Beachy blonde highlights - why is it so hard for hairdressers to get right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The only way to get it right the first time is to bleach your hair. Hair stylists are hesitant to bleach hair because it destroys the hair. I had that done to my hair just in April.
I knew what would be done; I messed up my hair with a dark color, almost black, and then I dyed it with light brown, which turned orange. I knew my hair would go that way, so I knew what had to be done to correct the horrible color I did.
My hair is not so dry that I have to style it all the time to look ok. It will get better as it grows, especially with hair masks.
That is the price you pay for the "perfect hair color."
Makes no difference what your hair's natural "desire" is. Bleach is the only way to get that perfect color on darker hair.

You are an excellent candidate for not coloring hair. I can't believe you'd rather destroy your hair then keep it healthy just for color.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You know, this is weird co sidering how popular the request is every year. You'd think they'd nail down the process.

It isn't a simple thing. Different people have different hair -- the lift varies a great deal depending on multiple factors. There isn't one "process."

But they are experts and that is all they do everyday. It would be one thing if the results were close but they aren't. It's very frustrating. I am considering just getting an old school highlighting kit from CVS to achieve my desired color.

I mean you are clearly going to the wrong person then.

NP. How do you find the right person? It's an expensive trial-by-error and in the meantime my hair looks awful. [I'm in Fairfax fwiw].

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You know, this is weird co sidering how popular the request is every year. You'd think they'd nail down the process.

It isn't a simple thing. Different people have different hair -- the lift varies a great deal depending on multiple factors. There isn't one "process."

But they are experts and that is all they do everyday. It would be one thing if the results were close but they aren't. It's very frustrating. I am considering just getting an old school highlighting kit from CVS to achieve my desired color.

I mean you are clearly going to the wrong person then.

NP. How do you find the right person? It's an expensive trial-by-error and in the meantime my hair looks awful. [I'm in Fairfax fwiw].

Exactly - I don't like spending the money for it to be wrong. Plus they usually can't correct on the spot, so you have to come back. It's a terrible inconvenience to the customer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The only way to get it right the first time is to bleach your hair. Hair stylists are hesitant to bleach hair because it destroys the hair. I had that done to my hair just in April.
I knew what would be done; I messed up my hair with a dark color, almost black, and then I dyed it with light brown, which turned orange. I knew my hair would go that way, so I knew what had to be done to correct the horrible color I did.
My hair is not so dry that I have to style it all the time to look ok. It will get better as it grows, especially with hair masks.
That is the price you pay for the "perfect hair color."
Makes no difference what your hair's natural "desire" is. Bleach is the only way to get that perfect color on darker hair.

You are an excellent candidate for not coloring hair. I can't believe you'd rather destroy your hair then keep it healthy just for color.

I know that, too. I made a mistake and paid for it to make home coloring kits. Now, it is growing out. The highlights and all my stylist did were allowing me to grow out my hair without doing any root touch-ups. I am mad at myself for this hair debacle. I was bored one weekend, got a black dye, and then I kept going! WTF was wrong with my brain? I had my natural light brown ends; the middle was pitch black, and the top was orange. So much fun for a middle-aged woman.

Lush, past the shoulders, shiny hair... I guess I paid for being a hyperactive moron. But stylists did it so right; I showed her the picture, and she did it. There was no orange at all in my hair and no black dye to be seen. And my mane was ruined.
I posted this so OP can understand what is involved in getting the hair she wants.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The only way to get it right the first time is to bleach your hair. Hair stylists are hesitant to bleach hair because it destroys the hair. I had that done to my hair just in April.
I knew what would be done; I messed up my hair with a dark color, almost black, and then I dyed it with light brown, which turned orange. I knew my hair would go that way, so I knew what had to be done to correct the horrible color I did.
My hair is not so dry that I have to style it all the time to look ok. It will get better as it grows, especially with hair masks.
That is the price you pay for the "perfect hair color."
Makes no difference what your hair's natural "desire" is. Bleach is the only way to get that perfect color on darker hair.

