Hair looks too blonde after highlights

[MissTify]

Hi, I've been having my hair highlighted every few months for the past couple of years (it is naturally a mousy brown colour). Even though I always ask for darker tones as well as lighter tones, the ends of my hair (well in fact most of my hair from my ears, downwards) now looks almost white, and you can't see any darker tones, and my hair has gone really dry a straw-like. I'm thinking that perhaps my hairdresser isn't doing a good job.

I Iast had it done a couple of days ago and I'm thinking of going to the salon today to ask if they can do something to improve my hair. Do I have any right to complain or should I accept that it's just gone like this through repeated highlighting?. Thank you.

This used to happen to me until I switched hairdresser. The new one just highlights the regrowth; sounds like yours is doing the whole lot each time. I would start intensive conditioning and change hairdresser.

That is the unfortunate result of multiple bleaching episodes. It's v difficult for the hairdresser to pick up the same strands that have been hi-lighted before so gradually more and more of your hair becomes highlighted. Bleach is also incredibly damaging (so speaks the person who had half of the top layer of her hair literally break off) will dry your hair and ruin your hair's ability to hold colour.

Either you need to do less highlights - eg if you do half head now, go down to 1/4 head, or decrease the frequency of your visits. Or stop highlighting and grow our your natural colour or just use a blonde hair dye.

Maybe go to another salon and explain the issue if you are concerned about the current one's capabilities.

Go ask them to put a toner over the whole thing

This happened to me.
I stopped the bleach and had a high lift tint (whatever that is) with a few mousy brown strands in too.
I alternate half and head with a full head now and it's improving.

I had this and what I did was bought a dark blonde permanent hair dye (the one in the green and white packaging can't remember what it is called) and then just mixed it in a bowl and picked out a few strands of hair and put lowlights in.

Worked really really well and everyone w thought I'd had it done professionally. I watched a couple of you tube tutorials first before I attempted it but I never used foil or a cap. Just my fingers!

Mine was bleach too by the way. I now just use the same dark blonde on my roots and every now and again just pull a few blonde highlights through using a cap and a basic Wellla highlighting kit.

I had this last month. My hairdresser did some of my highlights as highlift instead of a colour and the result was dry frizzy white strands sticking out of my otherwise nice highlighted hair. I should have remembered that my hair does not respond well to Highlift. I totally panicked.

In the end a combination of pre-treating with Phillip Kingsley Elasticizer before I shampooed and then using Elvive Extraordinary Oil Leave in Cream after conditioning and then whilst blow drying sorted it out in two washes. The straw like patches regained a normal texture and the white colour toned down to a soft blond that tones in nicely with the rest of my hair.

(High lift) Tint is a tube of hair colour,

You or your hairdresser choose an actual colour (or several) from the chart & mix it with liquid peroxide.

High lift colours are the blonde ones.

For low lights you would choose darker colours.

I think my hairdresser just used the peroxide without a colour for some highlights to make me a bit lighter. It made my hair so porous it became really dry and coarse and stood out from the rest of my hair. Using the elasticizer and the oil 'refilled' the porous bits and blended them with the rest. Very happy with it now, but next time lovely Colourist suggests it I will scream NO! In fact I will get him to write it on my card just in case I forget.

High lift doesn't work for me either. Several hairdressers tried it, insisting the others weren't doing it right, the result has always been orange (even with toner) very damaged hair. Nightmare!

MissTify, before you do anything do a few deep conditioning treatments. Then find a new hairdresser and they can work on breaking up the colour, and if the hair is wrecked, a good cut too.

Dear all thank you so much for taking the time to send your replies and brilliant advice. I returned to my hairdressers this evening and told the lady on Reception that I wasn't happy with my colour, that it looked too brassy and the ends were too blonde and frazzled. The manager was there too and she basically snapped at me, 'well we will just have to do it again, so make another appointment!'. So I have an appointment next Sat where another hairdresser is going to give me some lowlights. Luckily it will be free of charge. It's good they are going to do it free of charge but I won't be going back again.