Urgent hairdresser advice!

[WoollyHair]

I have long (mid-back length) coarse, dark brown curly hair. I've had salon colour for years, just a normal basic tonal brown, and I get my grey roots done whenever they get too visible. I blow it dry it smooth 2/3 times a week but it's in good condition and my hairdresser often comments on it.

Recently I've been looking at grey-blending - blending the harsh demarcation line where your grey ends and the dye begins, so I can grow my grey out and stop dying it. I found a local stylist with lots of recommendations - we had a 45 minute consultation to discuss it at length. She did a super-thorough strand test, stressing it to greater levels than would be needed and without adding Olaplex - all fine, no stretching/breakage.

So I spent a full day in the chair having the whole lot lightened to get ride of the stripes of dye (I wasn't expecting that as I'm only grey at the front but ok), then coloured back to an ashy brown, and the grey panels lightened a bit more then dyed steel grey to match regrowth. Olaplex was added at every stage. She dried it pretty ferociously with a round brush - commenting that it was shiny and strong - then curled the lengths with straightening irons.

I'm happy with the look, it's great, but I noticed it felt a bit crispy and brittle and was difficult to brush through (thought it was product).

I've just washed it for the first time and the texture feels completely different - usually rough/coarse like a horses mane, it now feels weirdly soft and squishy, and really stretchy.

I'm scared to blow dry it with a brush! Is it irreparably damaged? How could that happen when we were so careful, and what can I do?

Might be the Olaplex that’s done that. Olaplex makes mine feel horrible although if it feels like chewing gum it sounds like it’s over processed

I was secretly praying it was the Olaplex, I've used it in the past and it made it feel crispy.

But the texture is sort of...mushy?

It's gonna take a while to recover, it's really gone through the ringer. I had this done a decade or more ago. It is worth it. Promise

Do you have any breakage? Hair is more elastic when it’s wet and any peroxide will open the cuticle to let the colour in. I wouldn’t blow dry per se just leave to air dry until 80% dry if not 100% and use other tools to style. Def no brushes when wet. Might be worth contacting hair salon. Difficult to diagnose remotely. They may advise it’s the Olaplex, or recommend protein packs or moisture.

I hope it's temporary and bounces back!

She trimmed off a good couple of inches - I've just gently raked my hands through it and I felt something snag, stretch and snap. 😯

But no, hardly any hair fall in the shower and nothing is breaking off? It's the soft mushiness that's freaking me out. Maybe it will recover?

Feel a bit bad contacting the hairdresser, she really worked hard and at first the grey panels were way too bright (I'll be honest, it looked peroxide yellow not silver) - she kindly put a darker grey colour over it. I'm not blaming her at all, it was my idea!

Your hair is stretchy because it is damaged. The protein structure of your hair has been damaged. Put protein packs on it for deep conditioning. I would hold off on the blow drying and treat your hair very gently.

I have had my hair double processed bleached to lift dark dye and redyed. I spent a couple of hours in the salon, not a whole day. My hair was a bit dry and I needed a lot of conditioning to get it feeling like my hair again. I have very fine hair but lots of it and it is the same length as yours. It was not in any way stretchy. I think your hairdresser messed up. I'd be contacting her. I'd be asking her to stump up for some protein packs because you should not have stretchy hair.

Oh gawd 😭😭😭

Well she might have worked hard at it but the results are not acceptable. If you were there all day, she must have have been bleaching for hours. I don't think my hairdresser would have used straightening irons on hair that had just been through that either.

By the way I am not a hairdresser but I have had my hair professionally coloured for 40 odd years. I was going grey as a teenager . So I have seem quite a lot over that time and I had a brief period as a student as a shampoo assistant. I got to hear some horror stories about double process bleaching. I have had a few disasters with hairdressers over the years - the unfortunate and unexpected carrot coloured hair and the strangely tabby cat effect. It does grow out though and protein packs can improve things. (I had to be sent to my mother's hairdresser to tone down the red hair and I will never forget her picking up a limp strand and saying she would start with toning down the carroty bits first.) Nothing wrong with red hair of course but I started out with near black hair and it was immediately apparent that I was not born to be a redhead.

Eesh. 😞 Well, I've just dried it very, very carefully - there is no obvious breakage (maybe a little at the front but I often get breakage there anyway) - it's just feels so weirdly soft and it's lost all it's usual hagrid-like volume. It's awfully fluffy.

So, protein packs then - are there any particularly good ones to get?

Aveda damage remedy is very effective and has quinoa protein.

