OP here-- I bought some John Frieda color glaze in brunette to tone it down for now. I did see the boxes of "chestnut" color in the store and liked those-- I might give that a try next! Thanks!

Oh, and you may want to go "Chestnut" which reads like a subtle auburn on me, if you don't want a straight red.

Best of luck.

Anonymous wrote:OP here: I do like this stylist a lot but after this won't go back. I was thinking about trying a semi permanent color on top of it but have never done my own color...

The semi-permanent auburns are really good. Find one you like and stock up, they rinse out after 28 washes. If you find one that you really love, you can always carry it with you to a stylist for a permanent fix.

Red does fade very quickly. Nature of the dye.

It's better if you find a boxed red you like and can retouch it often.

Anonymous wrote:I very rarely see anyone with "auburn" hair that looks good. It's always got that weird unnatural pinkish hue.

Or purple/magenta.

I very rarely see anyone with "auburn" hair that looks good. It's always got that weird unnatural pinkish hue.

Anonymous wrote:Red is REALLY hard to keep looking nice and vibrant. It fades quickly, and usually it fades to either a pink color or horrid orange. I don't think this is your stylist's fault, I think it just goes with the territory of red hair dye.

You may want to consider doing auburn highlights starting under the first layer of your hair (if you have layered hair). That way, the top layer of your hair can provide "cover" so maintenance isn't such an issue, and the color will still pop out on the ends.

It was pink immediately-- like she didn't apply the color correctly. Lesson learned, I guess.

She did you a favor. If the lowlights look that bad, consider how terrible the all over color would look!

Red is REALLY hard to keep looking nice and vibrant. It fades quickly, and usually it fades to either a pink color or horrid orange. I don't think this is your stylist's fault, I think it just goes with the territory of red hair dye.

You may want to consider doing auburn highlights starting under the first layer of your hair (if you have layered hair). That way, the top layer of your hair can provide "cover" so maintenance isn't such an issue, and the color will still pop out on the ends.

OP here: I do like this stylist a lot but after this won't go back. I was thinking about trying a semi permanent color on top of it but have never done my own color...

I've heard red is the toughest color to both achieve and maintain.

How about just trying a semi-permanent over the counter color, like Natural Instincts? It should tone down the red if you pick something in the natural brown range.

Sorry. I'm laid back about pretty much everything, but don't screw up my hair! Are you attached to your stylist? Is jumping ship and starting fresh an option?

I told my colorist I wanted to do something different. For years I've been getting blonde highlights, mixed with darker lowlights, over my base color of mousy brown. But when I was younger, my hair was more of a lovely, dark auburn. So I asked the colorist if she thought a base color of dark auburn would work for me. It is such a beautiful color, and my skin and eye tone would go perfectly with it. She told me I'd be coming back every 3 weeks for root touchups because it wouldn't grow out in a subtle way. So instead she told me she'd give me some dark auburn highlights. (Or lowlights? Whatever. Streaks of dark auburn throughout my mousy brown hair.)

So the dark auburn highlights turned out looking more of a dark pink color. I went back, had a toner applied, it looked better for a few days, but now I'm back to the unnatural dark pink color with these highlights. It looks ridiculous, sort of like that elderly-lady artificially dyed red hair, and this is a colorist I previously trusted.

I find it so frustrating when a colorist gives you a look that _obviously_ does not look flattering, and tries to talk you into liking it. And also frustrating when I told her what I wanted (dark auburn base color with some highlights) and she wouldn't do it. I mean, maybe it wouldn't have looked good, but what she ended up doing looks terrible.

Is there anything that can be done at this point to make my hair look better? Should I just wait for it to fade; speed the process by washing in hot water, shampooing daily, etc.? I don't want to go back to this salon for the 3rd time in a week, and really don't trust her with my hair now anyway.

This is really just kind of a vent but if anyone has constructive advice, I'd love to hear it!