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Five simple fixes for correcting hair colour problems.

By April 6, 2021 March 17th, 2023 No Comments
Leilani Eddie

Five simple fixes for correcting hair colour problems.

It’s a common scenario. A panicked client with a disastrous new hair colour, damaged locks and perhaps even a little hair loss, often concealed under some sort of hat, begging us to salvage the situation. If that’s been you, don’t worry. You’re not the first and you most certainly won’t be the last.

Perhaps your usual colourist has let you down. Or perhaps you decided to try and cultivate a new skill and save yourself a few bucks by heading to the local supermarket, purchasing a home hair dye kit and dying your hair yourself. So often what seems like an easy, cheap and quick fix turns out to be anything but.

Fortunately for you, at Co and Pace Salons we relish a challenge and remain committed to working with you to fix any mishaps (averting disaster.)

We’ll sit down with you to talk through your initial goals and expectations (before things take a worrying turn.) We’ll take this knowledge and use it to suggest an approach that will rectify the issue. Not only that, we will strive to come up with a conclusion that will leave you with a new look that improves on what you were originally aiming for.

We’ve pulled together a few pointers to help you avoid a colour calamity to begin with, and most effectively rectify it if disaster does strike.

Maddy Pollard

(image: hairdresser brisbane)

Tip 1 – Do not risk a DIY disaster!

The packet hair dye colours available at your local pharmacy or supermarket are never going to give you the natural finish you’re looking for.

Amazing looking colour that lasts does not happen by accident. It’s important to remember hair is a fibre, so needs to be handled in a delicate and careful way if the quality of the colour and integrity of the hair are to be honoured.

Colour should always be managed by a professional, without exception. Not only does the untrained eye often struggle to identify the colour that’s right for them, but untrained hands have the potential to leave a patchy, damaged, over processed and oversaturated colour that’s far removed from the glossy and perfect hair proudly displayed by the model on the packet (who likely had their colour applied by a highly-skilled professional.)

While undesirable hair colours can be corrected via varying degrees of expense and complexity, a more serious problem is inappropriate products applied by inexperienced hands have the potential to damage your hair (and that’s not to mention what might happen if you experience an allergic reaction to an ingredient in your DIY kit!)

When conducted properly by a professional with a thorough understanding of the limitations of your hair (based on previous treatments, colours and overall health), the right techniques and products will ensure the integrity of your hair will not be compromised.

At Co and Pace Salons, you can be confident you’re entrusting your hair to the experts.
We take our commitment to maintaining the health of your hair incredibly seriously, with every precaution taken to mitigate any opportunity for damage (leaving you with a striking finish to be proud of.)

Tip 2 – Use a high quality treatment before more colour is applied

To further fortify your hair against damage, we always recommend using a quality hair repair treatment before any hair colour correction work begins.

One great example is Redken 5th Avenue NYC’s Extreme CAT Protein Reconstructing Hair Treatment Spray. It works by repairing the hair’s internal bonds and atoms, so when additional colour is applied it will last longer (plus be protected from breakage.) Our passion for the Redken 5th Avenue NYC brand is borne from their product range being firmly rooted in scientific research, with an expert team dedicated to ongoing development and improvement.

Christy Young ONE

Tip 3 – Ask about aftercare

As so many hair colouring disasters result in some level of damage, you’ll need to treat your hair to some extra love for the foreseeable future. Crucial for effective hair care is regular use of the right shampoo, conditioner, toner, heat protector and other products once you leave the salon.

However, the reality is lots of people are unaware of which qualities and ingredients make a restorative product (versus product that contain components that can actually do your hair more harm than good.)

Be mindful your choice of shampoo, conditioner, heat protector and other products can make a significant difference to the way your colour behaves. Ask our expert team for their insights and they’ll recommend the right products and ingredients to protect your hair. With the right at-home maintenance regime, your colour will retain its impact for longer (while the hair itself will be protected from further damage.)

Leilani Eddie

Tip 4 – If in doubt, go darker

Often, the biggest disasters occur when a client takes it upon themselves to go drastically lighter. This sort of extreme change should always be tackled as part of a long term, staged approach (gradually lightening hair over time.) Jumping straight from brunette to platinum blonde with a single treatment creates untold stress and causes extensive damage to even the healthiest head of hair.

If going lighter is the source of your regret, our advice is always to go darker before you consider revisiting your blonde ambition. Light to dark is a relatively quick and straightforward fix. A straightforward, all-over single colour can take as little as one hour, while more complex finishes are more likely to take somewhere in the vicinity of two to three hours. Invariably, going from light to dark works out to be much cheaper too (even where more than one application is required in a single sitting.)

Going lighter or even continuing to chase the shade of blonde you were originally aiming for is not a smart strategy when it comes to colour correction. Lightening hair (in particular damaged hair) is a very lengthy and costly process, plus can put your hair under additional stress causing more damage.

Brontie-May Zaicew ONE

Tip 5 – Be honest with your colourist

The important thing to remember, even if you’re feeling embarrassed about what you, your friend or another colourist have done to your hair, it’s nothing we haven’t seen before (a lot!)

If we’re going to be able to do the most effective repair job, we need to know exactly what your hair has been recently exposed to (so we can make a general assessment of its overall health, plus smart decisions that will best protect it from further damage, giving the result you crave.) That means fessing up over exactly what products were used, plus sharing details of the technique used to apply it.

It’s also helpful to know a bit about the history of your hair and the treatments used prior to the disaster you’re looking to correct. This is so we can make an educated decision on the correction approaches it will realistically be able to handle.

If you’re in panic mode due to a hair colouring emergency, it’s time to heave a big sigh of relief. Visit Co and Pace Salons and by the time you walk out, you’ll be rocking a chic new colour that will look like it was 100% planned (so nobody ever need know!)

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