Correcting a hairdressers mistakes
April 7, 2013 4:35 AM Subscribe
I had my medium brown hair ombre dyed bleach blond at the ends last year, I just went to the hairdressers here (France) and I'm really unhappy with the results. Can I fix this at home?
They bleached my hair really high up and with no gradient, so I basically have a line where my hair goes from brown to blond. What would happen if I box dyed my hair the same colour as my natural brown (like the top half)? The bleach starts too high to get the blond cut out.
I'd like to try this myself rather than going back as it is 100% possible what I asked for got lost in translation as I am not French. I will go to another hairdresser if this requires professional help, but I am in Paris so this is all very expensive!
They bleached my hair really high up and with no gradient, so I basically have a line where my hair goes from brown to blond. What would happen if I box dyed my hair the same colour as my natural brown (like the top half)? The bleach starts too high to get the blond cut out.
I'd like to try this myself rather than going back as it is 100% possible what I asked for got lost in translation as I am not French. I will go to another hairdresser if this requires professional help, but I am in Paris so this is all very expensive!
Well, the issue is that many box dyes are not meant for bleach hair and may not have the right tones to become a normal color, let alone match what you have. Bleaching strips out the yellow/red tones from your hair. The one time I tried to box dye brown over my bleach blonde (platinum) hair, it turned out pretty blue. It was awesome but definitely not a "normal" color. I'd beware and probably get a colorist to do it. Definitely don't get anything "ash" brown.
posted by amileighs at 6:07 AM on April 7, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by amileighs at 6:07 AM on April 7, 2013 [1 favorite]
Can you go back to the hairdresser and tell them that you are unhappy? They should fix it for free. And you should be able to request not to have the same colorist that screwed it up in the first place.
Just tip them if they do a good job fixing it.
For the language barrier, go in with pictures.
posted by rmless at 8:25 AM on April 7, 2013 [1 favorite]
Just tip them if they do a good job fixing it.
For the language barrier, go in with pictures.
posted by rmless at 8:25 AM on April 7, 2013 [1 favorite]
Indeed the language issue is tricky because in English we use a French word, ombré, that does not mean what we use it to mean in actual France.
I think returning to the hairdresser would be the best route too, and here is the key word you need:
dégradé
Example of usage
"Je voudrais que le blond fasse un dégradé avec ma couleur naturelle" -> "I'd like for the blond to be a gradient with my natural color [brown]."
If you REALLY want to be specific, "je ne souhaitais pas qu'il y ait cette ligne distincte entre les couleurs, vous voyez ? Ce que je cherche, c'est un dégradé." -> "I didn't want this clear line between the colors, see? [this way of asking "see" is polite in French btw, just be sure to use a genuinely neutral or helpful tone] What I'm looking for is a gradient."
posted by fraula at 9:18 AM on April 7, 2013 [6 favorites]
I think returning to the hairdresser would be the best route too, and here is the key word you need:
dégradé
Example of usage
"Je voudrais que le blond fasse un dégradé avec ma couleur naturelle" -> "I'd like for the blond to be a gradient with my natural color [brown]."
If you REALLY want to be specific, "je ne souhaitais pas qu'il y ait cette ligne distincte entre les couleurs, vous voyez ? Ce que je cherche, c'est un dégradé." -> "I didn't want this clear line between the colors, see? [this way of asking "see" is polite in French btw, just be sure to use a genuinely neutral or helpful tone] What I'm looking for is a gradient."
posted by fraula at 9:18 AM on April 7, 2013 [6 favorites]
Response by poster: Thanks everybody. Definitely know it needs a colourist and will try again at the salon. Also thanks for the vocab Fraula, dégradé was the missing word!
posted by ellieBOA at 9:49 AM on April 7, 2013
posted by ellieBOA at 9:49 AM on April 7, 2013
This thread is closed to new comments.
Using a box dye will work, however it's possible that it won't come out the exact shade of your top half. When I'm trying to make sure my newly dyed part matches up, I usually dye the part I want to change first, and then streak some of the mixture through the old part. This de-intensifies the gradient of change.
posted by DoubleLune at 4:43 AM on April 7, 2013