Thank you - last night I ordered a mask which has quinoa protein, fingers crossed it will give it some strength back.

I cried a little this morning, my glorious long hair is ruined and the front sections are snapping off. Even if I cut it shorter it isn't going to disguise where it's breaking off an inch from my head.

Yes I know, it's only hair, it'll grow, but I'll allow myself a moment of regret for trusting another hairdresser. My hair is pretty much all I have going for me looks wise lol.

Can you post a picture?

If your hair feels also slimy, very stretchy and almost like it's matting when wet, it's been over processed.

Rule one of colour change...don't deep cleanse (colour strip) and then use bleach over that.

Also, grey blending, depending on how it's done, is suitable for very, very, very few people. You need to have a light enough natural base to begin with, not too much colour build up and not have excessive yellow or orange undertones. Otherwise, the stylist has to lighten the hair past yellow into palest yellow. Then double tone. Otherwise, you risk ending up greeny not silver. (Yellow base + blue Ash = green)

Personally, (no longer a hair stylist but still work very closely in the industry ) I would have suggested a set of foils using tint to blend the regrowth line and subsequent sets over time and a longer time between appointments to grow your hair out more naturally and blended. This is a longer and much more costly way of doing it. It takes around 2 to 3 years of applications (length of hair depending) the Results are much gentler and there's no need for several more toners and potentially having to lighten hair beyond an acceptable level.

Olaplex can also leave the hair feeling very fly away afterwards, but that sorts itself out after a couple of shampoos as it's a bonding treatment, not a conditioning treatment.

Unless your hair is stretching and not returning to its natural form when wet or snaps with slight pressure when dry, protein is not needed. It would be moisture that should be used.

I would suggest you go to another salon for a consultation and strand tests to check your elasticity, porosity and get a second opinion. It should take less than 15 mins for them to assess and they can recommend the right treatments for you. You obviously don't have to buy from them but take everything on board and when you have that information go back to the original hairdresser.

After a bug colour change, you should have been given a home care, hair care/colour maintenence plan by your stylist with recommended products and services to follow up with. Was this done?

Mine always takes a week to settle down even after a bog standard wash and blow dry. Hopefully it'll settle down.

Why are you not back there discussing this with your hairdresser?

@MillshakePickle Thanks for the comprehensive response, much appreciated. Haven't got a picture just now but it looks pretty normal when dry (I like it) - it's more the strange feel of it when wet. My normal texture is quite firm and coarse, and now it feels soft and mushy. It does seem a bit stretchy, yes, but not matted. I have some unfortunate short tufty bits round the hairline, and those bits seem weakest and break more easily - yes, it does snap when dry, with an average amount of pressure. As for returning to it's natural form - my hair is curly but it has lost its curl, it's limp and fluffy. 😢

We had discussed the grey-blending at length at the consultation, I thought we were on the same page - I can't pretend to understand the science, but what I wanted/asked for was to blend the demarcation line so I could start growing out the grey. It's all at the front, not much anywhere else.

But that was 6 weeks before my appointment. By the time I was in the chair I suspect she forgotten everything so it was just a 5 min update - she'd previously asked me to "think about colours" which baffled me a bit because I'd only talked about ash brown and silver grey, how many colours can there be. The pictures I had on my phone were a mix of what I was anticipating (a fairly sedate grey blend into dark hair), and what I rather liked (dark hair with bright silver panels at the front - only to discuss though, as I doubted it would be achievable). She zoomed in on the one with bright silver panels and asked if that was what I liked - I said yes but it seemed unlikely given the amount of dye currently over my grey sections. She said she could do it, I said ok. It did, however, take a lot of lightening and I'm seeing yellow under the grey dye.

She did a very thorough strand test, so I don't think she did anything wrong (the reason I'm not there discussing it with her, @sausawyee , is because I work full time and can't take two hours out to drive there, discuss and drive back). I will ask her advice on how best to treat it over WhatsApp, but how could she have known that it would ruin my hair texture when the strand test indicated otherwise? She is quite an excitable person and was very animated, jumping around the whole time and claimed to be very excited at the day-long project to wreck transform my hair. Maybe she just pushed it a tad too far in her excitement.

She didn't give me any follow-up advice, no. She was rushed, running late for multiple appts and I also threw a curveball at the end when I panicked about how bright yellow the lightened panels looked - she put a darker grey over the top. I asked her what I could use to manage the yellow coming through as it faded, she suggested Crazy Color in Graphite.

I have a L'Oreal Absolut Repair mask which I think is protein based - is it worth trying?

