While coloring your hair is much fun, it does have certain risks. It’s not like a cut, which can be concealed with styling or even corrected with a tiny bit of grow out — the color is permanent, and once you’ve altered your hair’s natural hue, it’s changed, and no amount of updo conceals that. But fear not – there are a few things you can do if you’re unhappy with your hair color before rushing to the salon (or, like, cry).
Trusting someone with your hair color needs a leap of faith and, occasionally, a bit of hope — which is destroyed by a bad color job. Perhaps you ordered an ashy blonde but received a brassy yellow that looks wrong. Alternatively, you may have imagined a medium-brown shade with a hint of caramel but left the salon with anything but warm chocolate. Requested natural-looking highlights but received skunk-inspired streaks in return? When this occurs, you can use a color correction to rescue your hair and restore the image. Here’s what you should (and should not) do if you’re regretting your hair color choice.
Don’t rush to fix it.
If your color job resulted in an appearance more akin to Carrot Top than Christina Hendricks, your initial reaction might be to request a rapid correction. However, for the sake of your hair, visit a professional first. Allow yourself time to adjust to a significant change before deciding you don’t like it.
Additionally, if you have highlights that feel too bright, you should wait several days to a week, as highlights can be brighter right out of the salon. Highlights can appear more colorful and more vibrant immediately after leaving the salon, depending on the toner used by your stylist.
The appropriate color correction toner can cool down platinum blonde hair or provide a buttery golden sheen to an all-over warm brunette. Due to the wide variety of tones, formulae, and processes, only a specialist can determine when and how [your hair] can be processed again.
Wash it with the right shampoo
Washing your hair with colored shampoo might assist in balancing the tone of your hair, mainly if it is brassy. After several shampoos and several days, the highlights will settle in and appear slightly more blended. Additionally, it would help if you used an excellent conditioning shampoo to assist in maintaining the health of your hair.
Make sure you choose a product that claims to improve your natural color (blonde, brunette, reds, etc.) rather than one that attempts to add creative hues such as pinks, purples, and Aquas. Excessive washing is not a viable solution for too-light highlights. If your highlights are too bright, washing will not assist. Excessive washing, on the other hand, will only serve to brighten them.
No to DIY
Regardless of how your dye job went wrong, most colorists believe that you should not attempt to repair it at home. Color-removal products are designed for professional use and are therefore scarce.
The truth is that the process of color correction is complex. There are numerous variables in the salon setting, including lightener formulae, varying strength developments, and procedures. These distinctions are trade secrets, and one size does not fit all.
Balance it out
A brassy dye job is probably the most straightforward remedy, requiring a salon color correction. Brassy highlights can occur due to the highlights being processed too darkly, especially on darker bases.
These highlights should be brightened slightly. If you’re pressed for time before your next salon session, try eradicating brassy tones using a purple or blue-tinted shampoo that contains correcting and neutralizing pigments.
Go back to the salon.
Because color correction is a complicated process, it is better to leave it to the pros. Therefore, if you have a horrible hair-color day, your best course of action is to return to the salon and let your stylist rectify the situation. Occasionally, attempting to repair your color on your own may cause other difficulties and may cost you more money because you’ll need to seek professional assistance.
Colorists can alter the tone of your highlights by applying a gloss to remove brassiness or by depositing semi-permanent color on top of them. If your hair is too dark, they can add highlights or use a more robust color to lighten it.
Collaborate with your stylist
Don’t abandon your colorist at the first indication of trouble, especially if you’ve previously seen them with excellent results. Trust them to correct it if they’ve been your colorist for several salon visits and you’ve developed a rapport with them. You are aware of their abilities, and they know your hair and individual tastes; thus, allowing them to make the change.
Allow them to try again if it is their first time working on your hair and you have a positive rapport and experience overall. Trust is a two-way street, which is why selecting a hair specialist that connects with you and communicates effectively is critical. However, if you are intimidated or uneasy raising your concerns, take the high road.
Let your stylist do their magic.
If you’re already resenting your decision to go full Morticia Addams black, your colorist may be able to soften or erase the color with a color softener or remover. Often, if a color looks overly dark at first, it will naturally fade after a few shampoos, even with only your ordinary shampoo.
While there is no quick answer for going lighter, you can expedite the process by sleeping in a deep conditioner to attempt natural fading before scheduling a color repair. Utilize a paraben- and sulfate-free solution to avoid drying out your hair.
What is the good news? Everything will be OK. You may correct the beauty of hair color as long as the hair is still on the head. The only remaining uncertainty is how long it will take. At the same time, color can typically be changed immediately by altering the tone or adding more highlights, a genuinely messed-up color job. Therefore, if you’re seeking a salon that can style your hair in vibrant hues, go no further (and color correct a botched color job) book an appointment at Tabu Salon.
