A HAIR NIGHTMARE

So you have this thrilling idea to transform your hair into something majestic, something that you have either seen throughout pictures or just from a spur of the moment creativity. Yet, after the protracted appointment its time for the anticipated reveal. After staring at the new questionable locks your heart heavily sinks to the floor where old reminisce of your hair lays, two words pop in mind, ‘oh shit’. Most of us have experienced this feeling one way or the other, and I’m going to share my hair rollercoaster horror journey. As a disclaimer I wont be using business names due to legal reasons.

At 13 I was just entering the beauty world, understanding the unique tools to enhance features. As it was time to say farewell to my braces, I decided to throw away the lemon juice and asked my parents if I can dye my hair a true blonde. At the moment my hair was classified as a ‘dirty blonde’ but I just saw it as ‘dirty’. I was told that foils would be the ideal choice instead of a scalp bleach to maintain health. After my very first appointment I was astonished, I loved the buttery highlights that framed my face, I was content with my new look.

As I grew up, I desired immaculate white blonde hair and begun to ask my hair dresser to replicate pictures. As I continued with foils I kept feeling unsatisfied not reaching the desired colour, yet I knew the cheap payment helped my bank account. As my hair is quite long and thick, the foils weren’t reaching all of my hair creating my ends to be quite brassy. Time went on, and I abandoned reaching white blonde locks.

One day I came across a photo of Samantha Ravndahl and instantly envied her hair. The colour was a crisp silver which had a whitish tinge. Society called it the ‘grandma’ hair, but I desired the look. When I was younger I wanted a hairstyle that was heavily layered, that was either pink, purple, black or anything artistically different. However, since it wasn’t my money, the decision wasn’t my own. From working at the age of 14 I was able to amplify a savings account which every few months would be spent on maintaining my blonde hair.

After researching different salons, I decided to walk into a particular company to grasp a perception on their vibe and environment before booking an appointment. I was greeted by a very welcoming guy who explained that he can transform my hair to the photos I was presenting. As I was ecstatic from the conversation I was quite oblivious to fact the salon was extremely quiet, even though it was well-known.

The anticipated day arrived and was eager for my new fresh locks. He firstly begun bleaching my roots. Time passed and it was time to sit in a very uncomfortable chair, with my head awkwardly placed in the sink. He continued to explain that he will bleach the rest of my hair before lathering the silver dye. Two hours had past and my neck begun cramping, but I kept focused on exquisite final result. I begun observing his emotions becoming frantic as he decided to involve more employees. This is when I knew something’s wrong. Another hour had past and my neck was aching, I kept asking about my hair, yet all the employees kept positively reassuring me. So I trusted them. They started putting more bleach and more colour before deciding I needed two treatments to nourish my hair’s health. At this stage I was beginning to wonder how much of my hair was left. Eventually I was allowed to stand up and stretch my neck before being led back to a chair and mirror. First glance and I was speechless. My hair revealed to be a darkish blue with a tinge of a dark grey, yet strands of brassy yellow was peeking through making the entire colour look feral. I didn’t want to be a customer that went psychotic, so I simply paid and left. However, after coming home and showing my family, I came to the realisation that this needed to be fixed.

My mum and I walked in the next day to the salon and asked to see the manager. We were greeted by a very tall man who I immediately didn’t receive a pleasant vibe from. We politely explained what had happened and wanted a refund. Immediately we were shut down, and spoken to quite aggressively as he explained that it was my fault as his employees have never dyed someones hair silver.

Yes…lets just think about that…my fault.

At this point I was pissed. I told him that I should of been notified instead of treated as in experiment. As he realised that I know how to ‘talk back’ he came to the conclusion that their head colourist will fix the issue. I complied but was dreading returning.Thankfully, the head colourist was lovely and didn’t blame me for the incident and after a few sessions I was back to a buttery blonde.

When it was time to freshen my blonde, I decided to investigate further into various salons by walking in their studio and thoroughly speaking to them about my hair. One company completely stood out due to all their employees being incredibly friendly. Although I knew the price was hefty, I came to the realisation you ‘get what you pay for’. My hairdresser was very charismatic and I trusted her judgment. After my first session of foils my hair looked enchanting, it was reaching a white blonde. As the second appointment arose we decided to bleach it however, due to the wrong toner being used my hair was to a muddy dark grey with orange streaks peeking. At this point I wish I could dye my hair black, but instead I called up and explained resulting into an appointment. The whole time she was lovely about the situation and she fixed my hair back to a beautiful blonde. I knew from that moment I wanted her as my hairdresser for as long as I can. We are now going to achieve a white blonde and then start looking into various unique colours to streak underneath my hair.

After my experiences, I definitely have advice for those struggling to find a decent hairdresser – keep searching. Some are lucky enough to have family friends that can transform their hair at a cheap cost but from my experiences, if you pay cheap the results are cheap. By saving the required amount, you’ll be able to balance it into other daily payments. Never blame a hairdresser but if they don’t take responsibility pleasantly as spoken about previously, fix the problem then never go back, find someone better. I have always desired black hair, and wish I could dye it black, but in reality I don’t suit it. So being a blonde it is crucial to find a decent hairdresser and I am lucky I have!

But also remember its not the end of the world if your hairdresser gets it wrong so don’t freak out, just resolve the problem and keep moving forward.

Elise X