How to Fix Bad Highlights or Lowlights
Bad Highlights
Help . . . bad highlights went too brassy!
Here is a recent bad highlights, hair coloring question on the comment board from Linda,
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Hi, I have dirty/blonde hair which I’ve been using permanent hair color on (in light, med & dark brown) for about three years. I’m ready to go blond-ish again, have yellow-golden undertones that become sickly with the dark hair. I gave myself highlights last night & they look very brassy & unnatural…I JUST want to be golden blonde, don’t need too much in the way of lightening, on a budget though. Suggestions? |
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My best suggestion here is, don’t try to fix a bad highlights job yourself! . . . Stop! The next step is a critical one. Although it can be fixed, it will take a good hair colorist to get the right hair color formula and application to correct this.
When it comes to hair highlighting, low lighting or any other hair color changes that involves darkening or lightening by more than two hair color shades, you would do yourself a BIG favor by leaving the job to a reputable hair colorist. Even a professional hair colorist can get it wrong, but they should know how to fix it.
I’m afraid the manufactures of hair colors have made it look waaay . . . to easy to be your own hair colorist at homeBad Highlights Should be Left to Professionals. I’ve colored hair for years and I wouldn’t attempt to do highlights or lowlights on my own hair for these reasons;
- The technique of foiling in hair highlights (which is the best procedure in my opinion) is a learned skill. The width of your sections and the width of pieces of hair to be highlighted in each section have a specific affect. I don’t have the dexterity to be able to do this on myself, and I know how it’s done! I want someone who has done this over and over and over again, they have perfected the technique.
- The hair color or colors you choose to weave in combine for the over all affect.
- If your using bleach, you need to be able to assess when the color has been lifted to the desired shade, by watching it and then get it off your hair quickly. You would have a very hard time recognizing when the right timing is to do that.
- Bleach shouldn’t touch your scalp, or it can melt into the roots and make them totally bleached, instead of just highlighted. Then you need the right level of hair color to tone it back to the shade you want.
Do you see what I mean? It goes on and on for the little things that can, and will go wrong with a home hair highlights
I afraid I may sound like a broken record here, but, it’s your hair, your messing with . . . your crowning glory . . . what you will first see everyday when you get up, get out of bed and look in the mirror . . . YIKES
I know coloring can become an expensive procedure, but for Lisa, at this point, the next step she takes may mean the difference of making it right or making it SO wrong that the only fix would be to cut your hair it off.
Got a question, war story or comment about this topic? Click on the "Leave Your Comments" link at the very bottom of this article. Some of my best ideas for future articles come from reading reader comments. I'd love to hear from you!
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i dont know if im on the right page to ask. i dont wish to get highlights on my hair. My problem however is that i have dyed my hair black. I tried getting rid of it by using another color but it only left my roots colored. So i have a dark blonde on my roots and black the rest. I dont know what other method i can use to get rid of it, aside from bleaching it. So what do you suggest ?
Comment by lola — July 22, 2007 @ 4:01 am
Barb I just spent ALOT of $$ on my long hair. I went to my regular stylist and had a hair piece with to! It was the same color that I wanted her to change my hair for the fall. After two hours and doing two different coloring proceses.She said Im sorry but I can’t finish blow drying your hair.I have to pick my daughter up from school. However she said your hair will look exactly like the hair piece that you brought in. Boy was she wrong! When I got home my hair was the same color that it was when I went in. So because of all of the $$ that I spent I have to go back there and tell her to do it over for nothing! I hate to go to someone else and loose all that $$. What would you do? I don’t understand when she had the hair piece right in front of her?
Comment by Elizabeth — October 2, 2008 @ 1:57 pm
Elizabeth,
I think you are right to go back to her. Although it’s disappointing for all the time and $$ you spent so far, she errored on the right side. She didn’t fry your hair.
Seeing she is your stylist, she might even expect that you would call if it hadn’t turned out right.
Call her and tell her what happened and I would bet she can fix it or, she would hand it over to someone who can. It sounds to me like since she needed to leave, she guessed wrong on the processing time.
Good luck!
Comment by Barb Quinn — October 3, 2008 @ 10:40 am
Hi-I colored my hair last month a champaign blond at home treatment and it came out surprisingly oka. Yesterday I tried to highlight my hair using the same box brand and it turned out brassy yellow-guess the volume was not enough to lift it. So….my question is should I go into a beauty supply store and purchase a 40 volume bleaching kit and try it again until I get the desired level of blond highlights. Or can I actually color a warmer choclate brown over my hair?I cannot afford to sped $100 plus at a salon. Thanks!
Comment by Kristen — April 17, 2009 @ 9:39 am
Kristen,
My best advice is to call the #800 on the box and be prepared to tell them all the hair colors that may be on your hair. That info is necessary in order to help you get to the brown color you want.
Good luck!
Comment by Barb Quinn — April 20, 2009 @ 12:57 pm