Balayage is too blonde! How do I tone it down?

[PonderLand]

I went to get my hair done yesterday, I asked for a balayage and to keep it really subtle and sun-kissed. I've had it done there before about 2 years ago and loved the results, this time it's totally different! It's like they've dyed my whole hair different tones of light blonde! Possibly due to the toner? It really doesn't suit me.

Can I fix it at home without causing a disaster? Going back and complaining isn't an option as I'm too British, they spent 7 hours on my hair and it isn't a bad job I don't think but it isn't what I asked for.

Is it even possible to get the cool ashy look you want when your natural colour is warm?

@villanelley I've no idea to be honest maybe i was aiming too high! i'll attach photos of my natural hair colour. The sun kissed bits on there is what I wanted a bit more of so that's why I thought balayage was the best choice. I wish he'd of said it's going to look like this and not the photo if that's the reason why it's gone wrong.

@jackstini I can't see your final photo, could you send it again? I want to know what it finished like! I'm really glad you were happy with the end result.

Oh gosh that really is warm. I really feel for you; I was in exactly this situation a few months ago. The Fudge Clean Blonde shampoo saved my sanity and hair...you can get it on amazon. Not exactly cheap but worth it. Leave it on for ten minutes then rinse and dry. Keep doing that over a period of days and it will remove the brassy tones. I went from pretty much ginger after a bad bleach job to a really cool ash / grey blonde. Loads of other purple / silver shampoos get touted but this is honestly what you need to remove the warmth. Other shampoos are ok at keeping brassy tones at bay. Unfortunately it won't fix the crap balayage and I'd be insisting on a refund from that hairdresser.

@ponderland - here is final
My natural colour is similar to yours so apparently harder to take out the ‘warm’ tones but still think yours is too all over blind, not as blended as balayage should be
Idea is not to have any big difference lines across hair but if you put ends against roots it should be quite significantly lighter
Tried to take a pic just now - excuse the dressing gown!

my Hairdresser told me to use the purple shampoo on dry hair as well as it works better. I don’t think your expectations are too high either your hairdresser just hasn’t done what you asked.

It’s not Balayage. One side is highlights with a minimal contrast. The other is full on blonde.

It looks totally different It looks lovely if you wanted a shiny sunny blonde but the look you wanted was mostly brown.

You have a lot of warm tones in your natural colour so I’m not surprised that it has ended up very warm.

It would be very difficult to achieve the ashy tones that you are looking for - plus a lot of these photos that people take to salons often have a filter on, so it isn’t going to look identical to that.

Go back and ask for a root stretch and a more ashy toner - you will keep having to get it toned though.

It does look too warm
Red ken blonde silver shampoo is amazing
My hairdresser used it when I went for a cut ( not a colour ) and it took my hair from warm yellows to ashy
So much so my sister thought I’d had it coloured too
Need to leave it on a few minutes ,

Can I ask if I use the purple shampoo is it best to use the purple conditioner too?

It's just not balayage and you were obviously after something very subtle. If it's any consolation it doesn't look bad, it looks like highlights and it's nice just not what you want. So sorry, I hate hairdressers who do things like this.

Well done for being brave enough to go back I'm to British too! Invest in purple everything and see how it goes? When the roots grow maybe go to a different hairdresser and blend some low lights that are your natural colour through it'll stop a hard line.

I thought it looked beautiful op
Sorry it’s not what you wanted
I find with a couple of washings the bright blonde colour fades a bitanyway.

It is really pretty but not at all what you asked for. I think a lot of salons are very confused as to what balayage is, I used to get it done at a very posh salon in the states and they really got it, in the U.K. i’ve had more of a dip-dyed effect more than once.

I would use a toning shampoo and just enjoy being light and bright over christmas. Call the salon and say you’re still not happy with it, but you appreciate it’s a crazy time of the year for salons (because apart from anything else you won’t get the hours of dedication needed to get it right in the week before Christmas). Then get an appt booked for first week jan. You and he need to choose a root colour together and he needs to paint it in to bridge the gap between regrowth and lighter bits. You shouldn’t have to pay.

