Multiple salon hair fails with pics. What to do now?

[jaffacakesaremyfave]

So I hope these pics upload in order.

I got a cheap deal on Groupon for a cut and colour on Groupon and asked for picture 1. I'd not been to this salon before and she said what I wanted would be an extra £30 which sounded fair. Instead of a balayage she put loads of my hair in foils and I ended up with picture 2 (which I hated!!)

Straight away I went to my friends salon (if she's on here and recognises my post, I'm so sorry!!). I asked for picture 3 which is a chocolate brown with lilac/brown highlights which is what I really want my hair to be like now (more on that later). I ended up with pic 3 (plum base with orange ends). My friend realised it didn't really look that good and offered to put more of the base colour running through but no lavender in the lighter bits but couldn't fit me in for another week and a half.

The colours just didn't go and I didn't want to wait that long so put a violet box dye on the ends (pic 4) which is permanent. Although it looks better than before, I still want it to be more of a Smokey purple. Is there anything I can do to salvage this? I really don't want another salon trip but have spent over £100 on my hair and basically ended up with something I hate

I've ordered a grey dye to make the violet look more Smokey and muted but have a feeling it is now to dark for anything other than black to take hold.

Please help!!

Sorry, total picture fail. So the first one below is what I asked for the second time and the 3rd picture above is what I was left with. The second picture below is what I have now after box dye.

If you've managed to make sense of all that and got this far then thank you 😁

i wouldnt keep trying to dye it yourself or youll end up with brittle dry damaged hair.

go to a salon that specialises in colour and tell them what you are after and see if its possible to get it. reds fade super quick anyway.

So you have really straight hair in your first post- see photo far right- and bouncy layered plum / purple hair in your 2nd post? It looks completely different.

I don't know what your question is. I think you ought to leave well alone because your hair will be ruined with all the chemicals used if you keep re-colouring it.

Picture 3 looked lovely. Picture 4 is a bit of a mess, it looks like you've chucked a home colour on top and the colours don't blend at all. I know you've paid a lot already but I'd at least talk to a hairdresser before doing anything else.

I'm totally lost with your bottom/top references. It must be the way I have my threads 'flipped' (OP at the bottom of the screen and newest posts above).

Reading left to right on your post from 16:06,
Left (1) What you wanted
Middle (2) First attempt by hairdresser, looks like a terrible dip dye/roots job
Right (3) What the hairdresser did to try to salvage it, essentially moved the 'dip dye' effect further down your hair.

Post of 16:09
Left (4) What you wanted
Right (5) Your current colour having done a full head at home with a box dye

Is that right?

Doing hair on the cheap never works IMO. You need a good salon and pay them ££££££.

There doesn't look that much difference between the last two pictures to me, yours is just a bit more purple.

I think the last picture looks really nice. It might not be what you wanted but it does look good.

You really need to stop putting more colour on, and also not use Groupon for hair/beauty deals again. For £100, you could have gone to a really good salon.

I think what you wanted is quite difficult to achieve in reality (I am not a hairdresser or colourist). It is a mix of a lot of tricky tones and your own base colour would probably affect how the colour developed and the resulting shade/tones (even if pre-lightened).

I would expect a hairdresser / colourist to have a proper discussion with me about my expectations vs the likely reality before trying to give me 'photograph hair'.

I can't believe you paid £100 for ALL of that! I've just paid that for a few highlights (in 1 salon!) Even with a groupon offer they must have been very cheap, full price.

Go somewhere better in future and ask around for recommendations.

Sadly, I agree with others who say 'over £100' (vague but assuming you aren't talking much over) isn't a lot for 2 professional colouring attempts + 1 home box dye. Reality is, it is about the price of a standard colour with a decent colourist.

If it's this kind of colour then it is actually pink rather than lilac that they use and called rose gold. My hairdresser actually spoke to Matrix to check what colours to use.

Sorry everyone for the confusion with the pics but yes NOM, that is the order intended. I've just switched to an android phone and everything looks different on my app (and have no idea where the bar of chocolate cane from)

I know for the amount of colours I've had done £100 seems rather cheap but it's a lot of money to waste on hair I don't like and I can't afford to pay that again somewhere else.

I'm still going to go back to my friend next week to get the darker colour blended with my botch home dye but I couldn't live with plum roots and orange ends for a week. I'm back at work next week and will be doing a big presentation and would have felt self conscious going like that.

Thank you to those who said it looks nice. I was after more of a Smokey look so need ideas to tone it down (or wash it out quicker) as it's too dark and vivid. Would grey dye work or maybe green to counteract the red?

The last poster, your hair looks lovely but I was aiming for more chocolate/Smokey violet than red/rose. I realise with the home dye I now have neither

I would treat your hair very gently for the next couple of weeks, perhaps take recommendations for good conditioners / conditioning masks for coloured hair, then re-think exactly what you want and then go to a reliable salon that specialises in colour, and take their advice (which may be to wait longer until adding more colour). Ask for recommendations from people with hair colour you like and healthy looking hair for which salons they use. Good luck!

P.S. I think your current hair looks nice, if not like the photo of what you wanted.

For some reason a sad face on my phone is chocolate

I was after more of a Smokey look so need ideas to tone it down (or wash it out quicker) as it's too dark and vivid.

Wash with Head and Shoulders, it fades colour.

Make sure you are conditioning and treating your coloured hair with care. (As per my previous post).

Stop dying your hair. Use purple shampoo and wait. It may take weeks for all that colour to settle and be ready for another onslaught.

I hope you didn't pay the additional £30 for picture 2 (groupon deal), it's terrible!

Your current hair (plum) is really nice! I think you should stick with that for a couple of weeks and treat your hair. Research a good stylist and have a consultation to see if what you want is achievable. Don't keep adding different colours because your hair will break and you will end up with something even further away from what you want.

I quite like the colour your friend did, but I like the purple too. You might have to just bite the bullet and cut off a few inches. I cut mine into a bob after my balyage to get rid of the too blonde bits - I paid nearly £300 and didn't like it much at all! Now I'm back to bog standard highlights.

Back away from the hair dye...

DO NOT under any circumstances dye your hair again just now you'll destroy it beyond the ability to salvage it. Use vosene shampoo to dull the colour as it strips the colour but you will need an intense conditioning treatment as well

Where abouts are you OP? I've recently had my hair dyed for the first time and have found an excellent salon and colourist in Leeds.

If I was you I'd lay off the dying for a few months and just concentrate on keeping the hair in good condition. Next time you dye it go to a salon which has many excellent reviews and a Facebook page with photos of their work. Good luck! I like the last photo but I also think the one your friend did looked nice, albeit not what you wanted.

I paid the extra £30 Ella (So £75) in total for cut and colour. It really was awful but I find telling hairdressers that I don't like something really difficult (and after 3 hours at the salon just wanted to get out of there)

The pic my friend did was beautifully styled but when I let it dry naturally and washed the excess colour off, it really did look purple plus orange.

I know I should leave my hair alone for a while now but I'm going to at least give the grey a try and wash lots with head and shoulders to strip it abit. I'm actually scared to tell my friend what I've done as it feels like I've interfered with her creation

If you don't like the orange ends, would you have it cut? So you'd just be plum all over.

Ponder, I'm not to far from there. What's the salon called?

I really want to keep my length Nancy as I'm trying to grow it. I'm a huge fat blob at the moment and my hair is the only thing I can hide under.

Also, my hair seems to be in really good condition considering the above so I've been quite lucky in that respect but I promise after the grey dye I'll leave it alone for a while!!