Thanks @MrsPelligrinoPetrichor , I really hope so!

Strand tests only give a tiny snap shot of information. They are usually taken from the back, rarely from the front or hairline where hair is naturally weaker. Doing a strand test only gives a limited amount of information.

Colour build up from previous colours tends to happen and stick more on the hair at your hairline and nape. The finer hair.

The good news is, your hair will eventually regain the curl. It's going to take a while though. If your hair has been damaged it will affect it's natural texture, causing hair to become frizzier, rougher, elastic, limp, loss of density, and broken. It can be one of those or a mixture depending on the level of erosion to the cuticle and the cortex.

Aftercare:
Before washing or bed, brush gently with a tangle teezer or wet brush.

2 x shampoos using either olaplex 4 or a protein based shampoo like kerastase bain de force architecte.

Gentle towel dry for best results or squeeze out all excess water. Apply conditioner from root to tip (yes, really - because of the damage) use olaplex 4 or kerastase ciment anti usure leave for a min of 3 mins. Detangle with conditioner in using a wet brush or tangle teezer. Rinse throughly

Pat dry hair DO NOT WIND TOWEL AROUND WET HAIR OR FLUFF/RUB TOWEL to dry.

Use a protein based masque like the one you've mentioned. Use it in place of the conditioner or olplex Step 3. Once per week. Leave for 10 mins.

Before drying or combing, brushing wet hair apply a leave on treatment or heat protection, then comb. This will help to minimise traction breakage. Heat protections to use to balance the protein should be moisture based or a combination of protein and moisture. Redken 21 benefits or kerastase nectar thermique are ideal for this.

Style as usual. Do not put your hair up while it's still wet, it will cause more breakage. Only use hair ties when it is fully dried.

Blow dry or diffuse, you can use your normal styling products over the heat protection. Minimise the use of other hot tools.

Get your hair cut and toned again, have an in salon treatment or bonding treatment every 6 weeks. This will help help splits and breaks from worsening over time and will help blunt off anything.

If you can afford to and if the level of damage is severe I would recommend in salon treatments every 2 weeks for the next 8-12 weeks. Your hair will need both protein and moisture to recover.

I would definitely being going back to the original stylist after getting a second opinion. The salon should offer you treatments free of charge or some hair care products to help. This naturally depends on the level of damage sustained and what was said and then carried out during your appointment. Any self-respecting salon or stylist should/would want to help with this. It's in their best interest to maintain and secure a relationship with you as a client.

It's very hard to advise without seeing your hair but hopefully there's enough information here to help empower you and start on the recovery process.

If you have any other questions, I'm happy to help.

Wow, thanks so much @MillshakePickle for yet another detailed response - I am taking it all in!

Am much relieved that it can recover with care. Potentially more q's later, I'll tag you - thanks again, genuinely 😊

I have curly hair and highlights do permanently alter the curl in mine. That initial ‘thatchy when wet’ phase will pass.

Really? That would be a relief! It's terrifyingly weak around the hairline at the front... 😞

I have curly hair which always sulks after I have it coloured. I would try no shampoo. Just use a deep conditioner to wash it, use like a treatment then scrunch it into your hair with some water, then rinse, then add a normal conditioner, scrunching it in and leave it in. That will really help the curls recover. Also, air dry, lay off the heat for a while. I never use heat on my curls, only ever air dry.

I wish I could air dry - with my normal texture it's hagrid-like when air-dried, but with the current broken texture I resemble a sad, wet dog.

I have been able to air dry to about 80%, then VERY gently use my Revlon drying brush on the cool setting to smooth it. I have to straighten the front - have smothered it in nourishing oils and heat protectant and used a really low setting with minimal pressure, it's passable! Luckily it's so weakened that it's putting up way less resistance than normal.

I'll give it another 24 hrs rest then apply the protein mask. I can see some broken bits but I think if I'm careful, it will be OK.

By way of an update for anyone reading this in 5 years time, I applied a protein mask last night for about 5 mins, and whilst it was still pretty mushy and weak when wet, the mask HAS improved the texture very slightly. But I can see a little halo of breakage around the hairline and it's quite brittle once dry.

I contacted the original hairdresser and although she was surprised (she said it had blow dried so nicely on the day), she immediately invited me in so she could have a look and provide a professional treatment that would be better than anything I could buy for myself, so that's good. She did grill me on what shampoo and styling tools I'd used which is fair enough, but ultimately my usual shampoo is very mild so she said it couldn't be caused by that.

I'm not going to get it wet again before she checks it over but I can't get there until Monday...wish me luck!