Have you ever looked in the mirror after you’ve dyed your hair and instantly regretted buying that do-it-yourself kit? Countless people have experienced a hair horror story in their lifetime — perhaps their highlights turned out chunky instead of sleek and subtle, or their hair dye turned their roots into an unwanted bright red.
However, it is possible to reverse hair blunders with the help of a professional stylist.
Here are five common signs that you may need to visit a salon for a hair color correction:
1. Hair color becomes brassy
Brassiness often shows up when dark-haired people drastically change their tresses to a much lighter tone, which may accentuate tints of unpleasant shades of red, orange or yellow. If you are looking to dye your hair from black to blonde, you will have to bleach your hair, but be wary that bleach may not reach every pigment in your hair, which can cause brassy-looking locks. However, a stylist working at a color correction hair salon can help you to get rid of any warm tones or roots destroying your overall hair aesthetic.
2. Messed up an at-home treatment
Have you ever missed a spot when you were dying your hair? Or did your at-home treatment result in a peculiar orange when the box stated that your hair would transform into a svelte, gorgeous chestnut brown? It can be hard to know how certain dyes will affect your hair. The box often shows how the dye will impact different shades of hair, but it doesn’t know that your hair may be porous and could absorb more hair dye in comparison to others.
3. Easily faded
The longevity of your newly applied hair dye depends on the pigments in your natural hair color. Scientifically speaking, we all contain melanin, which includes black, brown, red and yellow pigments. Melanin is separated into two different sections – eumelanin and pheomelanin. If your hair is black or a darker shade of brown, you reportedly have more eumelanin, and if your tresses are light brown or blonde, you have more pheomelanin in your hair. Redheads have a perfectly balanced combination of eumelanin and pheomelanin.
If you have dark hair that you dye a lighter color, you will have to unnaturally lift the hair cuticle via bleach or other colors that help to lighten your tresses. The more you raise the cuticle, the less your hair absorbs the desired color, which is why people with the pigment eumelanin are more likely to experience hair dye that quickly fades. When your hair fades, you can visit a stylist at a hair correction salon to be enlightened on why this is happening. More importantly, they will help you fix it!
4. Dyed for a special occasion and now you want to go back
Did you use semi-permanent hair dye for a play or a special event, and now the color is lingering in your hair when you’re ready to revert to your natural color? Some semi-permanent dyes can last longer than you want or than the box predicted, but it depends on your hair color, the color you used and the porousness of your locks.
5. Highlights look chunky
Finding the perfect hair stylist who can seamlessly blend highlights that only add bounce and flare to your natural hair can be hard to find. Some beginner stylists may paint highlights that appear more evident than subtle, or you may try to draw your own blonde streaks, which often results in disastrous, chunky-looking stripes. However, a well-trained stylist will know how to showcase your natural tones through either lowlights or highlights and will know which additional shades will soften and beautify your features.
Experimenting with hair dye could either be a tremendous, rewarding experience or a complete horror story. Perhaps you desired to go from a soft light brown to a sweet honey blonde. But instead, to your utter dismay, you ended up with orange roots and bleach-blonde hair. You may encounter several hair-related terrors in your life, whether your highlights look like uneven blotches or your unwanted vibrant red tone refuses to wash out, despite the box claiming that it will come out in 8 to 15 washes. However, a stylist working at a color correction hair salon can help you get rid of the brassy colors, chunky highlights or undesired hair dye lurking in your hair, or even revamp the hair color you loved that is fading too fast.
If your hair is too damaged, the stylist will advise you to undergo a hair color correction process, which may have you returning to the salon for various treatments until your hair has the strength to handle any corrections needed. For the best results, it is vital to visit a salon that has experienced stylists who have fixed damaged hair for people just like you.