New client with damaged hair

[DaniBea]

Hello

My name is Dani, i dont regularly post on here but i do love to catch up with your topics and jot down good advice now and again. Today however, i have a new client who has had an awful expirience in a salon.

I work from home as im building a home mini salon/beauty room on the ground floor of my house. I have been doing beauty for 10 years but as for hairdressing, i have only just qaulified so i am still learning etc. I have a few friwnds who have worked in salons for 10+ years and they often give me tips and tricks etc.

I am rather confident at what i do but i suppose thats because i often just do friends and family. This new client has sourced me via social media for her wesding hair for Aug next year but when i went to do her consultation for the wedding (as me and my team will also be doing make up and hair on the full bridal party) this is where i learnt of her awful expirience and that she needed more help than just a hair up idea!

She would like me to start off with a full fresh base colour (i tend to just use wella products) and then gradually get a full head of highlights every 6-8 weeks up untill the wedding. Anyways heres her story....

She has always been white blonde, one length cut at shoulder length and always went to the same salon, every 6 weeks it would be a full head of foils to get her roots done (iv not yet to see her roots) but the last time she went the hairdresser put her bleach foils in from root to tip, put the client under heat and left her for aprox 1 hour as she was busy with otger clients. When she washed my clients hair, her hair went to "mush" and most of it had snapped off and the rest of it had to get cut off. She has saved some length at the back but the front looks like a dodgy fringe with a bowl cut going about 2 inches past her ears (yes, like a mullet). The hairdresser then put a dark hair dye all over and a treatment. I dont know what products, tones or %'s she has used but the client is distraught. Its a couple weeks on since then and i cant evwn describe her hair colour level..... its very very washed out red/orange brassy horribleness that i cant even descibe to you. At best i would say a 5/4 6/34 mix with hints of 5/07 and not even at all.

I was so shocked. So i contacted my friend who works in a salon and has done for years. She has told me to get a koleston permanent in 6/1 as the ash will tone down tge brassy orange colour but shes told me to use it on dry hair with wella welloxon perfect pastel 1:2 which i am aware is used for toners as its 3%. But my other salon friend told me to do it on wet hair. I just want to do whats best without further damage and i know it will need a cut... not that im really sure what i can do to get the hair looking like a good style... she wants to keep tge length she has.

I just really want to let you guys know whats happened to her hair and what do you feel is the best move? Can i use the pastel?

I really appreciate any help and advice. So sorry if there's any miss types as im typing from my mobile.

Dani

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[AcidPerm]

Have you seen the client and if so, did you take any strands for testing?

If it's as damaged as you suggest, putting another permanent colour on top is not going to help it. You might be better off using semis and recommending lots of deep conditioning treatments. Can you post a picture of the hair?

What has the original salon offered to do as way of rectification?

 

[DaniBea]

Hey,
No iv taken no steps as of yet, wanted to get advice first. Of course i will take some hair for strand tests etc (thanks) before i do anything. I have suggested treatments and for her to do treatments at home. But yeah as for colour, i wanted to get advice from you guys before actually taking any steps.
If i use the perfect pastel (3%) anyways will that not make the colour more of a semi than a permanent anyways? Im sure my tutor told me that you can make a permanent colour a permanent or a semi just by the vol of peroxide used?

She has not been back to the salon since, she said she doesn't want to kick up a fuss and wants to start getting over the ordeal and concentrate on the wedding. I have asked her for a photo a couple of times but she wont send me one, i think maybe shes to embarrassed or doesn't want any photos of it, all she has sent me is the photo of before the nightmare happened. I have seen it in person yes, i went to her house to chat to her about her wedding. Its very washed out now and has multiple tones in it (a right clip to be honest) and her hair is very fine.

Thanks for advising me, much appreciated x

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[AcidPerm]

Don't wish to appear rude but you might benefit from further reading of your colour manuals. Using a low vol of peroxide doesn't make a permanent into a true semi as such.

Just for info:

Permanent colour - tiny molecules that enter cortex, swell when mixed with peroxide to become large and therefore, stay inside cuticle.

