What do I do if my hairdresser dyed my hair too dark?

 

 

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I’m sure you know the saying “there is honor among thieves.” It’s never good to criticize or harm our colleagues.

However, just because you’re a doctor doesn’t mean you can’t make a mistake with a diagnosis.  The same happens with a colorist with more than twenty years of experience, who could make a mistake and leave your hair darker than you wanted.  

 

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Hazards may occur due to lack of experience or lack of attention from the colorist, and they’ll need to solve them.

Sometimes, a client is also part of the reason. For example, some people are determined on a color beyond the stylist’s recommendations.

 

But I put myself in your shoes.

  If your colorist dyed your hair too dark and you can’t tolerate looking in the mirror, I understand that you want a solution right now. 

It’s understandable because, besides the fact that we live in an “urgent” society, you’ve paid for a job and feel let down.

 

But it’s in these critical moments when I appeal to your emotional intelligence.

I appeal to it, first for your hair health and second for your pocket.

 

YouTube videos are useless here. You could spend days and days trying to figure out which tutorial is really done by a professional.

Also, even if it’s done by a hairdresser, keep in mind that you’re talking to hundreds and hundreds of people with different hair types and needs.

 

It doesn’t matter what your neighbor, childhood friend, or sister-in-law who loves you dearly tells you.

When a hairdresser dyes your hair, and it’s too dark, there is a golden law you must enforce.

 

If your hair is too dark after coloring at the salon, wait for 15 days for the hair dye to settle in your hair

That’s right, fifteen days and fifteen nights. Because, unbelievably, the action of the hair dye doesn’t end when you rinse your hair.

 

After coloring your hair, colorists rinse it to remove excess pigmentation, that is, the excess dye that your hair can’t absorb.

This rinsing is done thoroughly, which means that we don’t stop rinsing until the water runs crystal clear and without any color residue,

 

  However, when you leave the salon, the hair dye is still working on your hair. 

The pigments keep settling by penetrating the cuticles and reaching the core, where they are finally deposited.

 

They need fifteen days for that. Therefore,   it’s impossible to know if your hair is darker than you would like it to be before that time.  

So, follow the golden rule and wait for fifteen days.

After those fifteen days, do you definitely like the color?

 

Bravo for you and cheers for the hairdresser.

Alternatively, after fifteen days, is the color still too dark?

 

Make an appointment with your professional colorist to lighten the color

In my closest circle of colleagues, no hairdresser isn’t willing to fix any coloring job that doesn’t satisfy her client, and I really mean it.

 

The real work of hairdressers happens in the salon, not on social media.

We rely on recommendations, mouth-to-mouth, and even online reviews.

 

  Therefore, any hairdresser who loves and lives for her job will be willing to find a solution if your hair was too dark after coloring and you don’t like it.  

 

It has even happened to me with one of my clients, Silvia. I know her since the day I opened my salon more than 8 years ago.

One day, she came in with a photo she saw on Instagram of a famous model and her new hair color: 7.1 ash blonde, as claimed by the said model.

 

Silvia asked me to apply that color to her hair and wouldn’t take no for an answer regardless of how hard I tried to explain to her that those photos are digitally retouched.

Don’t you use filters when you’re on Tik Tok?

 

Anyway, since her base color was a light brown 5, I applied the ashy blonde she wanted so badly.

I rinsed, dried her hair, and she went home very happy with her new color.

The next day she came back to the salon.

 

I could tell by her face that she wasn’t happy with her hair color.

Her answer was clear: the color seemed very dark to her and far from what the model was showing on Instagram.

  I asked her to wait for fifteen days for the hair dye to settle. Then, she would visit me again.  

 

After fifteen days, she returned to the salon and sure enough, it looked darker than Silvia had wanted.

Why had this happened?

 

Either the model had misspelled the hair dye number or Silvia’s color base was completely different from the model’s.

  So, when applying a hair dye, even if it’s the same numbering as a model’s, the results can vary by up to two tones.  

 

After evaluating the state of her hair and checking it was healthy, I applied a new hair dye going up a level: light ash blonde 8.1.

The result was what Silvia was hoping for, and she was finally satisfied with the color.

Now, what can you do if you don’t want to go back to the salon?

 

If you dyed your hair at the salon and it’s too dark, you can try fading the hair dye

This is neither bleaching nor highlighting.

You will simply wear out the color while waiting for the time to apply a new hair dye.

 

Permanent hair dyes last for 4 to 6 weeks. However, with the fading technique, you’ll be able to achieve this in 2 to 3 weeks.

You’ll only need a shampoo with sulfates, which are detergents that fade the hair dye pigments.

 

However, before you start jumping for joy, you need to moisturize your hair after every wash because sulfates dry out your hair.

After washing your hair, use conditioner or moisturizing oils like coconut or argan.

 

  You should repeat the fading technique at least four or five times a week.   You’ll notice that after the third or fourth wash, your hair color will be lighter and fade faster.

Then, you can apply a lighter hair dye.

 

Now, since I know you’re thinking of taking other shortcuts, I want to tell you something clearly.

 

What you shouldn’t do if you dyed your hair at the salon and it’s too dark

Discard the idea of bleaching your hair because it’s a very aggressive process, and you can ruin it completely.

It’s even more so if we consider that you have recently applied a hair dye, which is nothing more than a chemical process.

 

Having discarded bleaching, we have another hair “miracle”: color removers.

Are color removers bad?

 

They are neither good nor bad, but they depend on the use and skill of the user.

The results you can expect are like winning the lottery. Nothing is safe after applying them to your hair.

These types of products can dry out your hair and leave orange, green, or yellow colors.

 

  Lastly, don’t even think about applying a lighter hair dye   unless you’ve faded the dark hair dye.

Applying one hair dye on top of the other won’t lighten your hair. Instead, it’ll damage hair with more chemicals uselessly.

Therefore, if you apply a lighter hair dye, you won’t notice the difference, and orange colors will most likely appear.

 

Conclusions

Stylists aren’t only professionals. We’re also human, and there’s always a margin of error. If you dyed your hair at the salon and it’s too dark, wait for 15 days for the hair dye to settle.

 

If your hair color is too dark after that time, go to the salon because they’ll find the best and healthiest solution for your hair.

Anything else you can try to fix it will be like Russian roulette. We know that the results are usually fatal.