Then change salons!

Btw and not much help, your house looks gorgeous and I love your scarf!!!

I have used the conditioner too but any decent conditioner is fine
My hair always seems a bit drier after the shampoo so I use one for dry hair

Oh OP you were so right to go back I would be so annoyed if I asked for balayage with cool ash tones and it turned out looking brassy all over (which it definitely did judging by your pics!)

I would ask for a refund and go somewhere else - your stylist sounds arrogant and it’s ridiculous he didn’t refund you there and then even a partial refund when he so clearly missed the mark of what you asked for.

I had a hair disaster once. I wanted natural looking blonde highlights with darker blonde tones - they put some yellow stripes in my hair and dyed the rest of it practically black! I am also the type who is loathe to kick up a fuss and would usually say nothing but it was so far off the mark and I was so shocked I just whispered “what have you done?”. He was also insistent that it was fine and it would fade after a couple washes. I just shook my head I was afraid to say anymore because I knew I would cry!

In the end he said he was so sure it would fade that he would let me come back with the money when it did needless to say he never got a penny from me!

It looks lovely.

It looks like highlighted hair more than bayalage so I see what you mean.

However if you don't mind the blonde shade (I think it looks good even though it's not bayalage) then you could try toning down the brassiness with a silver/violet shampoo? (don't leave on too long, follow instructions etc etc).

Or you could ask them to put low lights over the top to break up the blonde more. It still won't be bayalage but it would tone down the whole thing.

Or you could ask them to put on a dark ash blonde on the top and leave the ends to create the bayalage - usually they'd paint blonde on the ends but in this case you want more depth/darker to the roots. As your hair has been lightened at the roots they'd have to really know their colour stuff to get this right particularly where it should blend.

I would probably live with it for a week or two, a lot of colours tone down naturally over that time. I think you look great as a blonde and as it grows out, you'll get a more natural bayalage effect.

That's not a balayage, there's no depth to it,

You now need a root stretch, with darker pieces throughout to break up the solidness where needed, I'll isolate some of the lighter pieces around your face and actually make them lighter

If you're not happy then I think it would be reasonable to ask for a refund as he's now done your hair twice and you still don't like it.

I didn't push for a refund when my colour was messed up (twice) but I wish I had as it cost me over a hundred quid to have it corrected elsewhere.

I did find a brilliant new salon because of it though.

He’s made it look worse. I’d be furious. It looked ok (albeit not balayage) in the first pics.

It took me four sessions of gradual high and lowlights over the course of a year to get the ashy shade I was after. I was very warm toned to start with and the first couple of appointments weren't ideal, but I am now at a place that can be kept up very easily with minimal fuss. Purple shampoo is standard, though.

I know that's not massively helpful, but I'm trying to say that you can get there if you view it as a process rather than a quick fix. You look like you have very Celtic colouring; fair skin prone to redness and blond/ strawberry blonde hair in its natural state. It really is difficult, - though not impossible!- to fight nature.
FWIW I do think tour colour really suits you, and also agree that a lot of Insta/ Pinterest pics are heavily filtered, and the ashy shades are often on top of previously bleached hair.

@LadyOfTheCanyon thankyou it does seem like any form of hair that I'm going to like is a long way of at the moment so I'm just trying to like my current hair. I straightened it tonight and it looks odd so wavy is the best way to go which suits my laziness.

The purple shampoo would be worth the risk if it was just a balayage but as it's my whole hair that's a brassy blonde/yellow tone I'm worried about it going wrong again. I do have olive skin although those photos don't show it, my mother is mixed race and my maternal grandfather was Bangladeshi. My hair colour is from my dads side but the thickness and coarseness is from my mums.

Do try fudge or fanola. There's not much you can do wrong with them to be truthful. If it goes too silver or purple it fades after a few washes. It won't affect darker areas that much.

My goodness! I never would have guessed your heritage from the photos. Just goes to show..!