angelalwhittington
New Member
Hello all! First, I would like to state that I am a client, not a professional! I have been coloring my hair with professional products for nearly 10 years and have a lot of color build up. I prefer the rusk line and have been dying my hair a dark black/ plum color for almost the full ten years using N1.00, 4.5M, and 2.2V combo with a 40 developer. I decided I wanted to go blonde over the course of 4 months or so. I had my first lightening appointment about 3 weeks ago and my experience was awful. I left having paid over $400 and 6 hours later (though quoted $200) and had red brassy hair + an eye injury having been flicked in the eye with a piece of hair soaked in lightener. It was really odd and when I expressed my concern over the red/orange brassiness ( knowing that with the right shade of toner it could have corrected this at least a little) I was dismissed and told that it was poor lighting in the salon that was making it look red. I then cried all the way home with my orange/ginger locks. I decided to go to a different salon for my next 2-3 treatments making sure I knew at least how much I would be charged. I was told by my new stylist ( a color specialist) that if I did my Olaplex treatments at least 2 or 3 times during the week she could attempt another lightening session just one week later. I did my treatments religiously every night for a week, including leaving it in several nights overnight to make sure my hair had good elasticity and texture. I felt really good going in to the new salon. She added the lightener to my hair carefully foiling tiny sections and after over an hour placing me under a low heat dryer for processing. I sat for about 30-45 minutes when she came in to remove foils and tone my hair. She treated me with Olaplex shampoo and Conditioner and asked if I was ok to leave my hair in a bun with repairing product in my hair. I agreed and left the repairing treatment in my hair for several hours. When I got home and washed my hair it began falling out in mushy pieces. My long a-line tips are shorter than the rest of my hair now. She offered me a bunch of product to take home and try to repair it as well as 3 free cuts to remove the damage. I have been treating it every day for 4 days with an arsenal of products including the Olaplex line and my hair isn't getting much better. I have two dilemmas... one, I'm cool with cutting my hair.. .pretty short in fact. It's already just above my shoulders and I have no issue with doing almost a pixie style cut, but I also still want to go blonde. I don't want to repair and cut my hair over the next few weeks just to have to stay this color after I've spent well over $600 already. Is there any way I can baby step my hair blonde? Maybe even just go with a low lift developer and a gentle blonde lightener... leaving it in for 5 minutes at a time and doing a test strand on the weakest parts of my hair each time? I've gone blonde before and have done baylayage on friends and family with great success and I'm just wondering if there was a safer, more gradual way to lighten in little brief snippets between Olaplex treatments that could get me close to my desired color without having to pay hundreds of dollars per session. Sorry that this is a small book! Thanks in advance for any help and/ or guidance.