Was my hair colour as bad as I thought it was?

[Ursulabouffet]

Spent an eye-watering £260 for a cut and colour at Toni and Guy.

I had mid brown hair previously and asked for a blended, natural caramel balayage. The inspo image is included in the photos.

What I got was some very stripy highlights that look like I'm greying at the temples and my hair looks like a mix of blonde and ginger in natural light.

I went back to the salon but he was really quite defensive and said that's how balayage looks when your hair isn't curled. He offered to fix it but had no appointments for 2 weeks!

It is my birthday tomorrow so I went to a new salon in a panic. Their trainee put a brown toner on and my hair now looks basically how it was before but a bit glossier. All the brassy highlights have gone and it's fine but I'm £300 down!

I really want a refund but I'm worried he will refuse.

Is it as bad as I thought it was? His reaction made me feel like I was being unreasonable but the new salon did admit it wasn't blended and didn't match the inspo photo.

I’m very obviously in a minority but actually like the original colour job. The second looks great too.

I think your colour looks ok. I cut my own hair and cannot fathom to spend £260 on something like that but what do I know.

I think the image you had in mind was also very unrealistic as your hair is just so different. The model probably has extensions, pic photo shopped. Looks like you expectations were unrealistic to start with. but I do like your 'now' colour.

He would have needed to do a blend of chocolate foils to get the depth and then some lighter bits. With your natural colour, you would have had three levels to give dimension. My hairdresser does that for me as I don't want to be darker around my face. So we do dark panels as well as lightening panels which are then toned.

I really like both your original hair and the hair you ended up with, OP. Just here to sympathise, really, as my only experience with Toni and Guy was also pretty bad. I will never go back.

The fixed hair looks lovely. It looks evenly applied so not balayage?

The first doesn’t look too bad to me but it’s not quite the inspo pic, but then it is much shorter

This. It was a losing proposition for all, from the start.

Personally. I can't see any difference between what you asked for and what you got that couldn't be attributed to the fact that your hair texture, thickness and length is completely different.
The beautiful tones and shade gradients in the inspo picture would need that length, and the texture is a big part of the effect (to my eyes, I'm not a hairdresser).
I think the first colour was quite nice actually.
The only bit not good to me was the patch at your temples.
Personally I don't think that's refund worthy. A fix at the temples would have done imo.

That said, the result you now have is gorgeous, so I'm glad it was right for your birthday. 💐

No use now but I’ve never heard anyone say anything good about Tony & Guy salons, I don’t know how they are still going!

id write to him with photographic evidence and think about what you want as an end result. I think you can get a letter template from somewhere like Moneysaving.com

@KingsleyBorder sorry my fault i absolutely meant massage therapist sorry for the confusion.

That does not look like a £260 colour and cut,I would be fuming.
The hairdresser should have had much better communication when you showed him the picture so he could advise on what is or not possible. Instead it’s like he looked at the lightest bits of the model’s colour and bleached your whole hair to that colour. It does look dry and frazzled in the pictures of T&G but looks lovely and shiny now so I’m glad you felt beautiful for your birthday. Your natural hair is gorgeous and I would only go with a very light touch in the future if you fancy a change, maybe a gloss or something like that.

It doesn't look like the picture, but it's difficult because your hair is so short. Balayage looks better on long hair.

It looks much better after the fix. Nice.

This, unfortunately

I am not sure if the pics are before or after the second hairdresser

it’s nothing like the inspo - I do however think it looks nice

Sorry now seen your update pics. I like that even more. You still have the pics of the original though - no way does that look like a £260 colour! I would have struggled to have paid given how not like the original it is

Wow, your hair now, in this photo, looks amazing!!!

This....but I can understand you wanting to get it sorted quickly. Hope you're still able to get a refund OP.