It felt like the perfect timing to bring up those pushed in the back of our mind memories of bad hairstyles. We’ve all had them – you take the leap to try a new hairstylist whether it be you moved to a new city or you just wanted to give someone different a try. It’s rather nerve racking putting your hair in someone else’s hands. I want to try to put out good out look on that situation and help you find the humor in a not so funny experience.
Funny enough I have been on both of ends of this experience being a hairstylist myself and having to find a new hairstylist when I moved to LA. I dreaded getting my hair done the first few months that I was here because I had always been able to get my hair done where I worked, got to see the other girls’ work and pick who I thought would do the best job. Being in LA I was completely in the dark – I mean there’s always YELP but you are still taking your chances with mixed reviews. Some people over dramatize the situation while others are completely honest and happy or the few truthful angry customers, but it’s hard to tell sometimes.
I’ve been pretty lucky the last couple of years, right after I moved to LA a friend of a friend was a stylist. So obviously since my friend spoke very highly of her I gave her a try and she did a great job. As I’ve moved around LA I’m further away from her now so I wanted to find someone close to my house where I could just go on the weekend. (My hat’s off to all you who are the religious every 6-8 week clients, you truly rock our world as stylists.)
Having worked in a salon I always got lucky because the other stylists would trade hair – I would do their hair and they would do mine so I never really had to fork out the big bucks to get my hair looking nice. Not the case now, and as I said – hats off. I am ashamed to say that since I last got my hair done between work and just not being able to find anyone or wanting to spend the money I let my hair go for way longer than I should have. I happened to be browsing Groupon deals and found a really good deal for a full balayage and cut for only $100 – trust me in LA that’s a steal. Of course, you always take a chance when you use Groupon, because more times than not whoever is offering the deal is newer and trying to build up their clientele. Knowing this, I did my research on the salon and couldn’t really find anything to scare me away so I decided to give it a try, after all I had been there myself when I was first starting out as a stylist. If it hadn’t been for all those brave souls giving me the chance to prove myself I would have never learned a damn thing.
This is the original picture I used to show what I was going for.
My before…
My stylist was young and talkative – I showed her a few pictures and explained how I wanted to try a little darker root with my balayage ends since my natural blonde hair is pretty light already. We chatted it up as she worked tirelessly over my enormously full head of hair. She handled it like a champ and got the job done. I sat and waited, peeked in the mirror a couple of times and as I sat there I could tell the color she had put on my roots was way darker than I had explained. My eyes grew a little bit bigger as I noticed the blue hue starting to show through and for anyone not familiar with the color wheel – blue is the base color for black…black!
It was time to rinse – we spent a while at the color bowl as she applied a couple different types of toner to my still blonde ends (thank God!). We were talking and I was telling her about the worst experience as a stylist that I had with a client where I had added some low-lights to her blonde for dimension and she panicked at first when she saw her wet hair. Of course dark is going to stand out amidst the blonde especially when the hair is still wet (so ladies give your stylist a little time to get your hair dried before you determine if the color is not what you wanted). I was just finishing saying how she was happy with the result in the end, when I heard my stylist almost under her breath but out loud say well I think this may be a little bit of a surprise to you (my heart jumped).
As we walked back to the chair I stared at the floor not wanting to look up. My head slowly lifted as I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror – nope the blue was still there, the roots were….black. I swallowed hard, smiled and said “I don’t mind watching”. She cut my hair with ease and pulled out the dryer to start the process of styling my hair. As I watched the color didn’t change, didn’t lighten even a little bit, but I kept thinking to myself over 80% of my blonde is still there so it will be okay. She cut my hair perfectly, dried my hair and I headed home.
When I walked through the door I barely said hi to Jeff and made a beeline for the bathroom. Time to really examine what it all looked like. I curled my hair and got it styled the way I would normally wear it and while the black is still a shock to get used to it could have turned out worse. If I really wanted to I could lighten my roots but for now it’s something I’ve never had before so I’m going to give it a try and work with it. It is growing on me faster than I expected.
…and after
My point of this post is that we all have stories of bad hair jobs or not getting exactly what we wanted and not being able to fix them right away. Try to find the silver lining and remind yourself it’s just hair; if the tone is not what you’re used to try adjusting your makeup colors to compliment the colors in your hair. This new hairstyle will force me out of my lazy hair and makeup routine and to try new makeup ideas. Life is way too short to spend too much time worrying about something that can be fixed. So for any of you out there struggling with being unhappy with your hair I hope this has given you a little smile.
lovellie
