Hair Disaster

[SunnyDawn]

Our son decided to bleach his hair once with one of those caps. His older sister talked him into it (without our knowledge). She apparently left it on too long or saturated the root area too much because he not only had bleached strips of hair but he had polka dots all over his scalp!

Yes I laughed! I couldn't help it! At least he's a guy so it grew out shortly.

 

[redhen]

Ouch.. thats a lot of hair.. sorry.

 

[Mattemma]

That sure is a lot of hair.Atleast there is still some to cover the loss. I had to shave my hair in the summer. The kids called me *dad* for the longest time.

 

[Rammy]

You know how us women feel about our hair. Ive always wanted long hair but the past couple of years have taken its toll on it with stress and now the change. Should of left well enough alone. It will grow out and believe me, I wont be that stupid again. Lesson learned as long as its a positive one.

Rammy

 

[Cetawin]

Rammy I am so sorry about your hair...

menopause wreaks havoc on your hair gah mine is always a PITA to do anything with. Not to mention the stubborn silver I have everywhere...

 

[Rammy]

Thanks everyone. Us women know what hair means to us. You guys have it easy. It was and is hard enough to keep what I have and it being on the thin side doesnt help and having to whack out a huge knot didnt help. I dont think any amount of conditioner would of gotten it out. Im a groomer, and if a dog came in with that kind of matt, I would of said, " We need to shave it!!" thats how bad. Next time, professional. Being a professional myself, should take my own advice that I give "to tried to do it myself with the Walmart specials dog clippers and then had to take it to the groomer to fix"...........its not as easy as it looks!! heeheheee!!



Could of been worse,as someone stated before.........at least I didnt have to shave it all off completely. I wouldnt leave the house for a year until it grew back!!

Rammy

 

[Orchid]

I - quite by accident - once dyed my hair bright flaming purple. Like, people stopping in the aisles of Home Depot staring after me, bright purple.

Just think of it as an adventure, Rammy.

 

[SunnyDawn]

Quote:
I know exactly what you mean! Just cause I laughed at my son's bad bleach job sure doesn't mean I would be laughing if it happened to me or any one of my girlfriends. It's a lot more traumatic when you have long hair that took years and years to grow!

My hair is getting so thin these days I'm afraid I won't have any left in a few years!

 

[mandelyn]

So sorry for the loss of hair! That's a lot! When I was a stylist, my specialty was corrective color. Most can be fixed... some can't. But there's a lot more to it than the box leads you to believe. You also have to be careful with perms, straighteners, and mixing them with each other or color. You can straighten your hair with a relaxer, made from either Sodium Hydroxide or Ammonium Thyoglocolate(sp?). Those are the active ingredients in Nair. The chemicals never leave your hair totally. They pick up working where they left off, so you can't over lap the products without doing serious damage. So, if you use one option, and let it grow out for 2 months (about an inch of growth) and then you use the other option, exactly at that point where new growth meets old, your hair will melt off. Many store brands have the Ammonium, it's gentler and safer. Many salon brands have the other. Be very careful!

With color... each color affects each other differently. And then the results are different all across the board for the individual head. There are natural undertones to contend with as well. Same as the other chemicals, they never leave your hair. The chemical reaction that makes 20 volume hair color permanent is the lifting of the undertone and redepositing the desired color. Each volume of peroxide provides one level of lift. So a semi-permanent 10 or 15 volume will lift the undertone 1 or 1 1/2 level and redeposit the desired color.

Now, if you're using a box color, and every time you use it you pull it through the ends from the beginning, or overlap it, you're restarting that lifting process. The first 10-15 minutes of the process is when the lifting happens, which is why the box says roots only and then towards the end pull it through the ends to refresh it. You only need the deposit only action to refresh color. But if you want to change the color, you have to cover the whole head. This is the tricky part. You're not only lifting the undertone to different levels down the entire hair shaft, you're attempting to change the color totally. Color will not lift color, but it will lift the natural undertone. So you are removing natural undertone, leaving the original deposit of color, and adding a new one. That's how I made money. Fixing it. For corrective color, you couldn't see me for less than $150. It's not cheap to fix! And you really have to be careful with who fixes it, they need to know the laws of color. There are rules, that are flexible and changeable. Then there are laws. One law... yellow and blue make green. Always. If you have pretty blonde hair, and you want to be brunette, if you choose a cool color (will have blue)... you can get green, ash, ash with a green tint. All sorts of fun stuff.

