Highlighting hair: need your expertise asap!

[a1109]

Hey everyone,
I need your help. I'm trying to go blonder (right now it's like a dirty blonde..brown with highlights), and don't want to go get them done at a salon again. (In the area where I live they're ~$150 and I need to get them done every 2 months..) I was thinking of getting a friend to do them for me.

I was thinking about buying:

- L'oreal Platinium Plus
- L'oreal Platinium Nutri-Developer 20 Vol. (my hairdresses usually use 20 volume on me and it lifts to a really pale blonde)

I really, really need your input, as I am looking to order online asap! (in fact, they're waiting in the shopping cart right now..)

My questions for you are:

- how long should i leave the bleach in? exactly when do i know it has lifted and isn't yellow?
- what ratio of bleach/developer should i use? Instructions for the product online say to use either a 1:1 to 1:3 paste/developer ratio...that's a pretty big range so i'm really not sure.
- what kind of toner should i buy? my hairdresser last month didn't use a toner and the highlights were pretty, but I want to get a toner just in case it turns more yellow/brassy than i'd like it to be

If you have other suggestions in terms of products I should buy instead, please let me know. I've had hairdressers use goldwell on me before and wella. However, with l'oreal I noticed a LOT less damage after highlighting than in the past.

Pleaaaaase let me know as soon as possible!

 

[-sophisticutz-]

I am sorry, we don't give DIY advice. They are professional products and should only be used by someone who knows how to use them. Bite the bullet and get it done in a salon.

 

[Sarahh <3]

yeah i think it is best to get it done in the salon, im training atm and i recently did highlights and they are so much harder than you would think hun cause you need to put the foils in right and you need to know how much to leave at the top for the colour to expand etc.. x

 

[a1109]

i totally understand -- i've gotten highlights done at least 50 times before (i'm 23 years old) and I know that work professionals do is far superior. unfortunately, i'm having a bit of a financial trouble right now, and living in the area i'm in right now, isn't really helping. a month ago i decided to splurge on some highlights at a nice salon in the area, and it was a disaster..the lady was in a hurry..she didn't leave them on long enough, and i ended up having honey hair on top and some really white highlights in the bottom! so i went the next day and she fixed them by putting some more foils in but it still has that very warm base.

this was exactly a month ago, and now the few nice highlights have lost their vibrancy and overall it looks like a very brassy disgusting color. there's really nowhere i can go in the area that would be affordable for me at the moment, so i thought for the time being, i'd have a friend give me some highlights.

i've done a lot of research online, and i feel that as long as i have good products and i leave them on for the right period of time, i'll at least have something better than what i do now.

i'd appreciate any advice you could give me. thanks a lot in advance

 

[Sarahh <3]

in that case what i my suggest is that you can get a shampoo from the hairdressers, i use wella and so do alot of other places and when i used to have bleech blonde underneath my brown and it used to go brassy is silver saver shampoo, its got a purple tone in it so that it helps to remove some of the brassy orangey tones in the hair, it does work wonders, so give that a try first, if is there any training salons in the area, maybe a college or a salon with a junior in that can do highlights because it can be a little bit cheaper as its helping them practice let me know hwo you get on with the shampoo

 

[a1109]

i have a purple shampoo i regularly use already. although it makes my highlights a bit brighter, it's not exactly the effect i'm looking for... my hair just isnt blonde enough at the moment. i went ahead (against everyone's recommendation) and bought l'oreal stuff. will post a picture and let u guys know how it goes in a week or so!

 

[persianista]

I can sense an "EEEK my hair is broken an orange" thread coming!

Deep breaths fellow geeks!

 

[EMZAGEEK69]

he he lol u funni fu%$ persianista , why do we botha to help those who dnt help themselves maks me blood boil grrrr

 

[Bev Rose]

I'm sorry hun, but if you are unhappy with your hair - go back to the salon & tell them of your concerns, you already said the woman was rushing & didn't do a good enough job the first time & you've already had to go back in once.
They may offer to do it at a reduced price which would help.

This forum is for professionals & not one of them worth their salt is going to give you information that they have trained for years to gain & paid good money for training.
If we, as professionals told all our clients how to do DIY jobs, we'd be out of business.

 

[EMZAGEEK69]

hear hear bev!

 

[Sarahh <3]

i honestly think, well i actually i know from experience that your going to regret this, because i had tried to do this last year.. before i started college, i thought ill bleech the underneath of my hair so i can get my hair looking fab for college, it will be no problem. but when you have very orange hair and its very dry, you soon start regretting it badly hun. i had to get my tutor at college to sort it out when i started college. xx