Hair Color Experts?

[Nadja Z]

Here's the deal. My hair is naturally dark blond. About a year a go I went to a lighter blond, hated it, tried to go back and ended up with a greenish light brown. So I tried to go brunette and have spent the last year looking like Morticia Adams (I'm freakishly pale, I should've known better ). I had it touched up a couple times at the salon, then I figured if I'm not happy with it I might as well do it myself and spend $8 instead of $80.

So, I have an appointment in a couple days. I'd like to get back to dark blond (basically as dark as you can get before it's considered "light brown"). The bottom half of my hair is bleached, with a filler and a medium brunette layered over it, and the top half is my natural strawberry dark blond with the medium brunette over it.

I know you should only go "a few shades" at a time, but how many shades apart are dark blond and medium brunette? Can I get it done in one visit? Also, I'm really afraid of ending up with greenish hair on the bottom and orangey on the top. Is there anything I should specifically mention/request to try to avoid that?

If you made it through all this hair drama, thanks!

 

[Massaging Mom]

I'm not a professional colorist or hairdresser. However, I've been reading a ton of information on the Killerstrands blogspot. I've also purchased professional color from her and colored my own hair.

Well, first off. You've probably already heard the saying, "Color does not lift color." If you want to go to a higher level, your hairdresser has a few options depending on how much higher you want to go based on your current color, amount of gray, and natural color.

Personally, if I were you... I would do a shampoo train to get the hair color out of your hair. Basically, a shampoo train helps fade the color you've applied. Wash your hair (focusing on your hair strands instead of scalp). Use any drug store shampoo. Wash your hair a few times over the next few days. Then buy Vanish from Killerstrands or ask your salon if they use it. Vanish is a good brand from what I've read. It reverses the chemical process used to deposit the color onto your hair. What you will be left with is your natural color.

I could be wrong about that. But, if you only went darker and did not lift out color, your natural color will remain. Oh, wait, I see you bleached your hair. Well, you would have the remaining pigment left from the time you bleached your hair.

Next, you are talking about two things as one. Level is the amount of pigment in the hair. Tone is what you would call shading. When you say strawberry and green, those are tones. If you have green tones left in your hair, you need to balance that tone with a color opposite to it on the color wheel. Same with orange. My hair pulls red tones. So, I balance that out with an ash.

Boxed hair color is TERRIBLE stuff!!! Your hairdresser is going to have a difficult time getting that color out without bleach... if that is what you want her to do. I would be willing to bet that she bleaches your hair because using something like Vanish could be an all day event and is costly.

It's a bit too late for you to cram color information before your appointment. When you go to your hairdresser, ask her what exactly she is doing (bleaching or removing color). Write down the level and shade she uses. Then go over to Killerstrands, read, read, read. If you want to do it yourself, you can always do a consult with the blog owner before you purchase. She charges $25.00 for a consult. Once you are ready to buy professional color, she applies the $25.00 towards your order. So, it's a win-win situation.

www.killerstrands.blogspot.com/

Hope this helps.
Wendy

 

[Nadja Z]

I pretty much assumed I'd have to get it bleached. My only goal depth/level-wise is to basically get a more natural look (which for me is anywhere around dark blond to light brown). Since it's a medium brown now, I figured bleach would be the only option.

With the tone, I'm concerned since I think I'm going to end up with a double whammy problem. The last time my hair got bleached was about a year ago, so the six inches closest to my scalp is just natural color with more color on top. It's the bottom (bleached) part that I'm afraid could go greenish. But then I'm afraid if the colorist just tries to make everything warmer, the top half of my hair will turn out orangey since naturally my hair has a lot of warmth to it.

Yikes. Hopefully I'll be able to get somewhat close to my natural depth and tone so I can just grow it out and then leave it alone! I've been trying to cram for a while actually although I never found any good sites like killerstrands. (I'll be checking that out, thanks!)

Nadja

 

[Massaging Mom]

Nadja,

How did the color appointment go?

I can understand your concerns about taking out the two different colors on your hair and getting one color/shade. I would think that the hair colorist would have not added bleach to the top 6" at the same time as the rest of your hair. Once she lifted out the color from all of your hair, your hair should have the same tone and remaining pigment from roots to end. Then she could either deposit color and tone OR add a toner.

Here are the stages hair goes through as color is lifted. Going from darker to lighter...
Dark Brown -- Red Brown -- Red -- Red/Orange -- Orange -- Orange/Gold -- Gold -- Yellow/Gold -- Yellow -- Pale Yellow

You shouldn't need to worry about the top half and bottom half. The tones will be stripped along with the pigment. Depending on the stage your hair reaches when the bleach is washed off, will determine the amount of color and toner your hairdresser uses to get the color you want. If you notice all of the stages above, they are all warm colors. In my notes, I wrote orange/red tones need blue green, and red tones need green to balance. If she bleaches your hair to a yellow blonde, she needs to use a violet toner and possibly deposit color if you wanted a darker blonde level.

Hope everything worked out okay yesterday!

Wendy

 

[Nadja Z]

Actually my appointment isn't until tomorrow. Lol, there'll either be a super happy post or a "I need help!!!" post tomorrow afternoon , wish me luck!

 

[Massaging Mom]

Oh! It's tomorrow!!! You caught me speed reading.

Best Wishes!!!!

Wendy

 

[mlouski]

Hair Color

Make sure your appointment is with a reputable hairdresser. I am not sure what area you are from but there are Board Certified Colorists who specialize in corrective color. They are not cheap but you will get the results you need without doing further damage to your hair. My sister is a board certified colorist, so I can't answer your questions real well she probably could though. I do know sometimes hair turns green because of the water you use. Well water or sometimes treated water. I'll try to text her and ask her. She rececntly moved from home to CT.

 

[Nadja Z]

Make sure your appointment is with a reputable hairdresser. I am not sure what area you are from but there are Board Certified Colorists who specialize in corrective color. They are not cheap but you will get the results you need without doing further damage to your hair. My sister is a board certified colorist, so I can't answer your questions real well she probably could though. I do know sometimes hair turns green because of the water you use. Well water or sometimes treated water. I'll try to text her and ask her. She rececntly moved from home to CT.

Thanks! I basically snooped around and found the best one I could by reputation at least. Everyone I've talked to loves her (and I love their hair, too) so I think it's the best I can do where I live. I am in a semi-rural area so there aren't any of the big expensive salons. I had to book out seven weeks in advance, so hopefully it's worth the wait!