Any hairdressers out there dark brown to blonde/ Grey?

Ekes

I went to a hairdresser today to ask about dying my dark brown (with red tones) hair to a white blonde/ Grey colour! She said my hair was in good condition but It would take a year! Now I was expecting a few visits to the Salon but a year seems a bit extreme anyone with any experience of doing this?

Stheno

Ekes wrote: »

I went to a hairdresser today to ask about dying my dark brown (with red tones) hair to a white blonde/ Grey colour! She said my hair was in good condition but It would take a year! Now I was expecting a few visits to the Salon but a year seems a bit extreme anyone with any experience of doing this?

I'm in the process of doing this over the past ten weeks.

I've very short hair and it was bleached three times then the grey applied and topped up three times so far.

It's still not silver enough though, I reckon in total it will take four months

SarahMollie

Humm, yeah you could always get a second opinion. I've naturally very dark hair (as dark as its possible to be without being black) and a few years ago i decided to go blonde. In hindsight, it wasnt a very good idea.

It actually looked really cool eventually but it was a process to get it there and an even bigger process to maintain it. It definitely got shorter and thinner through all the processing I put it through.

Maybe your hairdresser is just trying to minimize the damage to your hair? I know a hairdresser friend of mine is appalled at what I did, and even more appalled that i just kept going to different hairdressers who would each take it further and further.

I've now been growing it out for almost 2 years and am just gettng back to my long dark hair now

Speedwell

I can't even get my local hairdresser to remove the dye from my hair to get it to its natural silver grey (I'm nearly 50, so at least I have that part of the process sorted, heh). She says it would damage it too much and the best I can do is just let it grow out. Because I have been using progressively lighter brown dyes for the past year or so anyway, the five or so inches of grey blends artistically into the deepening brown and I've had people tell me it looks attractive and ask me where I had it done, lol. I still think it kind of sucks and I wish it could all be grey for once and for all.

njs030

SarahMollie wrote: »

Humm, yeah you could always get a second opinion. I've naturally very dark hair (as dark as its possible to be without being black) and a few years ago i decided to go blonde. In hindsight, it wasnt a very good idea.

It actually looked really cool eventually but it was a process to get it there and an even bigger process to maintain it. It definitely got shorter and thinner through all the processing I put it through.

Maybe your hairdresser is just trying to minimize the damage to your hair? I know a hairdresser friend of mine is appalled at what I did, and even more appalled that i just kept going to different hairdressers who would each take it further and further.

I've now been growing it out for almost 2 years and am just gettng back to my long dark hair now

OT but I imagined you having blonde short hair Sarah!!

IP I think Sarah could be right, you will definitely damage your hair doing it too fast. Have you thought about maintenance when you do get there? I'm naturally dark blonde dyed a cool, light blonde and I find maintenance hard. I need toner washes every 3-4 weeks to avoid brassiness and that's on top of using a purple shampoo twice a week.....that's aside from worrying about roots showing.

SarahMollie

notjustsweet wrote: »

OT but I imagined you having blonde short hair Sarah!!

IP I think Sarah could be right, you will definitely damage your hair doing it too fast. Have you thought about maintenance when you do get there? I'm naturally dark blonde dyed a cool, light blonde and I find maintenance hard. I need toner washes every 3-4 weeks to avoid brassiness and that's on top of using a purple shampoo twice a week.....that's aside from worrying about roots showing.

Lol Shortest its even been is a bob and the blonde was experimental to say the least I'd say in another 3/4 months I'll have all my damaged hair grown out and I cannot wait!

You've just reminded my about the maintenance... I'd actually forgotten how bad it was. After I got mine done the first time, the 1st time I washed it myself I literally couldnt get a brush through it. I had to invest in all new fancy and expensive shampoos, new special brushes, and I got a bit obsessive about my roots so I was getting a Tbar done in between proper colouring sessions, so I was basically spending 4-5 hours in the hairdressers every 4th Saturday. I was also struggling to keep the colour through the length of my hair, it was always duller at the bottom. So I managed to find a random Latvian hairdresser in one of those Polish shops who would do my lenghts and ends and not just my roots sometimes, so my hair was so overly processed by the end.

I ended up going to a lovely hairdresser, telling her to chop in to my shoulders and start blending the blonde out. I'm very lucky that the whole ombre trend has been in for the past few years as its allowed me to grow it out in a very low maintenance way.

