It’s color correction day! Ahhhhhh!!! 
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Exciting!!! I hope it goes well 
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I went to see a dermatologist for a skin check last week, and she prescribed me tretinoin for my recent chin acne and acne/dry skin along my hairline. I’m terrible about even washing my face every night, but I’m really going to try to maintain this at least 3x week, if not more.
I’m hoping it helps that it’s stored at RT and not in a refrigerator. All of the over the counter retinols I’ve used until now need to be refrigerated after opening, so I have to traipse downstairs after I feel ready for bed to put them on, and most of the time I just don’t wanna 
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Alright… this is gonna be long. If anyone has advice I would love it. My coworker used to be a hairdresser so I will discuss it with her tomorrow so that I have the correct words to use with mine. I’m much too passive to say what I feel, so I didn’t while I was at the salon with other people around. She made it clear that I am to let her know if I’m not happy with it, and I have an appointment in 6 weeks for a haircut and maybe another toner, but I don’t think that’s the correct thing to do.
First off, to be clear, I think my hair looks really great and any random stranger would love it. And I would love it on any random stranger. BUT! It is NOT AT ALL what I expected to come out with, which is basically the final picture in this post that I found on the internet of a woman who I feel started like me and has similar roots to mine. I honestly never considered that I would come out lighter than I went in.
I gave my hairdresser multiple photos and also a couple of videos of a process being done that resulted in the look I wanted and thought I would get, there was no indecisiveness or confusion. Now, I am absolutely in a small town and while she has certainly never done exactly what I asked for, she said she could, and the videos I shared spelled out the process clearly. Of course, the videos I shared were from a lady in London who only does gray color correction. My hairdresser did highlights and lowlights, and then toned it all. The line is gone and the red is gone, which is good. When I asked her about it, she told me that as I wash my hair, the toner will fade from my white stripes and they will brighten up so that is not really a concern. Although I do already miss them!
My HUGE concern is what the hell happens now with my new growth that is going to come in charcoal gray again? I’m going to have another damn line that will have even more of a color difference than before because my whole head is lighter brown than it was. I absolutely feel that I just lost 6 months of time and growth and I’m completely starting over and I’m pretty darn unhappy about it. As lovely as this hair may be, I wanted less maintenance and cost for the future (and I liked the new growth color!) and that’s not what I got.
Question: Can new darker (grayer?blacker?) lowlights be put in that more closely match my charcoal? But stay off my white pieces? I assume lowlights come in many colors? But now I guess I have to just wait all over AGAIN to grow out enough length to see what pieces are what color? 
Obviously it’s just hair, and obviously it will grow back, and obviously the world is on fire and this is unimportant in the scheme of things. I’m just super disappointed to have lost 6 months. I should’ve just bought more damn root spray and dealt with the grow out.
Anyway… have some pictures. Obviously the first one is the before. I can have my coworker take better pictures tomorrow.
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Speaking as a life long blonde who has grown roots out for a long time:
- The toner will fade out, it just takes time.
- Did you not want the bottom to still have colour or did you want that to be charcoal as well?
- Red is very hard to lift out of hair (I have gone dark red to platinum blonde and it took 2 days of work to get it done)
- Purple shampoo will make your whites brighter, but I don’t know what it will do to the rest of your hair.
- Did she say how long the transition process would be? I don’t think they can do it in one sitting, I think it would take a lot of time to lift the red out, colour to charcoal and then highlight/lowlight - that is a lot of processing.
- This will be a lot of foil! One foil dark to colour, one foil light to lift and then tone out.
I am not a hair colourist or stylist, this is just based my experience in the past.
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Hmmm I see what you mean—not a stylist either so not sure what you should say to whoever you see next, but it does kinda feel like she added?? Color to the hair instead of removing it?? Idk if that’s the right interpretation here
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I fully expected to come out charcoal, not light brown. I suppose I thought she could color the old faded color charcoal, but it seems like she did brown lowlights? She never said that would not be the case, and she knows I’ve never had any professional color done before, so I don’t know all the words. I assumed that the photos and videos I sent were absolutely clear enough, and I asked months ago if she could get me similar to the picture I posted. She said she could so I trusted her. I’m honestly just not sure how wires got crossed. She mentioned doing more toners as needed over time, but has not mentioned anything about more lowlights. Do toners come in different colors? I absolutely do not want my whites toned again.
