Why do hairdressers prefer highlights to all-over bleach ups?

[Amber-]

Hi guys,
To give you some background, I have long, extremely thick hair.
It was very dark brown/black (lvl 3 on top and lvl 1 on the ends) with colour buildup from a mix of dark brown professional tints, and purple/teal/red direct Crazy Colours.

I decided to go blonde again and my hairdresser did a strand test and concluded my hair was able for it. I was hoping she would do a couple of rounds of bleachups and then just tone/lowlight to get a natural looking blonde but she said it is best to do it via highlights. I said I had no problem coming in for a full day if that's how long it will take, and returning for any extra needed bleachings, but she said no, highlights.
I have now had 3 full heads and my current colour is attached. I get Olaplex added to the service and my hair feels the exact same as it did before- no damage whatsoever. I am curious as to why hairdressers prefer the highlight route- she told me it's less damaging but surely my whole head is going to end up bleached one way or the other anyway? It's very frustrating for it to take so long, especially because highlights mean only half your hair actually gets foiled each time. I called up today and asked could I get the foils done back-to-back next time.

Thanks!!!

 

[AcidPerm]

Interesting!

I wouldn't have chosen to do it that way myself, but would likely have used a colour reducer to remove all that build up and then probably used bleach but until you see the hair for yourself, you can only guess at what process you might use.

 

[cassies97]

Like AcidPerm I wouldn't have approached it like this. I feel lazy hairdressers do it this way.

I'd much rather get an even light base thats desirable before i start highlighting.

 

[Amber-]

Yeah like what is the attraction for her to do it this way? When I went in for a consultation they said it would be very expensive to do it all in one day, I said that isn't a problem- it's actually probably costing me far more to keep going back for 3 hour highlights appointments? I've spent about 9 hours in the chair total now to go from black to light brown??
I'm seriously considering just going somewhere else- this place was one of the first in my city to offer Olaplex so I thought they might be a bit more advanced than the rest...

 

[Amber-]

do you think it's a money thing? she wants me to keep coming back and paying more money?

 

[AcidPerm]

It's not necessarily about the money.
Offering colour correction services using a good quality colour remover followed by a recolour service isn't necessarily quick or cheap either.

I think it's just that there are still a lot of hairdressers out there who automatically choose to offer bleach highlights as their failsafe option.

 

[Amber-]

When I go in next time I'm gonna tell her that I'd like a more dramatic result this time and ask can she balayage the majority of my hair rather than foiling. Maybe that will help get me blonder faster- I'd like to at least try it. I've seen Guy Tang get great results with it and she talks about him a good bit so hopefully will be happy to do it.

 

[hairgaga]

You could ask her to balayage all the hair that's left out between the foils

 

[hairtoday]

What colour remover do you use ? Xx

 

[surf girl]

It's not a money thing it's a personal preference by the stylist, I personally would tackle a full head bleach from any starting point, painstakingly lifting each area bit by bit however my colleague would never do that she'd say you had to have a full head foils