Lifting a toner which was too dark/wrong color with the least amount of damage

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npendarvis

LadyHighlander
Joined
Dec 16, 2018
Messages
4
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Location
Norman
Hey All,
Happy Holidays! Here is my story. I am a retired hair stylist and when I started going gray about five years ago I knew I either needed to go gray naturally by cutting it in a pixie style and see what grows out or take the plunge and become a platinum blonde. I decided to lighten my roots and become a silvery but warm white platinum blonde. My natural hair color is a dark brown level 4 to 5 and has about 50/50 gray/white in some areas in my crown and then I have pure white around my hairline and temples. I have been bleaching my roots for over three years now. My latest hair stylist uses TIGI lightening powder and 20Vol developer. We leave it on for a total of 50 minutes (I know there are some of you who will not like to hear that but I truly have strong integrity to my hair and it has endured it well. ALSO, I use Olaplex 2 at least once a week and leave it on for an hour.) We can lift my roots to about a level 9.7 and sometimes a level 10. I USUALLY don't like the TIGI gloss toners because they don't last long at all. Consequently, I will have her use an old school brand that I know works everytime for me. It is Wella Color Charm T18/Violet Base mixed 50/50 with Wella T11/Violet-Gold Base and 20v. This will last for 6 to 8 weeks. If we do use a TIGI gloss it is about a 30/70 mix of 9/2-Violet mixed with10/0-Neutral. The result is a slightly warmer white/pale yellow baby blonde, which I have to retone with Wella toners in about two weeks.

Now, after sharing my back story, here is what happened. My hair stylist was on vacation and I had to use another stylist. Also, I expressed over and over, that I didn't want any gold tones. So, she used the same TIGI bleach mixture and left it on my hair for 50 minutes. The roots were about a level 9.8 or a very pale, pale yellow. I must have told her about five times what TIGI toner mixture to use (This new stylist insisted on using TIGI toner) and she could also see how platinum white my hair was both before and after we retouched my roots. So, what does she do? She puts on TIGI Gloss toner 8/3. See the Pic I have provided so you can see the color and shade. This is labeled a Light Gold Blonde but it actually looked like a light/med beige blonde with red undertones on me. Suffice it to say, the end result was nothing like what I have had or wanted. I was very nice to her but let her know this was not the level, color or tone I wanted at all and reminder her that I specifically told her the exact TIGI toners to use and how they were mixed. In fact, my usual hair stylist had it written down on my card. Her explanation for using the 8/3 was simply that my roots were not light enough. WRONG! My roots were a pale, pale yellow, just like they have always been in the past. YIKES!

Here is what I had to do to lift the level as well as remove the gold undertones. It did work, and my hair is still intact but I want to know what you all would have done. Since we all know that developer is also bleach/lightener in a weaker strength, I first created a mixture of 2 parts 30vol cream developer for sensitive skin with 1 part cream hair conditioner. I left this on for 1 hour. I then rinsed that out and shampooed it with dish soap due to the sulfates that would help strip the color further. After that, I toned it with my usual 50/50 of Wella T18 (Violet Base) and Wella T11 (Violet/Gold Base), a few drops of Wella 05 Violet additive for good measure and 20Vol developer. At 1:2 Ratio. (1 Part Toner two 2 parts developer. THE END RESULT: Platinum blonde hair that has just a hint of a pale, pale, pale beige undertone on me. My goal was to NOT have to do a bleach wash or have to deal with bleach touching my hair at all. Especially since I had just bleached it! So, I opted for using just developer and the sulfates in the dish soap to lift the darker gold tones.

Any other thoughts on this lifting process. Also, as a former instructor, I was really disappointed by the fact this hair stylist didn't care enough to want to listen to her client and she exhibited a complete lack of concern with regard to not providing the same desired results. I know I am older now, and things were a bit different when I was in the Biz but providing good customer service and planning for success STARTS with listening to your client.

Nan
 

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Last edited:
30 vol developer on your scalp for an hour??
Dish soap/washing up liquid?
What were you thinking?

No, no no!
That is not how professional colourists remove excess tone.
A scoop of bleach powder mixed with water and shampoo would have quickly removed the toner and not dried out your hair or caused unnecessary damage to the cuticle layer (which no amount of Olaplex will repair).
 

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