~Bleach Blonde Lowlights Disaster~ Help!~

Hello everyone~

I am hoping some of you could give me some pointers and options.  I will try to give as much info as possible and see what y'all think could be done after that.

I have been getting my medium brown hair lightened with bleach for approximately 15 years (I am 33 yrs now).  I think my natural colour is a 4 or 5. 

Initially, I went through the 'Sun In' stages as a teen, then started colouring with drugstore box brands and then by the time I had hit age 25, finally began having my hair properly bleached and toned at a salon. It has been quite light for the past eight years~ an extra light ash blonde I'd say~ and I have really liked and been happy with the pale blonde colour the past five years or so).

This past year or so, I had been travelling down to Mexico for extended periods of time and had to begin alternating with getting my roots touched up (bleached and toned at the salon) and doing my roots myself at home (with Loreal Blondissima).

In June 2005, I tried a new colourist and that is when my mid back length blonde hair fell apart.  It seems like the colourist put too much bleach onto bleached hair (and I'm sure I must have damaged it myself too by overlapping the bleach a bit when I did it myself every other month).  When the colourist finished with my hair in June 2005, I had some nasty breakage~ basically, the top layer, all the way around my head burned off approx 3 inches from the roots. I had bangs for the first time ever!  I was devastated, and cried for days.  I did get extensions right away, but found them tough to live with so I only went that route for about five weeks.   

Due to the breakage, I had my hair cut to shoulder length and I tried to live with the three inch broken chunks by wearing hats and bought some nice Pucci scarves, etc.  I took as much care of it as possible and did deep conditioning, etc. 

As of mid December 2005, it had grown enough that I was finally able to have many layers cut in and for the most part, those nasty broken chunks blended in. (Since my hair disaster in June 2005, I hadn't been to another colourist as I didn't trust anyone and I had been doing my roots myself at home. 

At the same time as the cut in mid December 2005 (two weeks ago), I arranged to have my roots touched up.  I went to a new colourist who is a 'Master Colourist' in Toronto. She said that my all over blonde hair looked 'dated' and that I should get highlights and lowlights to add dimension and make it more current looking. Although she had never done my hair before, I decided to trust her (MISTAKE!!!) and said 'okay, as long as the lowlights were not too dark and that I still had blonde hair with lots of light highlights~ that I really loved my blonde hair, etc.'

Basically what I ended up with was light brown hair with very thin, light blonde highlights (that actually reminded me of the 'frosted' look in the 80s). I was so incredibly upset. I wanted to simply go home and bleach my head of hair and get it back to the blonde I loved.

So here we are.  I did wash my hair with Neutrogena Clarifying shampoo and have faded the brown a teeny bit.  All I want is my blonde hair again (ultra light ash blonde~ level 9). 

Any suggestions, etc?

Pale blonde IS my bleached colour under the brown hair colour the evil colourist put on two weeks ago,  so I am thinking of possibly using Color Fix to get rid of all the brown so I will be left with my bleached colour and then toning it again.  Then the plan would be that I will re-do my roots with bleach/toner in 2.5 to 2 weeks and basically try to keep my hair the colour it was (which I loved), leave the length alone while touching up my roots monthly AND~ NEVER listen to another colourist again.

My biggest concern is that I had breakage in JUne 2005 and that is my only worry.  If I could get the Color Fix done and get the colour back to my original blonde that I loved, I should be able to leave it alone from there on in and be happy, but I do not want to lose my hair either!

Looking forward to comments~ I very much appreciate everyone taking the time to help on this board.

T.