I have no intention of doing toners forever, and this is not the color I want my hair to be. I wanted this to be a helpful step in a 2 year grow out. Which I apparently now get to begin again.
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Toners come in different shades.
I would tell her you are not happy, that you wanted to be like the picture or closer to it, not what you got.
I wonder if this would be temporary, and next time she could do what you want. However, based on your picture I don’t think she will? But temporary because of lifting the red out.
ETA now that I saw your foil picture- I don’t think she properly stripped the red out before starting the colour process.
You could also go see another stylist for a consultation and see what they say or recommend.
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She did nothing to strip the color, just did highlights and lowlights. Am I correct in thinking that I basically have to start growing it out again for months?
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No. Because you can add dark colour in which is easier than taking colour out.
She should have bleached/removed bottom red, then started with charcoal, then toned it out to blend.
Again, not a colourist but what I think the process should have been.
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I expected her to strip the color, but not being a hairdresser didn’t want to tell her how to do her job.
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Regardless, she did not do what you asked.
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I will talk to her about it, I’m just not sure that I can get where I want now (without waiting a long time) that my charcoal has been covered up. She knew I wanted to go natural, not keep coming in for toning forever. I will NOT be going in for toning forever.
My former hairdresser now coworker said mine was very capable. She was wrong. Mine has been working for like 35 years, I trusted her. Again, not important in the scheme of things but it’s important to me.
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She never said anything about next time being charcoal or anything. Maybe it’s on me for not clarifying, but I truly didn’t think I needed to. And of course I had no idea what she had done until she was finished.
Is it possible to put darker lowlights over this if charcoal is not possible? I think darker brown might at least grow out better than lighter?
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This is a big deal for you, the person who lives with your hair! I 100% understand not being able to speak up in the moment; I am the same. But I hope you can find a way to let her know that she just didn’t seem to understand what you wanted.
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Oh no! I thought it was weird that she had you grow it out for months vs start blending right away, but I am not an expert.
I think the fix would be a root smudge in something close to your charcoal and then a new toner that is cooler.
If that looks better, find a demi permanent that matches your roots and use that every few months as your roots come in to prevent a new new line.
And I hope she can put in new lowlights to blend. She really screwed this up.
After an also not ideal hair colour this spring I’ve pretty much learned the above. Also youtube.
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Oh, and I emailed the front desk at the salon and included pictures. I was absolutely not brave enough to say it out loud until there was a plan
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i swear that sometimes people short circuit when you ask something outside of the norm and it’s like they keep defaulting to doing the usual process, like you have to be extra insistent which isn’t super fun. It’s annoying to keep pushing but definitely ask her to try to get closer to what you want. Like even though you were incredibly clear- it’s the short circuit thing especially if she’s done that blending process for 30 years.
From the photos I don’t think you are back to square one- it is blended well ( not what you wanted I know) but in a way I think you aren’t needing to start over growing out or anything. I think she can get closer to what you want. It may feel like you are beating her over the head with what you want but I wouldn’t feel bad about that.
Sorry that the experience was so disappointing and the whole process is a giant PITA!
Edited to add: I think asking your hairdresser friend too for some extra keywords/hairdresser lingo for what could get you closer to what you want is great … to aid in the effort of beating over the head with what you want 
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I feel like I look exactly like every other woman with light brown hair and highlights. If that is what they want, fabulous! It is decidedly not what I want and have purposely never had, nor what I asked for. Sigh.
Thanks, all. My avoidant ass really does not want to deal with this. And, like she was so proud of it and happy that the red line was gone. She is going to be shocked to know I am not happy. I truly feel that I gave her ALL of the information too, and she basically just did what she wanted. I do know that she will try to fix it, but now I am afraid of that too. Might be a pixie cut 6 months in my future after all!
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Most of the gray bending stuff I have seen online has people wait until there is a good amount of growth to see what they have to blend into, so that did not surprise me. That I got this brown is the surprising part. I did not specifically ask what colors she was using, because it should not be my job to do that. I did so much youtube and instagram, and shared that with her. Ugh.
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