Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Style and beauty

Looking for style advice? Chat all about it here. For the latest discounts on fashion and beauty, sign up for Mumsnet Moneysaver emails.

Original poster

I give up. I just give up. My shit hair colour

8 replies

Givinguponmyhair · 22/03/2026 17:14

Anyone else?

Natural hair is mouse.

When i get it coloured dark, including just lowlights = it ends up turning reddish/orangey.

When i get balayage or highlights = it ends up mushing together and turns a yellowy colour.

It doesnt matter what salon I go to. It doesnt matter whether i use purple/blue shampoos or conditioners, its the same old cycle. I just dont get it. Is it because my hair is super porous or something?

Anyone in the same boat or can advise? Im now about 40% grey and I dont want to "embrace the grey" but I dont see what option I have when my hair just doesnt seem to work well with being coloured

OP posts:
history505 · 22/03/2026 17:24

If your hair goes yellow with highlights maybe the hairdresser doesn’t leave the bleach long enough or it’s the colour of the toner? I’ve had very yellow highlights before, I think it was the toner that was put on. I do it myself now, half hour of bleach with a highlighting kit, it only goes yellow if I don’t leave it on quite long enough.

Huckleberries · 22/03/2026 17:30

@Givinguponmyhair I feel your pain

And it didn't used to happen so I think it's something to do with changes in the way hair colour is made

I actually am meaning to look it up before the summer
Exactly what the process is and what the steps are that the hairdresser is doing

Because now it takes much longer and has less of an effect and changes a lot with washing

Having hair colour or highlights used to be a lot easier than it is now

I've got one friend who is just bleaching her hair blonde very blonde like white and then popping some colour on the top

I don't want to bleach all of my hair, but I don't mind trying my own highlights this way

I actually went to the shops yesterday trying to figure out what I would need, but I didn't have clarity on how it works
So I know what bleach to buy, but I'm not 100% sure what to put on top of it - a toner? I remember when these things didn't exist! You just got your hair coloured or highlighted and it wasn't complicated

i've never tried any of the purple shampoo or whatever they are - maybe that's making it worse

I'm convinced there's fewer colours on the market now you can get pink and purple and what have you But you don't get the range of golds et cetera that used to be available

Huckleberries · 22/03/2026 17:31

history505 · 22/03/2026 17:24

If your hair goes yellow with highlights maybe the hairdresser doesn’t leave the bleach long enough or it’s the colour of the toner? I’ve had very yellow highlights before, I think it was the toner that was put on. I do it myself now, half hour of bleach with a highlighting kit, it only goes yellow if I don’t leave it on quite long enough.

Oh, you're doing your own which kit are you buying, please?

Original poster
Givinguponmyhair · 22/03/2026 17:31

history505 · 22/03/2026 17:24

If your hair goes yellow with highlights maybe the hairdresser doesn’t leave the bleach long enough or it’s the colour of the toner? I’ve had very yellow highlights before, I think it was the toner that was put on. I do it myself now, half hour of bleach with a highlighting kit, it only goes yellow if I don’t leave it on quite long enough.

It happens irrespective of salon or hairdresser!

OP posts:
Original poster
Givinguponmyhair · 22/03/2026 17:35

Huckleberries · 22/03/2026 17:30

@Givinguponmyhair I feel your pain

And it didn't used to happen so I think it's something to do with changes in the way hair colour is made

I actually am meaning to look it up before the summer
Exactly what the process is and what the steps are that the hairdresser is doing

Because now it takes much longer and has less of an effect and changes a lot with washing

Having hair colour or highlights used to be a lot easier than it is now

I've got one friend who is just bleaching her hair blonde very blonde like white and then popping some colour on the top

I don't want to bleach all of my hair, but I don't mind trying my own highlights this way

I actually went to the shops yesterday trying to figure out what I would need, but I didn't have clarity on how it works
So I know what bleach to buy, but I'm not 100% sure what to put on top of it - a toner? I remember when these things didn't exist! You just got your hair coloured or highlighted and it wasn't complicated

i've never tried any of the purple shampoo or whatever they are - maybe that's making it worse

I'm convinced there's fewer colours on the market now you can get pink and purple and what have you But you don't get the range of golds et cetera that used to be available

That's a very interesting theory re maybe hair colour is made slightly differently now.

The only thing that has worked okay for me is putting on toner. Im getting really tired of shelling out for salons when the colour always looks screwy in the end, so im considering just leaving it alone and toning once a fortnight while drastically reducing how much I wash it.

My hair is very fine and fly away with a tendency to become very dry.

OP posts:
history505 · 22/03/2026 17:48

@Huckleberries I get the Wella kit. Though that’s only because it’s usually the one available in Sainsbury’s. I get any kit that includes the highlighting cap.

Huckleberries · 22/03/2026 18:49

@history505 thanks and I will look at that

@Givinguponmyhair I think it is made differently that they're not allowed to use the powerful bleach they used to use in the past

So you end up sitting there for longer with lower strength bleach on your hair

I haven't had balyage for ages because now they tell me I've got to sit there for hours and I don't understand why that would be when it used to be quite quick. It used to be called something else as well. My hairdresser used to do two colours so like two different shades of gold.

i'm sure I saw another thread discussing this, but I can't find it now

Huckleberries · 22/03/2026 18:50

My old hairdresser is a hairdresser in another town that I lived in before so I can't ask

I actually did ring, but she's retired and the young ones there only know the modern method one of them didn't believe me when I said I could be in and out in two hours sometimes less - with the old method.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page