Blondie197238719.7234375

Here is my blonde hair in May 2005 right before the colourist damaged it~ and basically is what I am aiming for again.  (That is also the colour it was up until 2 weeks ago when the evil colourist put the red filler, brown hair colour and lowlights in)~

I am not an expert with color -- actually I don't know much about it at all -- so I am not going to give you any advice. I just want to say that I am so sorry that happened and I KNOW how you feel. It's devastating. I've had couple of similar situations happen to me. The one thing I DO know is that when I was completely blonde and then the DARK brown (almost black) and reddish colors were put in my hair, that I HATED, I was able to go back to totally blonde again the next time I had my hair colored which was probably about 8 to 10 weeks later. My same stylist was able to fix my hair. Anyway, I learned my lesson big time with putting lowlights or any dark colors in my hair. Even though I think it looks good when I see people with it, I know I'll hate it on me. Never do anything to your hair on a whim and NEVER let them talk you into anything different. Tell them you'll have to sleep on it, or have them go ahead with what you originally came in for but that you'll think about it for next time and then, of course, just think about it. I know you know all that though.

And "master stylist" or "novice," it doesn't make a difference. Either one can screw up your hair equally bad. I just don't understand how they can allow the breakage to happen. They ought to know what can and cannot be done to the hair. And they ought to tell you they won't do it if they think there's a possibilty of it happening. And yes, I've had a "master stylist" fry my hair up good too!

Well, good luck. I'm sure someone here will come to your rescue soon! Oh, and I can't believe you were able to FIND AND KEEP the color you loved for so long. (It's a pretty color.) Nobody can seem to get mine right!

15 years of bleaching!  I didn't think that was possible!  You've obviously looked after you hair well enough to keep it hanging on all that time, despite the bleaching.  I've bleached mine once, just to lighten it, and I was terrified of that making my hair burn off!

I am so sorry to hear about what happened, it is any person with hair's worst nightmare.  I hope it all turns out ok.
aubergine38719.7643518519

Thanks for the support! Although it IS a bit less horrifying to know that others have gone through the same thing, it really sucks to know that there are that many people out there ruining people's hair.  I have really grown to mis-trust salons (and completely understand all the other posters on here who feel the same way).  I will also have a whole new value for the day I find a colourist that I can trust to help me get my hair to the colour I actually want!

In retrospect, I really should have left well enough alone.  I have certainly learned enough from this board to know that now! 

As for the fifteen years of bleaching my hair~ all I can say is that my hair is always in the best shape/condition when I get it bleached and toned at the salon (as opposed to doing it myself so that the colourist can ensure that the bleach does not overlap~ so essentially each portion of hair is only bleached once with a possible second time during the next section's touch-up due to the overlap).  The other issue I have found is that my hair will never ever grow past the shoulder blade length (and if I did get it to grow past that length, the ends are pretty thin and yucky looking). 

At this point~ I have to find a colourist who will continue to do what I want and will stop trying to talk me into what they think will look good!

Thanks for the comments!

Basically, the same result happened to me. I was trying to put lowlights in my very light platinum hair to slowly and gradually get to my natural blonde color (between an 8 and 9). I ended up looking like a witch. The dark lowlights were way to dark and almost black at the ends. Mixed with my platinum strands.....it just looked grey and my kiddo said I looked old. Here's a link to my thread which chronicles what I did before, what she did and what I've done after.....

http://www.hairboutique.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=36538& amp;PN=3

Basically, what I did to get to the pic in my signature and avi was spot bleach the dark sections. I had to use an OTC bleaching kit because I went out of town just after leaving the salon. I left it on a very short time. She had used a demi-perm (Redken EQ) and used heat to make it more 'perm'. I strand tested first to see the minimum time it would take to lighten that dark mess!

(that reminds me....I need to go update that thread! )

Kelly~ Thanks for the link, I will check it out now! 

Again, I have to say how awful it is hearing about all these other people going through the same thing!  I mean it is nice to have support from others who have been there too, but that's seriously terrible that there are THAT many other people who have had their hair ruined after it taking so long trying to get to a certain point.  UGH!

BTW~ Your hair in your avatar is gorgeous!  Do you mind me asking what you did to get that great colour?  What is your natural colour?

 

Thanks! T.

