What Do I want and How do I get It - for my hair not my life

February 23, 2009 2:04 PM

I've been getting my hair highlighted by a rather inexperienced stylist for the last few months. I love the general color (a soft cool ash blonde) but I'ved got a few problems with it. Now I'm going someplace new with a more experienced colorist. I know what I want -- how do I tell them what I want?

This is really my first time with such a drastic change so I'm really quite a newbie and I need some education on what it is I need to get what I want, which is basically, a soft light brown to blondeish hair color with blond highlights.

Here are the problems I've noticed with my hair after a few months of having my highlights - my natural hair color is basically "Priscilla marries Elvis" black and she's been achieving the blond entirely through highlighting which means when I put my hair in a ponytail or pull it back, it all goes away, which I don't like. And she only does the front part and swears to me that it doesn't look funny, which I'm not quite sure I'm buying.

I don't mind going every 4 weeks -- that's how often I go anyway, but I want the whole color to be the same with some tonal variations. Also, she seems to be getting nervous about getting too close to my hairline because the last couple of times, I've had significant roots after like 2 weeks, which doesn't seem right. And finally, now that she's done it a few times, when I lift up my hair, you can see the mark of each time, just like the rings on a tree - which also doesn't seem right.

So I'm going to try a person who's considerably more experienced but I'd like to be a little bit more educated myself before I go and I've actually been having a hard time finding out what I want to know. Is what I want reasonable considering my natural hair color? I don't want to fry it out, which also seems to be happening a little bit or set myself up for $500 every 2 weeks. But let's assume that it is possible. How would I achieve it?

If this seems like a really bad idea, alternate suggestions are welcome. No need to point out that I've just written a really long question about my hair. That's already been duly noted.

posted by katyjack to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (7 answers total)

My colorist does this fun zone thing where she puts in a color that fades out to my natural hair color near the roots and then puts other colors (including purple) as highlights elsewhere. Even with the purple, I only need to go in every three months.

However, you're going to have a hard time with the no roots thing given that the color you want is a drastic change from your natural...you're going to need frequent touch ups unless your new colorist is a miracle worker. It definitely sounds like your first person did not know what she was doing though, so if you tell the new person up front what you want, what you didn't like about what the last person did and what your goals are you should have more luck.

Be willing to compromise a bit on what you want though based on what the new person says. (If you don't want tons of maintenance, you may have to have blond and light brown highlights with some black, for example.) Also ask if she would be willing to retouch if you don't like how it turns out--that's a sign of a professional.
posted by Kimberly at 2:20 PM on February 23, 2009

Agree with what Kimberly said. I also suspect, since you say the blonde goes away when you wear a ponytail, that you may have been getting "partial highlights," when what you want is "full highlights."
posted by jillsy_sloper at 3:19 PM on February 23, 2009

Yeah, partial highlights aren't going to cut it if you want to wear your hair back. In fact, considering your natural color is so dark, if you really want "the whole color to be the same with tonal variations", I think you're going to have to lighten your whole head, and then have low-lights put in on top of that. Probably a toner too to take out the brassiness. You're not going to get the whole color to be consistent with just highlights - at least I don't think so, but then again, I'm not a high-priced colorist, just a woman who spends way too much money getting her hair highlighted.
posted by Evangeline at 4:38 PM on February 23, 2009

Going more than about 3 shades lighter than your natural color is going to be difficult, according to my colorist. Multiple layers like Kimberly suggests are the way to go, but use a really good experienced salon and commit to the expense and frequent touch ups. When I can afford it I do a combination highlights, low lights and a bright. When I can't afford it I dump punk pink on it from the hair color aisle at Walgreen's. Guess which one looks better.
posted by nax at 5:28 PM on February 23, 2009 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I used to manage a hair salon. I have had my hair a very dark auburn a few months ago and now, I'm a strawberry blond. My base color is a yellow blond, my highlights are a little lighter yellow/orange and my lowlights are a darker yellow/orange. And for the record, I have a "dirty" blond natural color. Every time that I have had my hair colored, I have used the multi-tones. I've used at least 2 (and sometimes 3) different colors. That should make your color look more natural.

One thing about getting too close to the scalp is that if you are getting highlights (weaved) and not "chunks" (slices), they cannot touch the scalp. The reason is that they will bleed under the foil. (Foils are much preferred over the cap.) However, the slices don't really matter because the section next to it is already the lighter color.

What you can ask for is all over color with highlights and/or lowlights. If you have a good colorist, she can achieve a broad spectrum of color. And depending on the brand and level of developer, you hair will not be damaged. With the all over color and highlights/lowlights, your colorist should put the highlights and lowlights in your hair in foils. Then in between the foils she should do the all over color. However, if your hair is a dark black, there are limits as to how light your hair will get without being damaged.
posted by kochanie at 6:56 PM on February 23, 2009 [1 favorite]

Mmm you should get yourself a colourist. I stumbled into having one by pure chance but there is such a difference between his work and the work of others. (...And the pricing of it too of course.)
I always just let him run free and do what he pleases - but my god the colours!
posted by mu~ha~ha~ha~har at 11:07 AM on February 24, 2009

Response by poster: Thanks for all the great answers. It looks like what I'm looking for is all over color with highlights and lowlights. I'm not going to do it this time, but what if I got cocky at a later date and did the all over color myself at home as a cost cutting move and just got the highlights and lowlights at the salon? Would the colorist be horrified and refuse to deal with me? Would that be a disaster of monumental proportions for my hair?
posted by katyjack at 11:18 AM on February 24, 2009