Amethyst2
Member
Hello, I've had my hair bleached for 15 years, starting in college. The color suits me and looks pretty natural, so I don't plan on changing it. When I was in college, I didn't have any money. So I had to bleach my own roots by ordering a book about how to color & bleach hair, and by buying supplies at Sally Beauty Supply. I did this regularly for several months. I always carefully sectioned the hair into 4 quadrants like the book showed, and applied the bleach in neat little thin rows.
When I got a job and had some money, I tried to continue getting my roots bleached at salons. I live in a major metropolitan area, and went to the most professional looking and expensive salons. In the salons' ads, they always portrayed themselves as the most expert hair colorists. Then when I made an appointment, I would get one of several routine replies from the professional, licensed hairstylist:
1) "I don't believe in bleached blonde hair, so you will start getting foil highlights instead." One lady ordered that to me in an aggressive, bossy tone and pulled the foil around really quick and was trying to force me to have them. So when hairdressers said that I would then leave instead.
2) "I don't know how to do bleached blonde hair, so you will start getting foil highlights instead." (Also, I would then leave instead)
* When I found one hairstylist who would bleach my roots and actually did a good job (before I lost track of him and his salon closed), I asked him why so many hairdressers "don't believe in bleached blonde hair." He smirked and said that means they don't know how so they want to avoid the situation.
3) "Yes, I'm an expert in bleached blonde hair! I know everything about bleached blonde hair, and trained in NYC, and with Vidal Sassoon", etc etc etc.
Group #3 above is the scariest group, because those are always the hair stylists who try to wing it but don't know what they're doing. They don't know how to section hair, and just dive in and start gooping it in. They don't keep it mostly on the regrowth section, and they paint inches and inches of bleach past the new hair. I have almost never found a hairdresser who sections my hair and applies the bleach in thin rows like I used to myself. And when I have meekly suggested it to sloppy bad hairstylists, a couple made snide comments about a "~lay person trying to give advice~" about hairstyling, and I have had 2 angry aggressive hairdressers verbally yell and attack me when I cried and asked why they dumped so much bleach on my previously bleached hair or why they otherwise botched it up so horribly. One of those was the snotty salon last week, who slapped on THREE bowls of bleach on most of my hair, much more than the roots. My once pretty hair is ratty because of hairdressers messing it up so much. Hairdressers have caused more damage to my hair than I have.
My question is: "HOW DO HAIRDRESSERS GRADUATE FROM BEAUTY SCHOOL AND GET LICENSED WITHOUT KNOWING HOW TO SECTION AND BLEACH ROOTS??" if I learned it at home by buying a silly little book in the mail? I don't want to color it myself, because I think the quality of products available to licensed professionals is better, and I shouldn't have to, because that is why the profession of hairstylists exists.
When I got a job and had some money, I tried to continue getting my roots bleached at salons. I live in a major metropolitan area, and went to the most professional looking and expensive salons. In the salons' ads, they always portrayed themselves as the most expert hair colorists. Then when I made an appointment, I would get one of several routine replies from the professional, licensed hairstylist:
1) "I don't believe in bleached blonde hair, so you will start getting foil highlights instead." One lady ordered that to me in an aggressive, bossy tone and pulled the foil around really quick and was trying to force me to have them. So when hairdressers said that I would then leave instead.
2) "I don't know how to do bleached blonde hair, so you will start getting foil highlights instead." (Also, I would then leave instead)
* When I found one hairstylist who would bleach my roots and actually did a good job (before I lost track of him and his salon closed), I asked him why so many hairdressers "don't believe in bleached blonde hair." He smirked and said that means they don't know how so they want to avoid the situation.
3) "Yes, I'm an expert in bleached blonde hair! I know everything about bleached blonde hair, and trained in NYC, and with Vidal Sassoon", etc etc etc.
Group #3 above is the scariest group, because those are always the hair stylists who try to wing it but don't know what they're doing. They don't know how to section hair, and just dive in and start gooping it in. They don't keep it mostly on the regrowth section, and they paint inches and inches of bleach past the new hair. I have almost never found a hairdresser who sections my hair and applies the bleach in thin rows like I used to myself. And when I have meekly suggested it to sloppy bad hairstylists, a couple made snide comments about a "~lay person trying to give advice~" about hairstyling, and I have had 2 angry aggressive hairdressers verbally yell and attack me when I cried and asked why they dumped so much bleach on my previously bleached hair or why they otherwise botched it up so horribly. One of those was the snotty salon last week, who slapped on THREE bowls of bleach on most of my hair, much more than the roots. My once pretty hair is ratty because of hairdressers messing it up so much. Hairdressers have caused more damage to my hair than I have.
My question is: "HOW DO HAIRDRESSERS GRADUATE FROM BEAUTY SCHOOL AND GET LICENSED WITHOUT KNOWING HOW TO SECTION AND BLEACH ROOTS??" if I learned it at home by buying a silly little book in the mail? I don't want to color it myself, because I think the quality of products available to licensed professionals is better, and I shouldn't have to, because that is why the profession of hairstylists exists.
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