hairdresser could do this instead, she declined so I asked for a refund or partial refund at least, as I didn't trust her to fix it if she couldn't after the first 2 attempts. Since the salon are ignoring me and won't deal with me. Attached are photos. Am I being unreasonable? What should I do? I don't think I should have to pay £80 and be left with this mess to fix elsewhere.

I would give them a bad review on facebook or instagram. People should be warned.

It was £80 for half head of highlights and a toner which is average price for where I live. That doesn’t include a wash cut or blow dry and my hair was already light brown so it was just adding the blonde and toning it. Hair was sorted by just a toner in the front and not touching the scalp so went fine. Ideally I’d have left it as it was gone in and argued more but who wants bad hair when they’re off on hols tomorrow. I can tell by their email anyway they would want to just do the work themselves and wouldn’t offer my £ back so a waste of time. I’ve left them a bad review on google with pictures as well - they have come back trying to claim I had a dry scalp which is what those patches are from - funny no mention of them during my hair appointment 🙈 because they weren’t there! I’m just amazed businesses can run how they do

That's terrible. Looking at the photos she's done a really bad job.

I'd leave bad reviews everywhere and tag on social media.

This result is absolutely not due to manufacturers issues, it's obvious that it's purely a bad job by the hairdresser. They're mad to not offer you a sincere apology and full refund.

was she a trainee?

£80 is very cheap for going from where you were to what you wanted.

£80 for only a half head of highlights and toner isn’t that cheap imo- it sounds about average to me (outside of a big city and not with a senior colourist).

Definitely leave more reviews OP (trust pilot, Facebook?) - really emphasise that the chemical burns were caused by the double bleaching that they did to try to fix their cock up with the colour.

A colour not coming out as someone wanted is one thing (probably happens fairly frequently and some people reading the review may just assume/hope that is was because of your own natural hair colour/type)- but no- one is going to risk going to a salon that might leave them with burns on their scalp! No wonder the salon is trying to claim that part didn’t happen, as it could really damage their business.

What a horrible experience for you. £80 is astonishingly cheap though, not surprising this wasn't a reputable salon. Next time you're going for a colouring I'd be very careful and get a referral from someone who can vouch for them (even if it's a stranger, as long as you can see they've had good highlights / colour done)

Do not put any more colour on your hair anytime soon. I had the exact same thing happen to me last year and paid someone else to cover the bad blonde colour with a light brown, my head was damaged from the bleach but around 3 days after getting the brown my head swelled up like a balloon.. I ended up in hospital for 2 nights on steroids and antibiotics. I know it's stressful having hair that you hate but wait until the burns die down before putting anything else on your head.

Thanks everyone I will spread the word and save more reviews. £80 for half head and toner is average where I live (not a big city or town). She wasn’t a trainee but a junior stylist, they have junior and senior stylists there. It’s a fairly reputable salon on a high street that got good reviews so I’m shocked honeslty and I’ve emend had anything like this before or complained about a hairdresser as I have reasonable and realist expectations. If it turned out slightly brassy etc I’d understand that but my hairs about a million different colours and patchy as hell that’s not normal and neither is leaving bleach on for 2 hours

I think £80 for half head highlights and toner is fine.

But I don’t think you could have got from where you were to where you wanted to be with half head highlights. Though maybe the picture of your hair before just looks a lot darker than it actually is. That’s why £80 seemed very cheap.

I’d tell them you’re going to put it on social media ,the local Facebook group , along with screenshots of the text messages from the stylist admitting responsibility
Also a full review on Google along with the photos of your burns
Tell them the bleach was applied twice and you have burns ,
This should get you the refund as nobody wants that publicity

Im a hairdresser and the process you’ve described in unbelievable,
We would never do such a thing ,
Did the £80 include a blowdry ?
You’ve had somebody very unfortunately

Also , did you have all over dark dye on your hair in the before photo ?
if you do , did she explain that the dark dye will affect the shade of blonde?
the inspo photo is actually quite hard to get looking that good and not usually achieved by a junior stylist , she has much more hair than you, and she should have managed expectations properly
This alongside her not having a clue what do do
won’t have helped

She wasn't qualified enough to do it, junior stylist could either be someone working towards their L2 qualification or has their L2. Based on the picture I'd say it's L3 work. Not your problem obviously however if the first the salon knew about what you wanted was at the appointment I can see how this might have happened. Half head foils IMO (as a qualified hairdresser) doesn't cover what you were looking for.