Hi Blondie,

I really feel for you.  I had a similar hair tradegy 11 weeks ago and I am still depressed about it.  I have figured it will take me 2 years (if my hair grows an average of 6 inches per year)  to grow out the damaged hair and bring back my silky healthy hair again. I don't know how to add a link so you can read about my story like KellyH did, but it should be under lost friendship due to hair mistake if you do a search.  Anyway, I noticed that you got your hair done in Toronto and thought that I could recommend a wonderful hairdresser in London, ON.  She is THE BEST!! The salon is Entrenous on Richmond street and if you are interested, i will give you her name.  She actually cares about the health of your hair and will only to things to fix the color if it won't cause more damage.  I am trying to go back to blonde after some horrible Elvira-like lowlights and she wouldn't let me do it all at once.  She said it will be a long process, but it is the best thing to do if I want to not damage my hair further. I always used to say that anyone can have long hair - but it takes time and patience to grow long healthy hair. Thats what upset me so much.  I was growing my hair for years and making sure I got regular trims, deep conditioned, etc - Then some idiot f**ked it up!  Anyway, i am sorry for you and just keep hanging around this forum.  There are lots of great people here who will help you get through this & give you info on how to care for your hair as well.

Noey

LMAO! If you read that whole thread......you'll see that I don't think I could do it again if I tried!

[QUOTE=KellyH]LMAO! If you read that whole thread......you'll see that I don't think I could do it again if I tried! [/QUOTE]

 

I now see what you mean!  LOL~

I must say~ you do have an eye for getting your colours just right~ even when you are fixing up colour(s)! 

[QUOTE=Blondie1972]Again, I have to say how awful it is hearing about all these other people going through the same thing!  I mean it is nice to have support from others who have been there too, but that's seriously terrible that there are THAT many other people who have had their hair ruined after it taking so long trying to get to a certain point.  UGH![/QUOTE]
I know; it just blows my mind! Sometimes I think these people need much more than a license to cut and color hair. I think they need a Bachelor's or Master's degree. I mean, they sure CHARGE as though they've got one. Very occasionally do I hear of someone who takes this hair coloring seriously (such as the person Noey mentioned). It really is unbelievable how many people have their hair ruined at the salon. If I was a stylist I'd make darn sure what my client was talking about when she said "light" brown or "light blonde" etc. I'd MAKE them bring me pictures and we'd look at swatches, etc. Sometimes I think these stylists should be prosecuted for what they do to people's hair. I only wish it was easier to find the good ones and/or I wish there was more talent out there. Where the heck are they hiding?! Or maybe it's the schools? Maybe they're not doing their job? I don't know ...

[QUOTE=noeyangel77]

Hi Blondie,

I really feel for you.  I had a similar hair tradegy 11 weeks ago and I am still depressed about it.  I have figured it will take me 2 years (if my hair grows an average of 6 inches per year)  to grow out the damaged hair and bring back my silky healthy hair again. I don't know how to add a link so you can read about my story like KellyH did, but it should be under lost friendship due to hair mistake if you do a search.  Anyway, I noticed that you got your hair done in Toronto and thought that I could recommend a wonderful hairdresser in London, ON.  She is THE BEST!! The salon is Entrenous on Richmond street and if you are interested, i will give you her name.  She actually cares about the health of your hair and will only to things to fix the color if it won't cause more damage.  I am trying to go back to blonde after some horrible Elvira-like lowlights and she wouldn't let me do it all at once.  She said it will be a long process, but it is the best thing to do if I want to not damage my hair further. I always used to say that anyone can have long hair - but it takes time and patience to grow long healthy hair. Thats what upset me so much.  I was growing my hair for years and making sure I got regular trims, deep conditioned, etc - Then some idiot f**ked it up!  Anyway, i am sorry for you and just keep hanging around this forum.  There are lots of great people here who will help you get through this & give you info on how to care for your hair as well.

Noey

[/QUOTE]

 

Noey~

Thanks so much!

So sorry to hear that you had a nightmare a while ago too.  You know~ I almost would like to take you up on the name of your colourist, but I am in Barrie and it would be a three hour drive.  (When I went to Toronto I already drove almost an hour to get someone to ruin my hair ) 

Its great that you have found someone who actually cares about how healthy your hair is and seems to know what they are doing.

I'm SO glad I found this message board too!  Thanks all!

 

T.