You are an excellent candidate for not coloring hair. I can't believe you'd rather destroy your hair then keep it healthy just for color.

I know that, too. I made a mistake and paid for it to make home coloring kits. Now, it is growing out. The highlights and all my stylist did were allowing me to grow out my hair without doing any root touch-ups. I am mad at myself for this hair debacle. I was bored one weekend, got a black dye, and then I kept going! WTF was wrong with my brain? I had my natural light brown ends; the middle was pitch black, and the top was orange. So much fun for a middle-aged woman.

Lush, past the shoulders, shiny hair... I guess I paid for being a hyperactive moron. But stylists did it so right; I showed her the picture, and she did it. There was no orange at all in my hair and no black dye to be seen. And my mane was ruined.
I posted this so OP can understand what is involved in getting the hair she wants.

Ok, this illiterate mess is not me; it is the stupid autopilot Edge has now. How do I turn that off?

[Anonymous]

OP, how old are you? I have beautiful natural highlights. As I've aged, my hair has gotten darker and duller. Highlights just don't look as good. You may need to move to a two-step process to get what you are looking for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bring in a picture of what you want.

Np, as a person who has colored her hair upmteen times over the years and via different colorist, not once has a picture helped with achieving the look I wanted.

[Anonymous]

Op, I am here to lament with you. I just spent $400 last weekend on a poorly done bleach job that promptly turned a brassy orange. I know you should wait 48-72 hours to wash, but at the 40-hour mark, I promptly used a toner shampoo and put a semi-permanent rinse in to "calm it." There was no way I was going to work like that. Since semi permanents are harmless, I plan to color my hair as needed to cover the horrible bleach.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I get highlights in the summer on my dark blonde hair and they always come back looking weird color due to toner. They either come out very ashy, too warm or sometimes even kinda mushroomy. It takes several shampoos for the toner to was out and the highlights to look somewhat close to what I want.

Why is it so hard to get beachy/sunkissed blonde highlights around here? What should I be asking for at the salon?

I think the phrase that is popular now is "lived-in blonde" Look on IG for stylists that use that phrase, and then of course, look at their pics to see if you can find one or several that match the aesthetic you're looking for. Here are a couple I found after a quick google search.

https://www.instagram.com/d.c.blondie/?hl=en
https://www.instagram.com/natashacoloristdc/
https://www.instagram.com/hairbydevs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I get highlights in the summer on my dark blonde hair and they always come back looking weird color due to toner. They either come out very ashy, too warm or sometimes even kinda mushroomy. It takes several shampoos for the toner to was out and the highlights to look somewhat close to what I want.

Why is it so hard to get beachy/sunkissed blonde highlights around here? What should I be asking for at the salon?

I think the phrase that is popular now is "lived-in blonde" Look on IG for stylists that use that phrase, and then of course, look at their pics to see if you can find one or several that match the aesthetic you're looking for. Here are a couple I found after a quick google search.

https://www.instagram.com/d.c.blondie/?hl=en
https://www.instagram.com/natashacoloristdc/
https://www.instagram.com/hairbydevs

Thanks, PP - out of the 3 you linked the last 1 is probably closest to what I want.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bring in a picture of what you want.

Np, as a person who has colored her hair upmteen times over the years and via different colorist, not once has a picture helped with achieving the look I wanted.

You don't know that because you can't magically see what you might have received sans picture.

[Anonymous]

I think you need balayage, not highlights

But also, I also have naturally dark blonde hair with natural highlights that used to be very blonde when I was younger and now are not, except that if I go out in the sun with lemon juice on my hair I get them back, so that is also my suggestion for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think you need balayage, not highlights

But also, I also have naturally dark blonde hair with natural highlights that used to be very blonde when I was younger and now are not, except that if I go out in the sun with lemon juice on my hair I get them back, so that is also my suggestion for you.

I am going to try the lemon juice this week.