My First Salon Dying Experience

So a few months ago I was treated to a professional hair dye at an *actual* salon by my mother as she thought my D.I.Y dying was ruining my hair. In my opinion, it wasn't. I mean sure, I bleached my hair a couple times in the last year but other than that, the dying wasn't affecting it too much as it wasn't permanent hair colour and I mixed a shit tonne of repairing conditioner with it. BUT this didn't convince my mother and she took me to the salon anyway. The salon I went to was a local one that my mother used to get her hair cut. Not dyed. She's never dyed her hair before and chose this one only because she knew they were good, in her experience, at cutting hair.

Now, I'm not throwing shade at this particular business. Maybe it was just my trip that didn't turn out as expected and therefore I shall not tell you the name of the salon (you probably wouldn't know them anyway, they're only local) but only the events that occurred :3

So I went to the salon with hair looking like this *inserts photo*.

My hair had faded from a blue/green/teal dye job to a muddy, pastel green mess. I admit, blue is a tough colour to get out but I managed to get it from this colour *inserts photo again* back to nearly blonde.

You see I went to the salon with intentions to get my muddy green hair to a dark cherry red. In my first consultation my hair dresser assured me that I could go that colour but they'd have to do a colour remover first. I was like, "That's fine with me," as colour remover shouldn't damage your hair and prior to, I had been told that my hair was apparently pretty damaged, even though it didn't really feel it, but what can ya do? Hair dresser knows best. Or so they say. She sent me away with a clarifying shampoo that cost us £9.00 for a tiny bottle and was told to get as much of the blue out as possible with it.

NOW LET ME TELL YOU: My £1.00 anti-dandruff shampoo did the same, if not a better job at fading out the colour and I got a whole lot more in the bottle. Using the clarifying shampoo, I felt like there was an endless amount of bubbles and it left my hair feeling so incredibly dry even if I used a good quality conditioner after (I mean Aussie conditioner really helped but I could still feel some dryness).

Alas, I used the clarifying shampoo for the time I was meant to and then we went back. The colour had faded a minimal amount as I had faded it out so much prior to my first appointment. They were happy with the result and we could start the process! YAY! Or so I thought until they did it.

As I said earlier, my intention was to get it to a semi-permanent dark cherry red colour with no damaging processes (i.e no bleach). What I got was a colour remover (like I expected) and then a big bleaching session. I was told I wouldn't need it and it looked like I didn't but they went ahead with it anyway. Such fun! Ya see, the bleach didn't damage my hair all that much but it was the way it had an effect on the semi-permanent dye they applied afterwards that got me. I wanted a dark cherry red but didn't get it. The colour looked pretty accurate in the bowl but on my hair it was completely different *inserts google image*.

My hair came like this but a lot brighter and uglyier when it was meant to be this *inserts google image 2.0* I mean, my hair looked like I was wearing a child's wig you buy from poundland.

Let's say I wasn't very happy but I put on a brave face, said thank you and walked out the shop after paying £70.00. On the way home, I broke down crying and remember telling my boyfriend "I look like a fucking power-ranger" (from that day on, that line become an inside joke and a moment he won't let me forget) because I literally did. You could see me coming from a mile away and I shuddered at the thought that I'd have to walk around school like it. So at my rescue, my mum re-booked me an appointment for the same day and it was free of charge (I couldn't afford to pay another 70 quid anyway!).

They tried putting a darker semi permanent red over the mess but it was still too bright. Then they came out with a mixture of two reds that looked lovely as one, like the colour I wanted. They slapped it on and I was happy. They corrected their mistake and my hair looked like this *inserts photo* (filter shows true colour (taken from ma instagram))

The colour wasn't exact but I was still pretty darn happy with it :3 BUT LITTLE DID I KNOW that the colour they used was permanent. WHEN I SPECIFICALLY ASKED FOR semi-permanent as I change my hair so often and being permanent it would be a bitch to get out (and it was! It faded to so many colours before I could go the purple I am now (see last few posts)). I only found out about this when my dad's cousin (who is also a hair dresser) told me that the colours they used were actually permanent ones.

So basically my trip to the salon was a mess - I mean yeah, my hair looked fab after but it wasn't what I asked for - so long story short, I went back to dying my hair at home. I mean its so much cheaper and I have full creative control! I went purple afterwards (current hair) for approximately £10.00. That's seven times cheaper. A bargin! Haha!

Thank you for reading my salon experience. This post is mainly a filler for what's to come. I thought twice about uploading it but I realised I hadn't posted in a while (holidays and stuff) so I thought why not :3

SIDENOTE: This is all my own experience. Just because my experience was bad, doesn't mean yours will be too. It's always best to go to a hair salon if you're dying your hair first time so it decreases the risk of damage.

Happy hair dying! Littlehelp3r