|
DEAR
SHEL,
MY HAIR WAS FROM HELL!!!!!
Everybody has one story and usually it's the first thing shared from
a new client. Not so much to make me feel as though all hairdressers
are out to get them.. or at least I don't think that's it! Mainly
it's to allow you to understand their fears and show their boundaries.
I am very respectful of clients needs and I don't believe my ego takes
precedence over happy hair.
Sometimes a consultation isn't thorough, there are so many reasons
why hair goes wrong.
I am starting this out with the absolute worst hair that I have seen...
Dear shel,
Once when I was in beauty school (yes, long ago), I had the chance
to see the most frightening hair color.
I met a girl named "Beth", she was 22 years old , her hair
was pulled back into a ponytail but was about to her waist.
Her boyfriend was along which I had thought was for some sort of moral
support.
Beth sat in my chair and when I looked at her she had this look of
fear that now recognize from new clients .
Beth pulled her ponytail holder out and my entire row of peers turned
and sort of gasped out loud.
I will try to describe this as best as possible.
Beth's waist length hair was previously highlighted to a very light
blonde, summer sun added to the lightening so her ends were almost
white. Her boyfriend persuaded her into using a box frosting kit to
save money for spring break.
The kit bought included : a cap with holes in it , a hook resembling
one for crochet, and lightener.
When he pulled the hair through the cap because of length ,he had
some strands pulling from the back of her hair, some from the front
and diagonal .
Some of the pieces poking through the cap were one inch long some
were 10 others only 5. Basically a very uneven and random pattern
for application. While processing the bleach had leaked through some
of the holes and beyond the strands intended.
When it was time for the lightener to be tested the blonde that the
boyfriend saw was the blonde that had already been too blonde. They
removed the cap, washed her hair and blew dry to see the results.
What they saw was disappointing to say the least, the ends were beyond
blonde, the scalp to the blonde ends were very brassy yellow gold.
There were also pools of gold in spots where the lightener had leaked.
One might imagine at this point it would be time to call in a professional,
but being the thrifty couple they were.
It was time for them to call the color manufacturers hotline... they
told the representative what they had done thus far.
Explaining all the gold and what had happened with the cap. The advice
given was that she needed to use a violet toner to make the gold more
neutral in hue.
What they failed to mention was the white throughout the rest of hair.
So the toner was bought and applied to the full head via boyfriend.
After the recommended processing time for a regular blonde, not a
corrective haircolor!
The product was shampooed and much to the couples surprise the scalp
was still quite brassy but now there were slashes of gold throughout
a frightening shade of purple grey.
This was where I stepped in, still of course to save some money they
headed off to my school to have corrective work done. To this day
I haven't ever seen anything like it , it was like a flag of a country
or some sort of abstract blanket.
I wish I had taken pictures of it for future training of my students!
My instructors huddled around for the best possible choice at this
time, after much problem solving the decision was unanimous, my client
would be light brown and like it. Now I think about Beth and in a
few visits I am confident she could have been a beige blonde with
much success, but in school you problem solve to the best of the schools
abilities.
Beth learned a very valuable lesson that day about her hair and hopefully
has found a hairdresser she can enjoys working with and has her color
under control...
email
Shel
|
