Blonde to brown lowlights back to blonde

[JoannaN]

Hi Pros

I need help. I can't seem to explain to my hairdresser how I want my hair. It does not come out right. I want to go to a new salon, but I want to make sure I am communicating to them what I want.

My hair story:

I have dark brown hair naturally. I had been a light blonde for 10 years. I went back to school for engineering and Im already way older than all the students. Im in my 30s. So I felt very conspicuous in my blonde hair.

I went to my girl and asked her for some light brown lowlights. Instead she gave me light brown with my blonde as highlights. This was not good because my blonde was darker than the highlight color I would've wanted. Therefore I ended up with a mousy brown with blonde that disappeared and just looks like a caramel mess.

I tried to go with it, and let her just take my brown hair up a level or 2 and do blonde highlights. Same thing though. The brown just fades to a color I hate, and the blonde disappears. Result: ****ty brown/caramel ugly. I hate it.

I just want to go back to my blonde. I also always complained that she left me a dark yellow and didn't always take it up enough. However, sometimes the color was great.

What I'd like:
I want to convey that I would like a dark blonde, with NO GOLD tones as my base and then nice bright highlights.

Can my hair be fixed? I'm really regretting ever going away from blonde. This brown mess is 10x more work than just getting it dyed blonde every month and highlights every 2. I'm at my wits end.

How do I say this in stylist talk so they won't just do whatever they feel like. Also, if you have any tips as to what a GOOD stylist can do for me, I can filter out the bad ones.

Thanks in advance. Please help. I am restraining myself from doing it myself and losing all my hair, but I am getting more disgusted all the time.

PS, is there anything I can do in the meantime to brighten up the highlights? and keep the brown from fading.


Joanna

 

[Rachul123]

Hiya!
If I were you I'd go have a consultation, with a colour book, and show the stylist the colours you're after so they can do a strand test too!
Sounds as though the brown is fading because its on top of the blonde. But if you don't like the colour fading is surely a good thing?
Id have a full head of highlights with an allover colour inbetween to tone the warmth but thats me, others might do something different! Xx

 

[Tomme]

I think you described what you want very well.
I'm seeing it that you want light blonde hair with a few lowlights through it.

Say to the stylist you choose " I would like light ash blonde hair with lowlights"

A good professional will allow you in for a consultation free of charge where you can ask any questions and raise concerns with them.
Depending how dark you are now you may be offered a full head highlights (this will be over a period of time to lighten the artificial colour), a gentle cleanse shampoo (may be called a bleach bath, but it is very gentle) or possibly a colour stripper.
You may need to buy a toner shampoo to keep the colour while its being lightened for use in between visits and possibly regular conditioning treatments depending on the condition your hair is in.

A good stylist will tell you this and recommend something they have for you to use for te time being until you can afford the colour.


The most important thing to point out is we're not magicians so it may take a few attempts and regular toners to keep any gold tones at bay, but again a good stylist will be honest and explain that yo you if it is the case.

Best of luck x