Went for the big chop and it’s not quite gone to plan

[Apprentice26]

I’ve chopped off my god-awful damaged waste length curly hair that really was horrific and aging me terribly.
And now I look like Lord Farquaad
What do I need to do to rectify this when I go to the new Hairdressers please? All inspiration gratefully received.
I also did one of those boxes dies on my hair to make it mid brown just a little bit darker than I am naturally and it’s gone a very fetching shade of orange
The majority of that’s been cut out now
I’ve been blonde for my entire life, but I do look old. I really do for my age. 48
So I was going to just try and go with my natural colour to see if that worked a bit better for me mid Brown, but I’m not sure if that’s a mistake

Sorry but I laughed at Lord Farquaad. You have lovely thick hair. Get a good moisture treatment on it and either professional highlights or balayage. Can you afford frequent professional blow drying or do you want to just wash and wear?

Previously whenever I was going for big bouncy blow dry every week it was about 20 quid no doubt that increased
But it would just be wasted on me. I don’t work in the city anymore.
That was partly why I chopped it
When it was healthy and blow dried, it looked lovely. 10 years ago.
Now I saw pictures of myself two years ago when I had a £400 cut and colour from West
And my face still look like a bag of spanners

I think it looks gorgeous, thick and healthy. I have thin hair so thick hair always looks great to me short or long.

I have similar, fine hair and lots of it.
I don’t use special shampoo but always apply Unique One after. My best investment was a Bablyiss big hair brush which I use to finish after a quick blast of the hairdryer. If I want super straight I go over it with a straightener.
I do this even if I’m tying it up with a claw.
My hair can’t be left ‘natural’ I look like Worzel Gummidge!

You need some moisture in those curls. Get yourself some onlycurls and make sure you get the curl creme as well as the shampoo/conditioner. Once the curl pattern reestablishes then it'll look miles better. And if you're anywhere near Brumtown get yourself to Spring is in the hair in JQ for a consult.

It looks like there is a curl pattern begging to be released.
So, either go full on with the curls, or full on with masses of heat protection and the straighteners.

or, since you appear to have taken a photo of me, tie it back 99% of the time

I don't see the orange you are concerned about. It nsy not be the color you were hoping for, but it looks fine.

Your hair is definitely too long for Lord Farquaad territory, don't worry about that (trust me, I've had bobs of all lengths) my hair is a very similar, what shade hair dye did you use? I've had better luck with the "ash brown" shades than I have with the "warm brown" shades but to be honest all the box dyes go a bit orange as they fade, salon dye is definitely better. It looks fine after a blow dry but ive never been able to do it at home. Hask Morrocan oil helps and a decent conditioner

Oh wow, Carrie’s recent hair is my dream I loved it in AJLT.

Oh my god, no I went to them years ago and they charged me 80 quid to make me look like Mavis Riley from Coronation Street
You had genuinely never seen anything like it. It was not okay.

Honestly, I thought she looked awful and mine had good days and bad days but it hadn’t been looked after enough to have the good days

Your roots look like you've got lots of cool tones coming through naturally, so the warmth will not be doing your skin tone any favours and will jar with your crown.

I'd grow out the natural and embrace your curls. Inject some moisture. Leave a handful of Garnier Hair Food (the banana one) which will help. See your curls as hungry for moisture, and feed it silicone-free conditioner/water every day.

Your hair has a lovely shape and only a hint of orange - you made it sound like clown hair but honestly, you have a beautiful head of hair it just needs some tlc!

You need an intensive treatment at the salon plus some sensitively done colouring to rectify the box dye. I'd also invest in salon quality shampoo and conditioner to use at home for a few months.

Find some pictures of the colour you want and take them along to the salon, make sure to ask them to help match them to your skin tone and prioritise hair health & condition.

How's your diet? Nutrition and general state of health makes a big difference to hair condition.

Generally appalling tbh, it’s been a funny couple of years
I’m used to being able to throw money at problems and I just haven’t been able to

Then, if you can afford some semi regular salon appointments and premium products it will help.

Even one appointment plus premium mask will make it more manageable - my hair got horribly out of condition after a bad few years too and until my nutrition improved this approach really helped.

Think of it as year long project to get your hair back on track

I think it possibly needs more layers - you have great volume and lift at the root and it's thick at the bottom but there isn't much body inbetween. I also think an ash brown professional dye would be good with some moisturising treatment.

You have lovely hair and I think it will be a good length once you decide on a colour and style

Another vote here for the Babybliss Big Hair brush!
OP- you have lovely hair, really and I bet you look much better than you think.
💐

Nuala Morey on Instagram does some amazing cuts and colours on curly hair. Think she's based in Bristol, but she offers sound advice and you can get some inspiration for cut and colour.

Do you know what type of curly hair you have naturally? When I was younger one of my flatmates was naturally curly. She used about 5 times more conditioner than shampoo on her hair, washed it once a week and only used a hairdryer occasionally, and then with a diffuser. Her hair was in fabulous condition and looked amazing.

Looks like a very good starting point to me. I’d see a colour specialist and ask for the existing colour to be toned and from there decide if you want to go with some very small, delicate highlights and or lowlights to give you a colour you prefer. Or let it grow out naturally a bit more.
Do not box dye for now.
I’d add a little bit more layering and see if it helps your almost-curls bounce. If you’ve always been blonde it’s quite hard to adjust to brown, same with long hair to short hair. It’s unfamiliar and that feels funny. But it is great hair and you can make it really nice with some TLC

No, I’ll be honest. I did the curly hair method about 10 years ago and he did look absolutely amazing. I can’t deny.
But it was like having another small child to look after
The time and commitment was a lot
But I’m gonna need to get back on it

Your hair is thick and healthy with a lovely wave.

My recommendation is to look at your natural hair colour - it’s quite dark, I think perhaps darker than you realise. Get a cool toned box dye to match it.

Products and hair care have moved on hugely in the past few years. As you're already unhappy with the colour, don't put another box dye on top of that. It makes correcting the colour more difficult and can potentially damage your hair.

This was my thoughts when I’ve gone blonde previously it’s always been quite honey. Blonde with a lot of red in it.
But if I go really Ash and platinum it just looks grey now and makes me look like a grey haired old lady
Which is actually I suppose what I am 😂

Try looking at The Wavy Hair Method FB page - great advice there on shampoos, conditioners etc

It needs grey blending. It's not the right approach to simply highlight or colour the grey roots. It's a real skill that not many colourist can do.

Your hair is actually nice- i don't see any orange, just a bit brassy yellowish tones, lovely thick care but it is wavy to me, not curly. Unless you brushed it out?