I have actually successfully put in chargebacks with my bank over issues with hair salons. Some hairdressers are just unreasonable and you do need to take that last resort step.

The first time was a hairdresser who over multiple appointments ruined my hair. The 2nd appointment was supposed to be a do over of the 1st bad appointment, but he still messed up. He then sent a patronising email dumping me as a “difficult client” and refusing to fix again. I charged back both transactions on my debit card as the same dispute, sent plenty of photos and evidence of his responses, and essentially told my bank I gave him the opportunity to rectify it but I didn’t feel it had been rectified. They clearly agreed he didn’t deliver as they sided with me and charged back my money for both transactions.

The second time was after I had sent an email to the salon asking to cancel my appointment in line with their terms and conditions and they didn’t do so; then charged me a 100% cancellation fee; then refused to give me a refund and tried to blame me. I was booked in with the salon owner was trying to argue with me. I just copied their T&Cs and used it against them to my bank, stating they were not following their own policies. Immediately got my money back.

So I had two consultations/patch tests prior to this hair appointment, showed the inspo picture and agreed it wouldn’t look like this exactly (hair previously was a natural dark blonde, may look darker in the before picture but attached picture shows the colour better, dark blonde as you can see. This pic was taken week before I had it done for reference. I said do what you need to achieve a similar looks and let her book me for what she thought I needed, half head and toner so £80, no cut or blow dry just a rough dry as she’d cut my hair (thankfully no dodgy job here) a few weeks prior. Every mid priced hairdressers around me charges £80-100 for this service so it didn’t seem worryingly cheap or anything like that and at no point did she stress doubts over achieveing my look - it’s the front third section where the entire thing was bleached, not even highlights - she just put every strand of hair into foils then saw the foils were bleeding through so went through with her brush and painted bleach onto all the roots! Then did it a second time an hour later when I expressed I wasn’t happy after first result (patchy uneven with some bits lifting nicely and other parts orange). The new hairdresser had to show me with a mirror the back areas where toner wasn’t applied and highlights started about 3 inches from my ends - she just stood there with her mouth open in shock lol. Anyway I’ve uploaded an after picture from my new hairdresser, she saw me last minute and did the job for half the cost as a special one off to me for how awful I’d be treated so it shows you the two ends of the spectrum! She evened up the highlights and used the right toners along with a conditioning treatment

Agree with below.
Instigate a charge back.
I have done so multiple times for different reasons and have succeeded every single time.
I pay everything by credit cared as a result.
I find Visa excellent to deal with.

Thank you. So I contact my own back about this instead of visa?

I have a visa credit card and pay everything with it as it acts as an insurance I feel if I have a problem with services, product etc., and am getting nowhere having complained.

If you paid by card, call them and see if they can advise and help.
Also Small Claims Court is most effective.
Create a paper trail to show you have tried to resolve things yourself.
Good luck.

If you paid by Visa, call Visa directly.

Just came in to say, sorry what you sent through. I have successfully done a charge back with showing evidence of unsuccessfully trying to resolve the issue.

It looks absolutely gorgeous now.

Had the chemical burns healed before the 2nd hairdresser redid it ?

The burn looks like a mole and that’s probably what they are thinking as it doesn’t look red. You are lucky you’ve had no breakage- if it burnt your scalp you’d expect it to snap the hair. They should have given you a refund really but I’d have done the same and paid 😂

Not the point of your post but you have such lovely natural hair colour…now I’m greying and have no choice to dye. I’d let your natural colour grow back

Refund? They are lucky they aren’t being sued? You poor thing