Color formulations are made with the natural undertones in mind. If your hair lacks those needed undertones, as in the lightest blonds, your hair will pick up the base coloring of that formulation. You would first need to add a filler, which is artificial undertones, in the form of reds/oranges. But, the molecule size of the chemical affects it's lasting effects. red is the largest molecule, and does not hold in the hair as long as the others. So the red filler may fade, and you'll ash out in a couple of weeks. Maybe picking up a green or ash tone.

With red being a large molecule, it is also difficult to remove chemically if it's there naturally. So brunettes, if you want to be blond, be careful! 40 volume peroxide will lift 4 levels. No more without reapplication. The scale is 1-10. 1 being black. The pretty brunettes are about a 3/4. What is the undertone of that level naturally? A deep red. When you put 20 volume on it, it goes to flaming carrot orange. 40 volume will take it to a vibrant rainbow orange in the level 7 range. Now let's say you want to cover gray. You color your whole head one time with a 20 volume permanent color. The natural brown was lifted 2 levels and a new color deposited. 8 weeks later, you notice it's a little brassy. You recolor your whole head. Again, it gets brassy, stronger this time. You recolor AGAIN. On the oldest part of the hair, the undertone has gone through 6 levels of change. The ends aren't getting brassy any more, just the middle and up. The ends now look to be a drab brown. A different color for every age of the hair. No color will be able to fix it if you use one that is permanent. Scary huh? But it affects everyone differently on a molecular level.

Once you've removed all the natural undertone, the only thing left holding the hair together is some proteins, and they've been damaged. One more bleaching will melt the hair right off your head. You'll see it blowing away in bits from the hair dryer. If you see these bits a of hair flying in the salon, it is time for a new stylist that doesn't overlap color/bleach. It is SO COMMON during foil hi-lites to cover all the hair selected, even if it was previously processed, because virgin hair is in there too. I've fixed just as many bad color jobs from other stylists as I have home jobs.

Caps are not designed for hair longer than 6 inches. The longer the hair, the more likely it is to tangle, mat, or be pulled through unevenly. When you have roots, you color just the roots! Pull little rings, not the whole length of hair. Always rinse and shampoo with the cap on, slather in conditioner, and then pull it off. Rinse, cover thoroughly in conditioner, and gently comb it, starting at the bottom. You can spray a shine product on prior to pulling it through, depending on the ingredients. Some of them swell the cuticle and cause it to become dry and easy to tangle. Worsening the situation.

And never comb your hair back when you put the cap on. Specially on longer hair. Comb it down the way it naturally falls. If you comb it back, then slide the cap on, you are very likely to pull the ends of the top hair from the back/bottom holes. And technique is crucial. You can't fish around with the hook for hair, you have to grab only what is directly under the hole at the scalp. It's the only way to reliably grab hair from the correct places. The finer the amount of hair in each hole the better. Too thick and the center of the bundle will not process. For a light hi-lite, do every other hole. For heavy, every single hole, small amounts. Avoid the hairline area, so that you don't get color dots on the hairline. Don't do it on super short hair, needs to be an inch and a half at least. Unless you want cheetah spots. grab what you can in one poke. The more you poke around, the larger the hole gets. The larger the hole, the more color that can bleed through and make spots.

Lot's of options with foil. Still, you don't want it on the hairline because of stripes. You need to get them put in tight, so that they don't slide, loosen, and cause "tiger stripes" on the roots below the foil. The most common stylist error is tiger stripes.

A good stylist will start in the back with foils, working from the bottom up. The back hair takes longer to process than the top/front. They'll also avoid placing foils directly on the hairline, and you should feel a gentle (or not) tug when placing the foil to make sure it's secure. They will also fold it at least twice for added security. But they shouldn't work slowly, or spend a lot of time folding. You need to be fast. Otherwise the start place will process for 2 or 3 times as long as the last place.

I have seen some awful hair and some down right tragic colors. I've also spent 16 hours over 2 days time to bring a blond back to blond after a burgundy mishap. It is possible if it is done correctly. Hair didn't feel like straw, it was beautiful. But I sent her home with a bag on her head and strict orders not to rinse out the custom rebuilding treatment I put on. Otherwise... she would have had straw. Color can be a lot of fun. But it can also go very, very badly.

 

[ebwy2]

Quote:
but bright purple is cool!