Wanting to lighten my regrowth & would value some advice

SalonGeek

Help Support SalonGeek:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Hoffgrad

Member
Joined
May 20, 2021
Messages
7
Reaction score
1
Location
uk
my natural base is a warm 7. I am 60 years old and have been having highlights and colour since I was a teenager, so.... over 40 years. Both salons and home colour. I've been having balayage for around 5 years, but other than one hairdresser who since left, I never get the base colour I want. The salon use Wella products and I have Illumina which I like. But I like to be predominantly blonde so I always ask for more blonde highlights and some dark bits pulled through to break it up. A bit of dark regrowth looks good on me, but only if it is a neutral, not warm or ash. Ash looks awful with my complexion. I used to mix Illumina 7 with a bit of 8/69, to neutralise the warmth. BTW... I hate blue shampoos and I hate toners. I like my blonde highlights to look clean and bright but the base to look darker, without being too dark. My regrowth is really awful right now, as she mixed 7 and 8 and didn't refresh my highlights. So it's altogether far too dark and muddy warm looking. I'm sick of wasting money... last time was £150! It's been 4 weeks since I had the regrowth coloured. I was wondering, if I used Wella Illumina 8/69 on it's own with 30 developer, would this lift my roots but give a more neutral, and not so dark result? I would then pull some blonde highlights through. Be super if someone could help with the science, here. Thanks in anticipation. H
 
my natural base is a warm 7. I am 60 years old and have been having highlights and colour since I was a teenager, so.... over 40 years. Both salons and home colour. I've been having balayage for around 5 years, but other than one hairdresser who since left, I never get the base colour I want. The salon use Wella products and I have Illumina which I like. But I like to be predominantly blonde so I always ask for more blonde highlights and some dark bits pulled through to break it up. A bit of dark regrowth looks good on me, but only if it is a neutral, not warm or ash. Ash looks awful with my complexion. I used to mix Illumina 7 with a bit of 8/69, to neutralise the warmth. BTW... I hate blue shampoos and I hate toners. I like my blonde highlights to look clean and bright but the base to look darker, without being too dark. My regrowth is really awful right now, as she mixed 7 and 8 and didn't refresh my highlights. So it's altogether far too dark and muddy warm looking. I'm sick of wasting money... last time was £150! It's been 4 weeks since I had the regrowth coloured. I was wondering, if I used Wella Illumina 8/69 on it's own with 30 developer, would this lift my roots but give a more neutral, and not so dark result? I would then pull some blonde highlights through. Be super if someone could help with the science, here. Thanks in anticipation. H
Hi there, you can't use illumina 8/69 with 30vol because it won't lift the already tinted hair and will lift your natural root way too much, you would end up with serious banding.
 
Hi there, you can't use illumina 8/69 with 30vol because it won't lift the already tinted hair and will lift your natural root way too much, you would end up with serious banding.
Oh.... really? Okay. Mind you, I may not have mentioned this but my root colour has been tinted many times over hte past say 5 years, to cover the grey. This is the darkest it's been. I really don't like it at all. I did want my root colour lifted but not so that it goes warm. It's been done in the past... some years ago now. Here is an image of what it is like now.... It's tied up I know but I want to lift the base colour. Is that possible, or do I have to resort to just having more highlights.. .when there seems to be enough bleach in there already. Very grateful for you advice by the way.
 

Attachments

  • 9B6A9FFD-9A25-4179-8EF1-DEA2AF3A6EF0_1_105_c.jpeg
    9B6A9FFD-9A25-4179-8EF1-DEA2AF3A6EF0_1_105_c.jpeg
    187.2 KB · Views: 53
Oh.... really? Okay. Mind you, I may not have mentioned this but my root colour has been tinted many times over hte past say 5 years, to cover the grey. This is the darkest it's been. I really don't like it at all. I did want my root colour lifted but not so that it goes warm. It's been done in the past... some years ago now. Here is an image of what it is like now.... It's tied up I know but I want to lift the base colour. Is that possible, or do I have to resort to just having more highlights.. .when there seems to be enough bleach in there already. Very grateful for you advice by the way.
General rule of thumb is that tint doesn't lift tint, and your hair has been tinted. Even if it dour lift it will likely cause banding, which isn't an easy fix, and possibly cost you more than the initial £150 you paid 🙈🙈
If you wanted to lighten that darker area, it definitely needs to be done professionally. Highlighting yourself is not recommended as you could easy overlap and overproces the hair.
Also hair will always lift warm, even if you sue a cool colour, because of the underlying pigment in your natural colour.
 
General rule of thumb is that tint doesn't lift tint, and your hair has been tinted. Even if it dour lift it will likely cause banding, which isn't an easy fix, and possibly cost you more than the initial £150 you paid 🙈🙈
If you wanted to lighten that darker area, it definitely needs to be done professionally. Highlighting yourself is not recommended as you could easy overlap and overproces the hair.
Also hair will always lift warm, even if you sue a cool colour, because of the underlying pigment in your natural colour.
That is really helpful. Thank you so much. Although it gets harder and harder to find someone good. I used to have an amazing hairdresser but she retired and I've found it so difficult to get someone good. I used to leave a salon looking fantastic... not so, now. Yes, I understand that it will always lift warm. I think that's why in the past my good hairdresser used to mix a few tints to get the right shade for me. But never ever used toner. Toner seems to be much more commonly used now. Don't know what. I hate the stuff. Always makes my hair brittle and dull. You are in South Wales, I see. Well, you've been fab. Shame you're not closer to me and I'd come to see you for a correction.
 
That is really helpful. Thank you so much. Although it gets harder and harder to find someone good. I used to have an amazing hairdresser but she retired and I've found it so difficult to get someone good. I used to leave a salon looking fantastic... not so, now. Yes, I understand that it will always lift warm. I think that's why in the past my good hairdresser used to mix a few tints to get the right shade for me. But never ever used toner. Toner seems to be much more commonly used now. Don't know what. I hate the stuff. Always makes my hair brittle and dull. You are in South Wales, I see. Well, you've been fab. Shame you're not closer to me and I'd come to see you for a correction.
Meant to read, I don't know why... not what. Sorry.
 
Toner seems to be much more commonly used now. Don't know what. I hate the stuff. Always makes my hair brittle and dull.

Toner shouldn’t make your hair go brittle and dull. If that happens they’re doing something very wrong. I’m guessing that they’re over processing the bleach or mixing the toner incorrectly.

Imagine stripping wallpaper off a wall. You wouldn’t leave it looking like that, unless you wanted a distressed look. Applying a Toner is like re-papering the wall after stripping. It should leave the wall looking beautifully finished.
 
Over the past few years I have been colouring my own regrowth before I go to my hairdresser for balayage blonde pieces. My hairdresser advised me to buy 7 and 8/69 and mix 2/3 to 1/3 of each. I like the colour on my regrowth but what I have noticed is that when I do it, even though I use the same formula as my hairdresser, it doesn't last as long nor does it look as shiny. She doesn't use Olaplex or anything else and I use the shampoos that she uses. I use the recommended developer of 6% and I leave it on for 30 minutes. Can anyone shine a light as to why my roots fade/lift more quickly than when she does them? Should I use a lower volume developer? Leave it on longer?
 

Latest posts

Back
Top