Another thing with a drastic colour change is that you may have to rethink some of your clothes and make up. With my natural hair, bright greens and yellows really suit me, but looked really bad against my blonde hair. I also ended up changing my foundation, eyebrow colour and all my eye shaddows.

njs030

Oooh yes the make up expense. When I (briefly) had brown hair everything had to change.
Apart from the expense the "wrong" colour hair can make your skin tone look off, I'm naturally as pale as pale can be but as a brunette my skin was so pale against the brown I looked unwell, in contrast my sister has dark brown hair and went blonde briefly, unfortunately her skin tone looked dirty next to the blonde.

White/grey is a very strong colour, maybe your hairdresser wants to do it slowly to make sure you stop at a shade that suits your colouring.

qo2cj1dsne8y4k

Last year I had pretty much same enquiry. My hairdresser told me "no problem". And left me with very damaged green hair. Listen to your hairdresser

makingmecrazy

Trust me on this, getting the Grey is a long road. Its very costly, can go wrong and take a very long time.
Unless you are have a LOT of cash and commitment or else have a hairdresser friend, I'd give it a miss.

Good article here(chances are it may totally wreck your hair so be aware of that also unless you can afford to regularly attend the top salons)

https://www.buzzfeed.com/augustafalletta/here-is-every-little-detail-on-how-to-dye-your-hair-gray?utm_term=.bv1ZzLXD5#.bpawRMAJG

Speedwell

You know, I totally don't like any of the gray dye jobs that I see on the Internet. Whatever they're using, it really does not resemble the live, bright, cool silver I see in my own naturally gray hair. It looks, in fact, pretty dead. Paging Pantone

MinnieMinx

Ekes wrote: »

I went to a hairdresser today to ask about dying my dark brown (with red tones) hair to a white blonde/ Grey colour! She said my hair was in good condition but It would take a year! Now I was expecting a few visits to the Salon but a year seems a bit extreme anyone with any experience of doing this?

Sounds like either an inexperienced or Old Skool hairdresser. Depending on whether you need to remove existing artificial colour, it shouldn't take much to lift it to palest yellow in order to tone it. (If you try to take all the colour out to go white, it will break off!) I'm guessing 2-3 sessions max with a good quality bleach and Olaplex added to the mix to limit damage.
If they're suggesting gradually lightening with highlights, it will be a much longer process.

However, as others have said, it might not suit your skin tone and the root maintenance will be every 3-4 weeks and become very costly. That's one reason why the ombré trend is so popular.

MinnieMinx

Speedwell wrote: »

I can't even get my local hairdresser to remove the dye from my hair to get it to its natural silver grey (I'm nearly 50, so at least I have that part of the process sorted, heh). She says it would damage it too much and the best I can do is just let it grow out. Because I have been using progressively lighter brown dyes for the past year or so anyway, the five or so inches of grey blends artistically into the deepening brown and I've had people tell me it looks attractive and ask me where I had it done, lol. I still think it kind of sucks and I wish it could all be grey for once and for all.

Mmm!
I'm guessing that your hairdresser doesn't have experience of using colour reducers to remove old artificial colour pigment. Modern professional brand formulas are not bleach based and won't damage the hair. They work by breaking down the artificial colour molecules allowing them to be rinsed out. If you have colour build up, you might need to apply a reducer up to 3 times. The colour left behind is your natural raw colour so if your original natural colour was a mid brown with some white (grey) hairs, the Orange undertones will be prominent. You will have to use an oxidising colour after using a colour reducer but you'd generally use something to tone away the Orange.

Find yourself a hairdresser/colourist who knows the difference between a colour remover and a colour reducer and voilà, you've found your new hairdresser.

MinnieMinx

LexieOnRale wrote: »

Last year I had pretty much same enquiry. My hairdresser told me "no problem". And left me with very damaged green hair. Listen to your hairdresser

That's poor but totally preventable!
Your hairdresser obviously used the wrong sort of bleach formula if it was badly damaged and then toned it with a grey (blue) ash which combined with the natural yellow tones in the hair, sent it green.

Lots of hairdressers only cover basic colouring in their studies and don't bother continuing their education after completing their initial training. Their clients miss out because they're not up to date with new products or techniques.