Disclaimer – I know nothing about hair and usually visit the hairdresser once a year, so this may well be my fault, but either way I really don’t like my new colour so please help!
Had my hair cut a fortnight ago and spoke to the stylist about possibly adding a few lighter bits as I felt my dark colour was ageing me a bit. Said I in no way wanted to go blonde, but wanted something subtle but also just enough so that I would notice it. She advised me to book in for a balayage when I was ready. I went home and looked it up and thought it looked nice, so booked it. When I got there, she said she wasn’t available as she was the owner and had a meeting, but she’d spoken to the other stylist about what I wanted. They then had a chat and she showed me a swatch, which was gingery. I said it was a bit warm and I’d prefer a cooler tone, but she said with hair as dark as mine it wouldn’t lift easily and off she went.
The colourist then put on a whole head of foils, which my Googling leads me to believe was not balayage? She told me that she was really slow at colouring so it would take a while and was back and forth with other customers. When she eventually came back she called a senior stylist over and there was a bit of muttering and she said ‘owner didn’t think it would lift so much’ and then said ‘you’d best phone her to ask what to do’. I asked if it had gone too light and was told it was fine. When dried and styled I was shocked at the difference, but thought I might get used to it and it would just take time. It’s been a week and I really don’t think I will grow to like it. It looks not so bad in the photos, but in reality seems stripy and a bit badger’s bum and there’s no shine to it at all so it looks dry and almost dusty if that makes sense. I’ve used Philip Kingsley elasticizer and purple shampoo/conditioner, but the brassiness and dryness remains.
I’m not going back as whilst I think they haven’t done a good job, perhaps I wasn’t clear enough about what I wanted. I’ve also got some less trivial issues going on in my life at present and I can’t face a possible debate/argument over this. I need to have something done, probably a darker whole head tint, but I can’t risk damaging the condition any more than it has been already so don’t want anything involving bleach. I would really very much appreciate any advice from people who know about hair, because I have no idea of the best option. First pic is original colour, others are new colour.