Has my hairdresser done a bad job or have I asked for the impossible

[PinkWednesdays]

I have long, thick, dark hair (I’m Middle Eastern). It’s very very dark brown.

For some time I’ve been thinking of getting balayage to add some colour in, but very subtle. So a chocolate brown colour, to lift the colour slightly. I haven’t dyed by hair in 10 years and wanted a change, but still wanted to keep it natural and dark, hence why I wanted a very subtle balayage.

I went to a hairdresser who comes highly recommended as a colour expert (have to book an appointment 2-3 months in advance level of recommended). I told her I want something subtle and kept saying chocolate brown. In fact, by complete coincidence, my nails were that colour so I actually showed her the colour I wanted. I also said I really don’t want any light streaks in my hair. She understood and off she went.

When she finished it looked nice, but I did notice some areas were lighter so I wasn’t amazed with it. She explained that she used two shades of brown, one was a lighter brown to add in some texture. She didn’t explain this to me beforehand.

The next couple of times I washed it, I had ginger streaks in my hair. As you can imagine, ginger streaks in dark hair is quite the contrast! So I went back and she put some toner in. It’s not made a huge difference unfortunately.

I plan to leave it a few weeks to see how I feel, but may research different colourists to find someone to fix it. But in the meantime, I’m wondering if asking for a subtle balayage on my dark hair was an impossible ask and I was always going to have gingery shades in my hair, or if she cocked up by using a light shade of brown (without telling me!, which has turned ginger in my hair. I don’t know much about hair colour, so thought I’d ask here!

Yikes, that was longer than I expected!

Use an ashy brown toner it should counteract the orange / yellow. If you want chocolate you could use a medium ash brown

Light bits always go brassy I find , you'll need to tone every couple of weeks to keep it ashy. I do. A blue shampoo can also help.

I've used this toner and it works, but the smell is really sweet and you do get build up in your hair.

I agree with the above - you need a toner. Even the best stylists occasionally have to revisit your hair. Go back!

Dark hair throws off a lot of warmth and go brassy.
I find those purple shampoo and conditioners do help keep it at bay

You need blue shampoo and conditioner for dark hair, purples for yellow tones in blonde hair but brunettes have no yellow. We have orange, or ginger, and blue is opposite orange on the colour wheel.

Aveda do a blue malva shampoo with conditioner, it’s not cheap though.

Oh amazing, thank you so much! Will look into blue shampoos to see if they help!

The blue shampoos dont help me much with brassiness, but green does. Dark envy from Matrix is pretty good - my colour seems to be lasting well between salon visits.