My hair is naturally a dark auburn. Because my darling children, fiance, and genetics gave me grays, I dye my hair from a box; usually a color very close to or one shade lighter than my natural color. So I've got red hair.
2 days ago I tried putting some 'caramel' highlights in... there really aren't a lot of highlights to choose from for redheads, it's always blonde or brunette, so I thought that I was choosing something low key going with a brunette highlight kit.
UM, NO.
So then my hair was BLONDE-ISH up top (except my roots, wth). Looked like I tried to use sun-in or something, omg ew.
Got a box of the darkest blonde/brown haircolor (NOT highlights) and foiled myself trying to even out the red/blonde...
It's still drying, but I look like a damn clown... can't help but laugh at myself. I'm about to wait a few days and then just dye it plain red again!!
I don't use the 2 in 1, 2 step all over color/ highlights because my hair is too long and 2 boxes is EXPENSIVE!... but then again my mistakes are becoming expensive.
What should I do!? I look ridiculous... too bad we're not closer to Halloween, I'd just keep it like this, LOL!! ;)
OH the point of this is (sorry the screen was bouncing around) I'd like to keep the base red, but I want highlights, like I've been in the sun, I just really really botched this job and need some advise/suggestions/laughs :)
I don't highlight my hair too often because, let's face it, I am too cheap. I often wonder about the home kits and while I have no advice to offer, I thank you for teaching me that there's no way in hell I should take matters into my own hands LOL. I will think of you the next time I decide to do it and have to ante up to a professional.
Oh my goodness! I am so sorry! Your clown comment cracked me up and I am so glad you have a good sense of humor! You are awesome, most of us would cry (I would anyway!) I say bite the bullet and go to a professional before your hair gets too damaged. They will know how to handle it. But be sure to take pictures first so you can really laugh later when it's fixed!
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I am sorry but go see a professional :) Even someone at a place like fantastic sams or super clips probably would do a better job than we amateurs could do at home Good luck...
Oh dear. At this point, I would either go to a professional for a color correction or wear a hat for a couple of weeks before trying anything else. Give your hair time to rest and do not dye it again this soon. Back to back to back color treatments will fry your hair. My step-daughter's mom tried to bleach her bangs this summer and put in some kind of Kool-aid red and then sent her to our house for the weekend and we had lots of parties to go to. She looked like a homeless addict so we took her to my salon for a color correction. Just her bangs and the surrounding area took 4 hours and $200 to fix, and it was still so badly damaged that pieces of her hair were breaking off for months until the damaged mess grew out. See a professional for a correction if you can! If you can't afford the professional treatment, call around to a local styling school and see if you can get an experienced student or teacher to help you. It's a fraction of what the salons charge. Good luck!
Oh I've done the red >>> blonde thing.
Tell me... did you get "cheetoh" orange? Or progress on to "lemonhead"?
Salon is WORTH the money to fix it. OTW... you hair will (from experience) end up feeling like straw/ frizzing/ break from the melted portions.
Once I finally "got" how to take my red dyed hair blonde, I could do it (big blonde curles in a red base) at home no problem (it requires *completely* stripping out all color down to platinum blonde and adding in color... even "platinum"... leaving the hair "blank" just means it will turn pink/orange over time as you wash it (since that red molecule washes out like crazy, even without glycerine, it's just a really small molecule). There are also a lot of treatment/conditioning/sealing things that need to happen. The chemicals alone just for streaking my hair cost me 30-40, but that was a big savings over the 120 to get it done professionally.
But I had to have my "Yikes!" hair fixed TWICE professionally. The first time I steaked it myself... and the first time I decided to go all over blonde >>> come to find that's a different process than streaking it entirely, and also involved chopping off over 2 feet of my Bozo the Clown hair that I'd ruined.
Red hair, btw, tends to bleach out (at home) in stages. Cheetoh. Dorito. Lemonhead. Platinum. Then... once you hit platinum you add in the color you want (platinum, lightest gold, honey, etc.).
SO so SO worth getting a pro to fix it.
I have no do-it-yourself advice for you since the red highlights I put in myself and thought were so cool turned out to be hot pink in the sunlight... my son informed me when we went outside.
Now I have my stylist do any permanent highlights and hair color and I just touch up the grey roots with semi-permanent dye once a month or so. No more hot pink!
When I had my hair PROFESSIONALLY turned from dark brown to platinum blonde for about 2 months (oh lordy what was I thinking --- I looked like one of Hef's floozy girlfriends), I found out I had a job interview in another city and didn't want to show up like that and with terrible roots starting to show as well. I got a box of Natural Instincts Semi-Permanent color and put that on...it turned it all to brown and blended in. It was great. Another thing -- it never really washed out (despite my not repeating it) because the blonde soaked it up :) Maybe try one of their red-toned colors. I used to use those in high school (wow- like 15 years ago) and they were pretty. Good luck!
Oh dear R.,
Don't you have a wedding coming up? Please please please ask around for a professional that works out of their home (because it's cheaper), a very small shop, or find a beauty school and let someone correct your color. Ask everyone, even people you don't know. Ask women that you see that you like their hair and ask where they get it done. If they like their person they will be glad to share the info. And don't be afraid to ask how much they paid!!!!! (No one will be offended if you tell them that you need to know because you need to fix your boo boo!!).
Don't spend another penny on trying to correct that blonde by yourself!
Do you have a hair college near you? That the teacher will check on the students? You can use students that are about to graduate... I did that. I have natural red hair. I would get some conditioning treatments 3 days before and get them after a few weeks after you get it fixed. I don't know if your hair is like mine but my hair needed some treatments after I dyed it a couple times.
When you highlight you have to wait to go through all the stages of 'lifting' color, so pass the bronze/copper stage to get to a blonde color. Then you can add color to it to achieve the caramel you hoped for. If you know how to foil your hair go over it again and make sure you get it tight down to the root otherwise you'll have bands. Best is to not try to highlight at home.
I am going to say bite the bullet and go see a professional.
Just have them dye it an all over 1 color and it wont be as expensive if you wanted them to do highlights, tones etc. You won't have highlights but your hair will be a normal color.
When I was younger I had dyed my hair black (what the heck was I thinking, lol) but decided I wanted to go blonde (my natural color). Well I had to strip all that black out of my hair. I had never bleached my hair before....all I can remember was trying to hide my orange hair, running into Target, trying to pick out something that would cover the orange.
Good luck!
Go to a good salon and have them fix it!! The more you mess with it yourself, the worse it will become and your hair is becoming more and more damaged with all the mistakes. If you can't afford to go to the salon for your color regularly, tell the colorist that and ask for their advice. He or she can point you in the right direction on how to get similar results at home.