Semi Permanent colour - mix of larger and medium sized molecules that sit on or just inside cuticle layer. Not mixed with oxidising agent so don't change their state and will provide some depth & tone. Will wash off within a few washes although if cuticle layer is damaged, it might last a bit longer.

If the cuticle layer is extremely damaged, colour may not take at all!

 

[DaniBea]

Thanks for the advise, i don't find it rude at all, after all, i am the one asking for help and just letting you know what people (professionals) have said to me.

So, if this client came to you... what would be your move to help her?

X

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[AcidPerm]

I'd definitely try out a couple of options on the test pieces first.

I'd look at using a semi (or a quasi depending on condition) but if she's been having it bleached almost white, it's likely to have some degree of damage already before they went bananas on it. :irked:

From what you've said, I think the biggest problem you'll have is getting it looking even. You definitely don't want to be lightening any of it and I'd probably be looking at covering with a slighter deeper tint.

I know she's wanting it to look ok for a wedding in the short term, but you do need to impress upon her that it will be a long process to restore it's condition and likely take some years to get it back to how it was, if it was very long and is severely damaged.

Managing a clients expectations is one of the toughest challenges hairdressers face.

 

[DaniBea]

Thanks so much for all your help. I have that client booked in tonight as she messaged me saying she wanted to throw a box dye on it, eek.

I will get photos and post pics if you want to see the hair and the outcome?

Thanks again

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[vividamnesia]

Poor client! Sounds like most of her cuticle has been over stripped/damaged meaning her natural protein composition has been destroyed/removed. Keratin or K is the majority of this missing complex which I would recommend you do a replacement treatment which is usually similar to a deep condt. or my fav, a fine spray application, left on for 5-? specified directions, sometimes with lo-heat, then rinsed out with tepid-cool h2o then condition with your conditioner of choice. This is important to condition after a K treatment which is not typically taught/explained by product suppliers but taught in more advanced classes involving chemical correction & composition of the hair in reaction to various chemical services we offer. K can make hair brittle if over proteined over time but small doses used prior to correction services even out the porosity & replace molecules for the target color to bond properly to the hair shaft locking color in & restoring health properly to damage from poor chemical services.

Make sure hair is completely dry after K+conditoner service with all condt rinsed out again with tepid-cooler h2o b4 target color application. If target color/base is a standard 30-40 min processing time, let color stand after mixing for 10mins to bypass the lifting stage leaving the deposit-sertting/finalizing stages to be completed only.Process as normal.

Use a more acidic/lo-ph rinse for final conditioner/smoothing lock to max & reverse damage. ..
Do not be afraid to explain this process to your client & most suredly charge more as this is corrective services!!!!! you can probably get a 1 shot K from your supplier just shop around till you find it. Or just get the standard 250mls or whatever of K(keratin complex) for future color corrections!!!
Happy coloring!

 

[user 71008]

Be careful if it really damaged the colour will go darker than it should or not really take mine did the exact same when i went mad with the bleach (in college days ) took almost two years to get it back to a decent condition and cropping it short into pixie crop, its a horrible ordeal to go through and sounds like your in tangle if your client wont let you have a picture for advise let alone cut it in a shorter style i always think if you only cut so much off and its still damage and she wont go further its still going carry on splitting not really solving the problem x

 

[faerififi]

Oer I wouldnt suggest anything to her until youve seen the condition! Give her a good cut, if she needs to go short then do it, she can easily grow it in a year, thats a good 6ish inches of growth. You do not want to be using permanent colour on this lady, colour touch is a much better option, that is the quasi range for wella.
You are not going to want to be lightening that up any time soon either! I just dont think its a good idea to colour it darker then start highlighting back up after only 6 weeks. Before you tint the hair you should invest in a porosity equalizer which should top it from going too dark, ash colours also tend to look darker than their bases.
Basically, try and explain to your client that the length is irrelevant at this point in time, it would be better for her to have a decent cut that suits her and looks nice rather than some chemical haircut awful thing going on that will affect her confidence. From there its going to be a whole lot easier to grow it out and to colour it, rather than keeping the length and having bits constantly snapping off.