To be upset about this hair?

[thisisalot]

I’ve had beautiful (in my opinion) blonde balayage hair for the last 3 years. My hairdresser is very talented at blonde, but I decided I wanted copper for autumn. I showed her a picture, and she put a toner on it which was nice enough, not quite what I wanted but fine. However after 2 washes it had faded to a dull light brown. I went in 2 weeks later to get something longer lasting on it, and I absolutely hate it 😭 it’s nothing like the picture, it’s flat, has really red tones rather than copper and it’s so dark!

AIBU to think this is way off the mark?

Are all the pictures yours ? I’m a bit confused,
i think they look great for what’s it’s worth,
although I'm not an expert on balayage or anything hair related tbh

I think the dark hair in the second picture really suits you.

I'm confused too. The pictures look like totally different lengths and colours.

The larger pic on the left looks great!

The photos uploaded in the wrong order…the blonde is me before, the copper is what I showed the hairdresser, the one with wavy hair was the toner that washed out, and the dark one is what I’ve ended up with. I’m so sad about it, I think it washes me out and none of my clothes go with it.

Ah

I completely agree with you and I wouldn’t be happy. You wanted something multi tonal and it looks very one colour all over. I’d go back.

Probably not much help but I think it looks nice. Very glossy and better than the blonde.

Can't really tell about the brown from your top photo is straight and not showing much of your hair

Beautiful hair!
if you’re not happy, go back to blonde!

long hair pic = what you wanted

blonde = your old hair

wavy shoulder length strawberry blonde = results after toner

straight dark shoulder length = final results you are not happy with

is that right?

i think we need to see the dark hair wavy to see how the highlights look compared to the inspo pic. it looks to me like it could be similar if wavy.

I think you would be within your rights to go back and ask for more highlights to break it up a bit more, like the inspo pic.

Inspo pic is gorgeous. You also have lovely thick hair.

That's the problem with red tones. They just don't last.

Correct. This is is wavy - you can see my thoughts from my face 😂

It's lovely! I don't think it's far off the photo you showed. I think you look beautiful in all the pics but the top one will be lovely for autumn and winter. I know what you mean about your clothes but it's just because you're not used to it yet. You look fantastic! Test drive this new look for a few weeks and go from there x

You look lovely but I don't think it looks like the pic you showed them, it doesn't look like copper at all

ha. thanks for extra pic. i’m not seeing much red / copper in it at all. if this is what it looked like fresh from the salon, the hairdresser didn’t answer the brief!

has it been a long time since you got it done? if not, try to be brave and go back (i say this but i struggle to speak up on such things myself).

it isn’t awful like you think, but it’s a bit dull, not what you asked for, and certainly inot strikingly lovely like the blonde and the washed-out copper.

I’m assuming the photos are out of order and the timeline of the photos of you are:

1. blonde-ish
2. the one with copper money pieces
3. the flat dark hair
4. big photo is the inspiration

My honest opinion: your old blonde is dated, don’t go back to that.

The issue you have is that you lost dimension between 2 and 3. If you’ve been going to them for years, they’ll know what your tastes are. get a money piece again. get the latest colour washed out a bit.

Unfortunately the reason why your hair dresser used the toner to get you from 1 to 2 is that was her professional opinion of the best product to use to get you what you want. You should have just had the same again imo as going darker/longer lasting comes with this risk. Your hair might be porous and cling to colour due to previous bleach so she hasn’t necessarily done something wrong.

Also avoid using long hair photos as inspiration when your hair is much shorter. Sometimes it just doesn’t translate and you and the hairdresser see different things.

You’ve got fabulous hair!
It sounds like you want it to be a bit more broken up with highlights, so I just go back to them and say so. But I think you rock it both ways tbf

I actually really like the strawberry blonde one on you! It looks really natural, in a nice way. I don’t like the dark one, it’s flat and artificial looking.

Thank you, I really appreciate this. I know there are worse things going on in the world but I take a lot of pride in my hair and it just doesn’t feel me. I’ve emailed the salon, I’m away on holiday for a few days (so is the stylist) so hopefully they’ll get me in to get it looked at when I get back.

The whole whole thing has set me back £215!!! (First and second attempt)

I like it.

But I don’t have a good eye for colour

Thank you. I would have preferred her to say this to me and give me another toner rather than just go ahead with the longer lasting one. I’m not an expert, at no point did she say the guide photo was unachievable. It just seems to drastically different, it’s really thrown me.

I agree with you that its completely not what you were going for but you hair, especially the photo you added which shows it curly looks lovely. But you are well within your right to complain.

It’s definitely not what you wanted. It’s not awful but I think you suit the brighter tones. Can you ask them what they recommend? Some hair just doesn’t hold colour unfortunately. Toner doesn’t last well on me..

And to be fair in other photos you’re wearing make up!

It’s not that it was not achievable but that toner would have been better for you than (semi?)permanent colour. I assume that’s what you mean by longer lasting. It’s just that the hairdresser can’t necessarily predict how your hair will take to permanent colour, especially if it’s been previously bleached or coloured. Your hair probably took to the colour more than anticipated, but it could also naturally fade as you wash it. Or they could have used a lighter permanent colour to try and avoid it coming out too dark.

That’s why few rounds of toner over a few sessions might be more controllable for the hair dresser and her first choice. The warm undertone would have built up so when you had toner the 2nd time, it would have got closer to your inspiration than pic 2. Plus, she could have just used a different toner that was darker/more vibrant, as opposed to permanent colour.